I N T E R N E T ' S M A O I S T M O N T H L Y = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = XX XX XXX XX XX X X XXX XXX XXX XXX X X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X V X X X V X X X X X X X XX XXX X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X XXX X X X V XXX X XXX XXX = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT MIM Notes 102 July 1995 Get MIM Notes 102 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 a special section of articles from correspondents in Korea. Also, news and analysis of Mumia Abu-Jamal case, including writing by other prisoners. The Philippines, Ireland, youth repression in Amerika, letters to MIM, more from prisons and prisoners, and the all the rest of the revolutionary recipe you've come to expect from MIM Notes email edition, the Internet's Maoist monthly. MIM Notes speaks to and from the viewpoint of the world's oppressed majority, and against the imperialist-patriarchy. Pick it up and wield it in the service of the people. Support it, struggle with it and write for it. IN THIS ISSUE: 1. LETTERS TO MIM 2. RAIL DENOUNCES U.S. SECURITY ADVISOR AT RALLY 3. WHO BENEFITS FROM SUBJUGATION OF EAST TIMOR? 4. ENVIRONMENTALISTS BEWARE: RECYCLING MAY HURT MORE THAN IT HELPS 5. ISRAEL: PROMISES, PROMISES 6. ISRAELI GOVERNMENT EXCUSES MURDER 7. MAY FIRST IN THE PHILIPPINES 8. MIM HOSTS FORUM ON ANTI-IMPERIALIST STRUGGLE IN THE PHILIPPINES 9. REVIEW: TALES FROM THE HOOD 10. L.A. CROWD LEARNS ABOUT PERU'S PCP 11. THE VAMPIRE PROJECT: NOT CONTENT WITH EXPLOITATION, IMPERIALISTS GO FOR FIRST NATIONS' GENES 12. URBAN CURFEWS MEAN WAR ON YOUTH 13. ENGLAND AND AMERIKA SABOTAGE TRUE PEACE IN IRELAND 14. "WAR ON CRACK" = WAR ON BLACKS, LATINOS 15. MUMIA ABU-JAMAL FACES DEATH WARRANT 16. POLICE ARRESTED FOR ATTACKS AGAINST BLACKS, LATINOS IN NEW YORK 17. SPECIAL MIM NOTES SECTION ON KOREA - PROLETARIAT IN "MIRACLE" COUNTRY SQUEEZED HARD - STUDENT AND WORKER POLITICS FLAME IN SOUTHERN KOREA - OUTRAGE AND PROTEST AGAINST JAPANESE IMPERIALISM - DANKOOK STUDENTS REBEL: EDUCATION SYSTEM CRITICIZED - KIM SUN-MYUNG: GOOD COMMUNIST IN PRISON - HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT-TEACHER ROMANCES COMMON - FOOD POLITICS - STUDENTS AND UNIONS SUPPORT TELECOM WORKERS - KOREA TELECOM UNION LEADERS ARRESTED - REVOLUTIONARY PARAPHERNALIA FOR SALE 18. UNDER LOCK AND KEY * * * LETTERS TO MIM THIS COUNTRY IS SICK Under Lock and Key from MIM Notes 100 was posted on the Internet and generated this response: I just read this very long post and was sickened by the actions of the american criminal justice system. These inhumane beasts (the criminals who run the so called "justice system") are not human. This country is sick. --an East Coast Reader GPCR LIBERATED PEASANTS FROM SUFFOCATING FEUDALISM AND GROWING BUREAUCRATISM I'm a history graduate student [in the United States] currently studying Chinese history here. I'm interested in your Notes and keep reading almost every issue. The principles that MIM insists sound particularly interesting for me. In fact I was shocked when I happened to read the Notes for the first time. I cannot imagine that here, in the United States, the heart of capitalist world, there exists a newspaper like this, which upholds the Cultural Revolution in China as "the farthest advance of communism in human history." Although I cannot completely agree with your principles, my perception of the Cultural Revolution is admittedly somewhat different from those prevailing in China and the outside today. The reason is simple. The Chinese perception of the Cultural Revolution today is shaped after Mao's death by those who suffered from the Revolution. But I belong to the post-Cultural- Revolution generation, this allows me to think of the Cultural Revolution without prejudice. Since I grew up in China's countryside, I also know how Chinese peasants, the majority of Chinese people today, think about the Revolution. Simply put, I don't think that Chinese people at the bottom of society treat the Cultural Revolution as a "bad" thing. Rather, I believe it was this revolution which really liberated Chinese people from the suffocating feudal custom and the growing bureaucratism in the 1960s. It also provided people the sense of liberation, the sense of being the master of the society. Also I believe it was during the Cultural Revolution that China's economic reconstruction really took up. This is quite the reverse from those who portrayed the Cultural Revolution as the years of economic disasters. I just write these words to you, and let you know the fact that a new generation is now growing in China; they perceive the world in their own way. -- Chinese student AN OPEN LETTER FROM A MIM ASSOCIATE TO OBERLIN ACTIVISTS DEAR OBERLIN ACTIVISTS AGAINST PRISONS (OAAP): This letter is to thank you for inviting the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) to your Ohio Prison Activist Conference, April 28-30, at Oberlin College, Ohio. However, MIM was not able to attend, and passed the invitation on to some MAs (MIM Associates), including myself, who are also members of the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. MIM is a revolutionary vanguard party whose members (MIM Comrades, MCs) are official representatives of MIM line and uphold democratic centralism. RAIL, on the other hand, is a mass organization that is led by MIM and works with MIM; RAIL agrees with MIM on many political issues, but does not follow democratic centralism, so RAIL members cannot officially represent MIM line. When we visited Oberlin, the other MA and myself were not completely clear about this distinction, and I wanted to explain it in this letter. This conference was a great opportunity for us to learn from and interact with members and supporters of OAAP and other Ohio prison activists. RAIL does anti- imperialist work on many issues, including prison issues. In fact, RAIL in Ann Arbor recently co- sponsored a film-series with MIM including a film on the Attica prison uprising in 1971. RAIL also works on MIM's "Books for Prisoners" Program, which encourages donations of revolutionary literature and money or stamps to support sending this literature to prisoners who are interested in initiating revolutionary study groups in prison. The goal of this program is to assist prisoners in educating and organizing themselves around revolutionary issues. I support MIM's recognition of the progressive potential of movements to free certain political prisoners, and support MIM's view on the injustice committed against ALL prisoners. However, through work in educating the masses about prisons and assisting prisoners in organizing themselves as a revolutionary force, MIM and RAIL try to emphasize the global context of prisons and "law and order." MIM and RAIL do this instead of focusing on individuals, because clearly the release of a few "political" prisoners would not really change the system in any meaningful way. On April 29, Jana Schroeder, of the American Friends Service Committee (Dayton, Ohio), gave an excellent overview of Ohio Prison conditions: As of April 1995, there were 42,448 people in Ohio prisons which were designed to hold 24,526 people. That's 173% capacity, with some prisons even more crowded since certain prisons are single-celled; for example, inmates were sent from Lucasville after the uprising so that inmates would not share cells. Her sources said 55% of people incarcerated are oppressed nationals--but that these figures are not well-documented--compared to only 10% of Ohio's population which is Black. Ohio prisoners are 94% men; there are three female prisons in the state. Approximately 21% of all incarcerated people and 33% of all incarcerated women are there solely because of drug charges. About 75-80% have a history of drug/alcohol dependency. About 44% of the increase in the number of people in prison from 1986-1993, is solely due to changes in drug laws; less than half of people incarcerated are there for "violent" crimes. A member of OAAP read their definition of Control Units: "A control unit (or 'supermax') is a prison or a part of a prison that is in a state of permanent lockdown. ("Lockdown" is a temporary condition used to control and suppress disruptions within a prison by severely restricting prisoner's rights.) This once-temporary condition has been increasingly adopted as the new model for U.S. prisons. "In theory, control units are protective. In practice, control units are prisons within the prison system that are used to isolate and punish those people who present a threat to the established power; for example, those who have filed lawsuits against prison officials, participated in work stoppages, or actively pursued their religious and/or political beliefs. In certain cases, political prisoners, such as American Indian Movement organized Leonard Peltier and Black Liberation Army member Sekou Odinga, are sent to control units directly from trial, thereby disproving the claim that prisoners in control units have earned their punishment by their own violence or disruption once in prison." Schroeder also spoke of the National Campaign to Stop Control Unit Prisons, which monitors and documents abuses. She said that this focus on specific individual political prisoners is not helpful to most prisoners. Also, although this emphasis of the "worst evils" that occur in prisons is important because it could happen to anyone who is incarcerated, it's also vital to focus on general issues that are relevant to all prisoners now. Schroeder eloquently explained the huge injustice of the prison system and hinted at some of its connections to maintaining capitalist society. But she only mentioned a few specific actions that the masses can take against this system--such as writing letters or civil disobedience. So I asked her about the ultimate goals of her organization: She said that in the 1970s they used to call for an end to all prisons, but that they decided this was a too radical position; in order to gain wider support, they changed their tactics. Schroeder referred me to some literature explaining "alternatives to incarceration" such as community service, restitution, employment assistance/job development, third party advocacy, alcohol and drug treatment, and mental and other health services. Another speaker emphasized that any person could at some point become caught up in the system: "no one is immune...any one of us could be incarcerated..." While it is true that this argument might help draw sympathy for prisoners from a large audience, it misses the point and over-individualizes the issue. I support MIM's view that the criminal injustice system terrorizes certain groups of people--oppressed nations and those in poverty--as part of maintaining capitalism; it is definitely NOT an equal-opportunity system. Plus, people can recognize the injustice of this system and decide to do revolutionary work to change it--regardless of whether or not they personally might be imprisoned. One speaker stated that all prisoners could be considered "political" prisoners in a way, because politicians need to fill quotas in order to get votes with their "tough on crime" platform. I said what I understood to be MIM's line on this issue: that ALL crimes are politically-induced by capitalism-enforced poverty, drugs injected into communities to keep the potentially-revolutionary sedated, and the police occupation of these communities. The American Friends Service Committee also puts out a pamphlet called "The Fortress Economy: The Economic Role of the U.S. Prison System" which explains the political basis and consequences of the prison system. This is an advanced document that includes a discussion of who goes to prison, jailing of the unemployed, prisoners as cheap labor, and alternatives to prison. [$2 each, 10-50 copies $1.50 each; free to prisoners; Criminal Justice Program Community Relations Division, AFSC, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, PA 19102] Overall, this conference was an excellent opportunity for some MAs/RAIL members to interact with other prison activists with different tactics, explain MIM's "Books for Prisoners" Program, and start to build a working relationship with the Oberlin Activists Against Prisons (OAAP). -- an MA who is also a member of RAIL in Ann Arbor, Michigan June 12, 1995 ***Oberlin Activists Against Prisons (OAAP) can be contacted at 207 E. College, Oberlin, Ohio 44074, (216) 775-5326 e-mail: pjaquescs@oberlin.edu*** SELF-DETERMINATION FOR OUR PEOPLE NOW! 25th commemoration of the August 29th, 1970 Chicano Moratorium August 26th, 1995 East Los Angeles, Califas Belvedere Park to Salazar Park Thousands of Raza will march for power and liberation. Organized by the National Chicano Moratorium Committee. For more information contact the San Diego Region of the NCMC at (619) 280-8361 Somos un pueblo--sin fronteras! SOJOURNER APPRECIATES MIM Comrades, I ask for receive, if it is possible, your magazine MIM Notes and Maoist Sojourner, in particular the number publicized by ASAPC which contained news on the Peruvian and Philippine revolutions. I'm a communist political prisoner, arrested in October 1983 (or 93) for fight action against USAF base in Avioans, of Rouges Brigades for the constitution of the Fighting Communist Party (BR-PCC) and condemned for these. I'm prisoner in a special prison (block 8) of Novara, with other twenty comrades. I wait for your notices, and thank you. Revolutionary regards, --a prisoner in Italy * * * RAIL DENOUNCES US SECURITY ADVISOR AT RALLY by a member of the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) On May 28, 1995 RAIL distributed leaflets at UMASS Amherst's commencement where National Security advisor Anthony Lake was the keynote speaker. RAIL's leaflet "Anthony Lake, U.S. Imperialism, and the University" was the product of the Teach-In discussed in MIM Notes 101. It included a discussion of Liberalism, Quotes and Facts about Anthony Lake, and the RAIL petition condemning Lake's choice as commencement speaker.(1) The local Friends of Bosnia (FOB) chapter organized a more visible protest outside the UMASS football stadium including posters, flyers, and a plane that flew over commencement with the message "Stop Bosnian Genocide- Lift the Arms Embargo." Another sign said "U.N.-Get tough or get out." Lake, surrounded by a herd of pork, argued with the demonstrators for a few minutes before speaking. RAIL thinks FOB has a poor understanding of imperialist foreign policy. Amerika and its public relations branch, the U.N., are not interested in stopping genocide or being humanitarian. Telling the U.N. to get tough is never the right thing to say. Activists should expose the U.N. as a tool of imperialism which opposes oppressed nations' sovereignty. The student commencement speaker, who condemned RAIL's efforts against Lake, urged Lake to defend the upcoming Haitian elections and to let the "Haitian people decide their own fate." Publicly criticizing Lake was more than RAIL had expected from the speaker, even though the criticism played into Lake's hands, giving him the chance to promote the elections as a product of the U.S. invasion. Neither the student nor Lake mentioned that imperialist-imposed "democracy" is only a different form of coercion. The U.S. military is working with rightist Haitian death squads against the Left, and the CIA has admitted that it planned to spend $1 million "influencing" the elections.(2) That's not democracy, but it is what the U.S. intended when it invaded in September. In 1791, when our "Founding Fathers" were trying to short-circuit the popular government in Haiti in favor of neocolonialism; and 1915, when the u.s. instituted 20 years of military rule in Haiti (starting progressive reforms like the corve'e system of forced labor), the u.s. has always used Haiti for cheap products (sugar, indigo, etc.), an export market (fish, lumber, toxic waste) and cheap labor. As a Haitian student said, the u.s. has never been a friend of the Haitian people. An enemy is more like it. Lake's speech was a fine example of Orwellian double- speak. Billing the u.s. as "the world's best hope in the fight against the forces of fear," Lake pointed the finger at "ethnic conflicts...terrorists who target people and peace....nations that hunger for weapons of mass destruction ... organized criminals and drug traffickers who destroy uncounted lives." The RAIL pamphlet identified who is the real best hope and who are the real terrorists. Lake attacked what he termed "backdoor isolations-- people who ... would weaken our country." He supports a vision of global pillage in which the U.S. military, the U.N., World Bank and IMF enforce Third World compliance with First World economics. The University of Massachusetts showed its support for the imperialist vision by awarding Lake an honorary doctorate, glowing praises and a multicolored hood (we're not sure if they got the idea from the KKK or from watching executions). UMass, which employs Lake as a 5-college Political Science Professor when he is not in Washington, forms part of the state educational wing of the imperialist military-industrial-educational complex. The other honorary doctorates, a civil rights leader, the founder of a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program and a "progressive" CEO crowned the event with a tiara of political correctness and leftism. (The first two were sent letters by RAIL asking them to boycott or make a statement against Lake. There was no response.) RAIL hopes that its pamphlet exposed Lake's double speak and helped potential anti-imperialists to correctly differentiate their allies from their enemies. Power to the people! Notes: 1. Pamphlet available for $1. 2. See MIM Notes 94, 12/94; New York Times 10/2/94, sec 4, p. 16. * * * WHO BENEFITS FROM SUBJUGATION OF EAST TIMOR? MIM Notes 101 reported on East Timorese oppression under Indonesian rule. Here we explain the international context of the imperialist and comprador forces arrayed against East Timor: the pseudo bourgeois democracy in Indonesia, its omnipresent military, and the imperialist interests that direct them. MIM recognizes that the Indonesian masses share the interest of overthrowing the comprador regime that rules Indonesia and East Timor, and we look to growing internationalism. The Klinton administration criticizes Indonesian repression of East Timor to gain position in trade battles with Indonesia. The U.S. foreign aid bill includes a ban on military training, assistance and the sale of small arms to Indonesia until that country has made ambiguously-defined progress on human rights.(1) Yet the united states continues to have a role in maintaining a brutal Indonesian rule over East Timor. President Suharto and the Indonesian military use violent repression, exacerbation of poverty, strategic migration policies and repression of the press to secure comprador- and imperialist-owned profits. History teaches us that the Amerikan government will ignore these activities as long as they are hidden. MIM does not expect the Indonesian regime to protect "human rights;" we support the development of independence movements both in Indonesia and in East Timor through our exposure of imperialist militarism. GUNS GOTTA COME FROM SOMEPLACE The Australian government arms manufacturer, Australian Defense Industries, exports rifles to the Indonesian military.(2) According to the Project on Demilitarization and Democracy, U.S. arms sales to Indonesia have totaled $641 million.(3) Two decades' worth of U.S. arm shipments account for 90% of Indonesia's military hardware.(1) As Indonesia's primary trading partner, Amerika also pays well for the right to criticize Indonesian human rights policy. Foreign investors planned $23.7 billion worth of projects in Indonesia for 1995. In the first three months of 1995, imperialist investments surpassed $12.2 billion.(4) In November 1994, Klinton signed a $40 billion trade agreement with President Suharto-- including juicy contracts for General Electric and Exxon.(3) Amerika backs World Bank loans to Indonesia for $1.6 billion per year.(5) One loan for $75 million will develop special power and marine facilities, and help the imperialists deepen trade ties with Indonesia and expand the country's military capability.(6) In 1994, Indonesia increased exports sharply: electronic goods exports went up 56.7%, jewelry exports by 197% and coffee exports by 197%.(7) Export-led industrialization enables compradors to repay imperialist loans. CREATIVE OCCUPATION TECHNIQUES SUPPLEMENT HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES The Indonesian government forcibly moves migrant traders from Sulawesi to East Timor to further domination of that country.(9) Forced migration both decreases the number of people within Indonesia and increases antagonisms between Indonesians and East Timorese. This vacillating group of petty bourgeois is now an incipient bourgeoisie in East Timor--preventing the development of an East Timorese national bourgeoisie. Indonesia has cut the number of military appointees in its House of Representatives from 100 to 75 in an effort to appear to be decreasing military rule.(10) But the extent of military domination both through force and through ownership of corporations central to the East Timorese economy, makes the subtraction of a few fascists from legislative power inconsequential. Indonesia spends 143 times as much money on its military as it does on health and education.(11) In East Timor, Army-owned corporations "have a monopoly on every major import and export and business on the island." Individual officers gain income from sitting on corporate boards of directors, while East Germany, Australia and Amerika help the military institution defend their interests.(5) $1.6 billion in annual World Bank loans is equal to Indonesia's reported military budget.(5) "So even if the armed forces are being eased off center stage, no one believes dwifungsi (dual- function) is under threat. The military looks set to remain final arbiter of any political crisis."(10) Notes: 1. The Christian Science Monitor 10/10/94, p. 18. 2. Inside Indonesia 3/95, p. 8. 3. The Washington Post 1/10/95, p. C10. 4. Far Eastern Economic Review 5/18/95, p. 56. 5. The Christian Science Monitor 6/3/95, p. 18. 6. Indonesia Magazine 2/26/95, p. 59. 7. Far Eastern Economic Review 5/18/95, p. 58. 8. East Timor Link 3/95, pp. 1, 2. 9. Inside Indonesia 3/95, p. 6. 10. Far Eastern Economic Review 5/18/95, p. 49. 11. Inside Indonesia 6/94, p. 11. * * * ENVIRONMENTALISTS BEWARE: RECYCLING MAY HURT MORE THAN IT HELPS Many well intentioned environmentalists tout recycling as an important part of a program to save the earth from capitalist destruction. But these people rarely talk about where the products to be recycled go to be processed or what is involved in this processing. South Asia is becoming the world's toxic trash bin as First World countries export waste to be processed rather than reprocessing it at home. India receives large shipments of old batteries. Reprocessing "factories" consist of teen-agers cutting open the batteries without masks or protective clothing, risking brain damage from the fumes and serious injury from the battery acid. Recyclables are shipped to these countries because environmental standards are lower and enforcement of these standards is often non-existent. Plastic bags and bottles, used car batteries, lead, cadmium, metal scrap and radioactive waste all are sent from the u.s., Germany, England, and Canada to South Asia for processing. For India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, hazardous waste is considered a needed source of revenue.(1) Ann Leonard of Greenpeace noted "in the United States, supermarkets tell customers that the soda bottles will be recycled. But they don't tell them that the bottles are being exported to poor countries with rotten work safety and environmental regulations." Workers in recycling factories earn little more than 30 cents a day. This type of recycling is a hazard to the health of entire countries, not just factory workers, as Sulfuric acid from recycled batteries is dumped into gutters or rivers, and lead-based ash from factories pollutes the air. In 1993, the U.S. sent nearly half its plastic waste exports to South Asia. Recycling waste so that Amerika will be cleaner at the expense of the people and environment of the Third World is not a progressive environmentalist program. People who genuinely want to save the environment need to take an internationalist perspective and work for global change and an end to the system of capitalism that is destroying the earth. Notes: The Korea Times, 6/11/95. * * * ISRAEL: PROMISES, PROMISES The problem with negotiating from a position of weakness is there's no way to stick up for the agreement after it's done. Israel's "peace" agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993 specifically postponed negotiations on the status of Jerusalem. Neither side was willing to negotiate and each claims the city as its capital. Now that the agreement stage is passed, it's back to Israeli rule, and Israel has no problem declaring the issue of Jerusalem a done deal--in its favor. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said to the Israeli parliament: "We are divided in our opinions, on the Left and the Right. ... I believe that there is no argument on one matter--the wholeness of Jerusalem, and its continued existence as the capital of the State of Israel. ... There are not two Jerusalems; there is only one Jerusalem. From our perspective, Jerusalem is not a subject for compromise. Jerusalem was ours, will be ours, is ours--and will remain as such forever." Notes: Israel Information Service 5/29/95. --MC12 * * * ISRAELI GOVERNMENT EXCUSES MURDER The Israeli justice ministry has determined that "criminal responsibility for the death of Abd al-Samad Harizat cannot be attributed" to the [GSS] interrogator whose violent shaking killed him. The United States praises the Israeli government as a leader in the "peace process," and supports it with billions of dollars of aid per year, while Israeli officers murder Palestinians. The Israeli State Attorney has recommended military discipline in the killing rather than criminal prosecution. Abd al-Samad Harizat, suspected of having connections to Islamic radicals, was killed on April 25. An autopsy showed he died from brain damage after being violently shaken during interrogation. Violent shaking is a preferred technique of Israeli interrogators, because it usually does not leave identifiable marks on its victims. The Justice Ministry reported that "the severe damage caused by the angular acceleration of the head is rare in medical experience--and is generally recognized only by physicians and scientists dealing with brain diseases and damage, and with forensic medicine." Therefore, "the investigator --who shook the deceased while grasping his shoulders--could not have, and need not have, anticipated the fatal consequences of his actions or the irreversible brain damage, given the rare incidence of death from these actions, to the point that it is known only to physicians and scientists specializing in brain diseases and damage." At press time, the United States has taking no action in the case. Notes: Israeli Justice Ministry press release 6/7/95. --MC12 * * * MAY FIRST IN THE PHILIPPINES By A Visitor To The Philippines During the first week of May, delegates representing militant trade-unions and organizations in solidarity with the national liberation struggle of the Filipino people gathered from more than a dozen countries and met for a week-long conference near Manila, Philippines. The 12th International Solidarity Affair was sponsored by the Kilusang Mayo Uno Labor Center (KMU), a militant federation of industrial trade-unions which is in the forefront of a fight in the Philippines to limit the economic devastation wrought through unequal trade agreements, such as GATT and its enfeebled child, Philippines 2000. The latter is a structural adjustment plan to further underdevelop the local economy and increase repatriatable super-profits. Delegates visited many areas of the country, integrating with the masses of industrial and agricultural workers, at the sites of their strikes against monopoly corporations and in their homes. Delegates also visited export-processing zones, sweat- shops, refugee camps, and mega-plantations; and were treated to intense political discussions with workers and the leaders of their organizations. HELL ON EARTH The bad news is that the minimum daily wage in the Philippines ranges from sixty pesos ($2.40), for women, to 135 pesos ($5.40), for men. This rate was calculated by the fascist U.S.-Ramos regime at one-half of the cost of daily subsistence--and wages can be much lower than the minimum. The industrial development of the country was systematically retarded during the terroristic reigns of Ferdinand Marcos and Cory Aquino. Under the bureaucrat-capitalist group headed by Fidel Ramos, which takes its orders directly from the U.S. ruling class, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), and GATT's new World Trade Organization (WTO), the country's infrastructure and industrial base are decaying at a rate inconceivable to couch-potatoes in the First World. Land-grabbing, tax increases, and the government bombing of villages have driven millions of unemployable people into the cities: where they starve in cardboard and tin shacks as raw sewage runs down the streets and their children die from medieval diseases. Due to ever-increasing imperialist control of technology, and GATT's transnational lock on ownership of capital-goods industries, Filipino-owned factories have the capability of producing nails, but not screws. The government entices foreign capital investment and strangling loans with the boast that it will provide cheap and docile labor; even as it sells off the manufacturing and agricultural assets of the people for a song to the transnationals and foreign banks. Privatization (Philippines 2000) in the Philippines is the equivalent of a deluge of neutron bombs: leaving antiquated machines standing to await the next wave of hungry workers as the current wave expires from the effects of super-exploitation. All manufacture is oriented towards cheap export goods (e.g. garments, telephones, wind-chimes) and the country remains dependent on the imperialist blocs for expensive imports of food, soaps, and basic necessities. The vast natural resources and raw materials of the Philippines are being stripped away by a hurricane of foreign investors, who leave only desert behind. Foreign-owned blast furnaces are vintage nineteenth- century; health and safety regulations are non- existent; surplus diesel engines from Japan, Europe and the United States drive the transportation system and have smothered the islands in a choking, black fog of exhaust. Deforestation of the islands by multi- nationals has stripped the biosphere of its lungs. Children poisoned by carbon monoxide play in blue pools of cyanide next to mine tailings polluting tiny farms plowed by iron implements pulled by water-buffalo--or people. Agriculture is dedicated to producing locally useless cash-crops. Semi-feudal relations of production dominate the countryside in which 70% of the 65 million population groans under the weight of imperialism, feudalism and patriarchy. Meanwhile, according to bourgeois statistics, the Philippines ranks 92 out of 173 countries in "human quality of life." The gap between rich and poor is a global phenomenon. If one sees through Ramos' lies that the Philippines is on the road to becoming a "newly- industrialized country" by the year 2000: what hells exist in the "bottom" 81 nations today? If imperialism were to have its way, eighty percent of the world's people would labor uniformly--punching United Nations time-clocks--while creating that most precious portion of commodities: extractable surplus value. Precious commodities: that the creators are forbidden to use. CAPITALISM DOES NOT WORK It is the proud history and current state of the Filipino people's fierce resistance to colonial and neo-colonial depredations that distinguish the Philippines from other wracked and oppressed nations in the world who have not yet picked up the ideological and organizational tools of Maoism. The good news is that the Filipino people have created three weapons for their own salvation: the National Democratic Front and its New People's Army, led by the Communist Party of the Philippines, which has summed up errors, rectified itself, and is in the process of re- fueling the mass movement and the armed struggle on the basis of People's War, communist education, and integrating with the masses. Numerous mass organizations follow the red flag. Workers everywhere discuss international issues, and the root cause of their oppression and exploitation: imperialism. While only 12 percent of the country's 27.65 million member workforce is unionized, the KMU is the most militant union organization, the union most bonded with the people, and the union movement most feared by the U.S.-Ramos regime--which slaughters union organizers as it desperately attempts to impose no-strike sanctions on workers whose response is to strike, strike, strike. The KMU-sponsored international conference focused on the issues of the internationalization of production, privatization, and the related effects of GATT/IMF/WB economic restrictions. In a paper presented to the conference, KMU states: "The KMU's position on GATT is clear. GATT will only expose the country further to cut-throat global competition that will adversely affect the workers and peasants. Engaging in free trade with technologically advanced countries that put demands on underdeveloped countries to open up, while they are protecting their own economies, will only hasten the demise of the Philippine economy which is perpetually in crisis." The KMU is part of a newly-formed progressive bloc of militant trade unions, Koalisyon ng Progresibo at Makabayang Manggagawa (KPMM), which opposes the imperialist imposition on the country. Mainly led by the KMU, it stands on the principle that trade unions must not limit themselves to rice and fish unionism, but must assert the worker's leadership in the forefront of the people's struggle for national liberation. On May First, the International Solidarity Affair delegates joined the KMU rank and file in a 40,000 person demonstration in Manila. The disciplined masses marched to the KMU slogan for May First 1995: WORKERS UNITE! STRENGTHEN OUR RANKS. FIGHT ATTACKS ON JOBS, WAGES AND WORKER'S RIGHTS. PEOPLE UNITE! FIGHT AGAINST FEUDAL AND IMPERIALIST EXPLOITATION. ADVANCE THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC STRUGGLE WITH A SOCIALIST PERSPECTIVE! At the rally's conclusion, a contingent of revolutionary women staged a dance, flourishing huge red flags. The crowd proudly raised fists and the Internationale filled the skies. Note: Human Development Report 1993, United Nations, p. 136. * * * MIM HOSTS FORUM ON ANTI-IMPERIALIST STRUGGLE IN THE PHILIPPINES Los Angeles--On May 26, MIM presented a speech by Rafael Mariano ("Ka Paeng"), a leader in the anti- imperialist movement in the Philippines. MIM also showed the film "Medics of the People," which documents several "Serve the People" programs of the Maoist-led New People's Army (NPA) of the Philippines. Ka Paeng briefly described the corrupt and oppressive character of the government of the Republic of the Philippines, which serves U.S. imperialist interests and is propped up by U.S. aid. He exposed the government's "Philippines 2000" development plan as a tool used to increase the penetration of foreign capital into the Philippines. He also pointed out that the Corazo'n Aquino and Fidel Ramos administrations, while attempting to portray themselves as pro-people and anti-fascist, have both continued the basic policies of the Marcos dictatorship--including an escalation of the "total war" in the countryside (see MN #94). Ka Paeng listed the recent accomplishments of the people's patriotic movement, including the removal of U.S. military bases from the Philippines and the release of 41 political prisoners. He emphasized that these tactical victories were not the result of the Philippine government's sudden kindness, but a response to the united and serious struggle of the people. "Medics of the People" is a fine film which underscores the fact that the majority of violence in the world is starvation and disease caused by an unjust economic system. The medics in the film fight disease on two fronts: providing and organizing basic preventative health care in poor villages, and fighting to overthrow the government which provides no health care in these villages and exploits their inhabitants. After the film, MIM explained the Maoist strategy of Prolonged People's War. One audience member asked how the FMLN in El Salvador fit into this strategy. MIM explained that the FMLN did not fit into the Maoist strategy; it was dependent on foreign aid and did not couple the development of armed struggle with painstaking mass political work. The FMLN failed to assess the strength of the reactionary forces (especially the strength of U.S. intervention) and eventually turned armed struggle into a bargaining chip (see MN #71). MIM pointed out that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) recently defeated a similar adventurist line (see MN #85) and referred the audience member to documents on the CPP's recent rectification campaign (see ad this page). * * * TALES FROM THE HOOD SHOWS THE REAL HORROR: AMERIKKKA Tales from the Hood Directed by Rusty Cundieff, 1995 Tales from the Hood is much better than your average Hollywood flick. It skillfully co-opts the trademarks of the goofier horror movies--action, violence, gore and humor--to make some harsh political points against patriarchy and national oppression. More so than in 1995 Amerikkka, the oppressors tend to get what's coming to them, just as they will in real life in the long run. The audiences' cheers for vengeance are one sign that life will imitate art in this regard. By using the horror medium, Cundieff is able to keep his audience's attention and avoid being accused of being "preachy" as are more sober political directors. Tales from the Hood is composed of four stories, each with a strong component of reality. What could make for better horror than the real-life monsters created by imperialism, capitalism and patriarchy? In the first story, a nasty, dope-pushing pig earns his vengeance by killing a progressive community activist. Happily, the Uncle Tom pig is not spared. The monster in the second story is an abusive patriarch. Cundieff deals well with gender, particularly by the inclusion of several strong women characters. The third story centers on a fascist cracker politician named Duke Metzger. Once again, the bad guy gets his, as does his Uncle Tom advisor. The protagonists here are symbols of slavery who call for reparations--or else. The last story brings it all home to the young audience Tales from the Hood is made for. Cundieff makes it clear that these stories add up to genocide, and that fratricidal gang violence is part of this big problem. This bit suffers from a line of dialogue that seems out of place in this otherwise excellent movie. The awkward line says that the government funded a genuine anti- fratricide program, suggesting that the government behind genocide has its sweet side. Overall though, Tales from the Hood is a great film in that it advances a lot of heavy--and correct--political points, while staying faithful to the traditions of a playful genre. --MC49 * * * L.A. CROWD LEARNS ABOUT PCP AND DEBATES BEST WAY FORWARD FOR PERU On May 19, MIM showed the documentary "The People of the Shining Path" to an audience of mostly international students on the campus of UCLA. The film provides a good introduction to the People's War in Peru being led by the Communist Party of Peru (the PCP, also known as the Shining Path). Many of those who attended had an anti-imperialist perspective and were interested in learning more about the PCP specifically and Maoism in general. All of those who spoke during the discussion agreed that the status quo in Peru was intolerable, but some questioned whether armed struggle was the best way forward. MIM defended its basic position that the imperialists will not abandon their interests without a fight, and encouraged all to continue to study these issues by attending future MIM events and MIM study groups. In particular, one audience member argued that the PCP was responsible for the Peruvian military's brutal repression because if the PCP had not launched armed struggle the military would not have escalated its activities. This person also echoed the beliefs of human rights groups like Amnesty International by stating that the Peruvian peasants are "caught in the middle" of the equally violent PCP and military and are not actively involved on either side. Other audience members quickly refuted this backwards and false argument, pointing out that a large portion of the peasantry does actively support the PCP. MIM contended that the greatest cause of violence in Peru is the unjust economic system, which condemns the majority of the population to poverty, disease, and starvation. The number of children who die of malnutrition in Peru each year is far greater than the number of people who have died as a result of 15 years of People's War. The PCP is fighting to free the Peruvian people from imperialist exploitation and to establish a self- sufficient socialist economy. Another audience member pointed out that before they came to the United States, they thought that the Amerikan people were kept ignorant of Amerikan imperialism's crimes, and that once they were made aware of these crimes they would oppose them. But after living in the U.S. for several years, s/he came to the conclusion that the misdeeds of U.S. imperialism were very apparent to those living here (s/he named slaughter of three million Vietnamese during the Vietnam war, the overthrow of the Allende government in Chile, and the CIA's support of the Shah of Iran as examples) and the average Amerikan has too many privileges and is too distracted by them to risk opposing imperialism. MIM agreed and explained our position that the Euro-Amerikan working class is a non- exploited labor aristocracy, which has made a strategic alliance with the imperialists to protect its privilege relative to the proletariat in the oppressed nations. * * * THE VAMPIRE PROJECT: NOT CONTENT WITH EXPLOITATION, IMPERIALISTS GO FOR FIRST NATIONS' GENES by MCB52 The Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) is working to gather DNA samples from 722 distinct indigenous peoples all over the globe.(1) The presumption is that, if these peoples die out under imperialist oppression, the human race will be no less "diverse" for the wear. MIM has little use for this brand of biodiversity, which celebrates the diversity of cell samples rather than the people from whom they are extracted. Humanity will be best served when First Nations, DNA and all, rise up against their oppressors. HGDP, an international project working under the Human Genome Organization, proposes to collect and catalogue genetic samples from indigenous nations classified as endangered and facing extinction. HGDP will make the samples available to researchers with the goals of discovering these nations' histories of migration and evolution and the degree of variance in human genes, and identifying genetic susceptibility to disease.(2) Pharmaceutical companies and others already collect genetic material from indigenous peoples, usually covertly. HGDP is different in its scale and its attempt at legitimacy. FIRST NATIONS REJECT "PRESERVATION" Tom Goldtooth, national spokesperson for the Indigenous Environmental Network, criticizes HGDP: "I just don't trust the very essence of who we are to be in the hands of those who historically have not had our best interests in mind. Biological warfare has been used against our people and there is no assurance that genetic sampling is not going to end up in the hands of some mad scientist, corporation or government that wants us dead to further take claim to our land that is rich in natural resources."(3) MIM knows that the scientists need not be mad to see benefits in eliminating what they see as risks of furthering the genocide on which they have built their societies. We emphasize that the "very essence" of a nation is not contained in any of its members' DNA. HGDP so disgusting because it discounts the value of human life--perpetuating the supremacy of some humans over others. BLOODSUCKERS IN ACTION HGDP has some laudable sounding claims. One is that this will enable development of treatments for diseases common to indigenous peoples. This is extremely unlikely. If medicine is developed, it will be by Western pharmaceutical companies, which have no reason to provide medicine for people who cannot pay much for it. Expensive gene therapy or drugs would only benefit the rich, earning HGDP its nickname: "the vampire project."(4) HGDP also claims it will debunk popular misinformation about so-called races. Yet any biological basis for the existence of separate races has already been categorically disproved, most recently by Stephen J. Gould. His new book points out that different black African peoples have more genetic diversity between them than so-called races have between each other. Science cannot be divorced from ideology, and so the proponents of national oppression will stick to their lies regardless of any catalogue of DNA samples. MIM holds scientists accountable for what they do with their skills and training just as it does anyone else. We condemn research that marginalizes the importance of First Nations' survival for the gain of the imperialists, in the words of one indigenous spokesperson "genetic colonialism."(5) MAY WE PATENT YOUR DNA? HGDP doesn't even have guidelines as to who can make informed consent for DNA extraction, or for how informed those people will be, nor has a standard for patenting human genes been established. Indigenous groups across Latin America recognize the importance of biodiversity in the context of self- determination and sustainability for their nations.(7) Communists categorically value human life, and we judge HGDP from this perspective. Even if there is some merit in learning about resistance to disease through genetic study--after the masses have food and basic health care--it is disgusting to preserve genetic diversity independent of the populations that house it. Notes: 1. News from Indian Country, late April, 1995, p. 6. 2. Hastings Center Report, January-February 1995, p. 2. 3. News from Indian Country, op. cit., p. 6. 4. Hastings Center Report, op. cit., p. 2. 5. Hastings Center Report, op. cit., p. 2. 6. Abya Yala News, Winter 1994, p. 14. 7. See for example the Resolutions from the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Communities of the Amazon Basin's Regional Meeting, September 1994. "Indigenous communities are well aware of the importance of biodiversity... We know that our autonomy and assurance of life with dignity will depend on the processes of control, conservation and development of these resources." Abya Yala News, op. cit. p. 17. * * * URBAN CURFEWS MEAN WAR ON YOUTH by MC12 June 11, 1995 - Washington, D.C. is among the latest cities to consider a curfew for young people. The city council has approved a law which would ban people younger than 16 from being on the streets after 11 p.m. on weeknights and after midnight on weekends; it has not yet been enacted. The law exempts youth who are traveling to or from work, religious activities, in cars, on their own or a neighbor's stoop, or exercising First Amendment rights.(1) Almost 1,000 cities have passed youth curfews in the last five years, including Phoenix, Newark, Atlanta, Dallas, San Antonio, Little Rock and Baltimore.(1) This law is part of the wide-ranging campaign to increase state repression and control over youth, a potentially active and subversive force. The harshest measures are directed against urban members of oppressed internal nations, but the crackdown extends to white and privileged youth in some cases. CURFEW ATTEMPTS TO SHUT DOWN COLLECTIVE ACTION In May, the official unemployment rate for Black men age 16-19 was 40%, for Black women of the same age it was 35.1%. That compares to 15.2% and 14.8% respectively, for white men and women in the same age group. In the last year, the disparity between Black and white unemployment decreased for all ages and sexes except men age 16-19, where it increased from 2.41 to 2.63.(2) Washington, D.C., was 66% Black in 1990.(3) A large, concentrated population of nationally oppressed, increasingly economically isolated and culturally alienated youth presents a problem of social control for imperialism. Collective consciousness develops in public spaces. To generate revolutionary consciousness, groups of oppressed people need interaction to learn of their common conditions and develop political action. The leaders of the crackdown on youth claim an interest in crime prevention to justify separating and compartmentalizing young people. They want youth either separate and alone (especially watching TV, which offers an artificial, non-revolutionary youth culture controlled by corporate interests) or participating in state-sanctioned pacification activities such as church or school functions. They don't want youth socializing and interacting in large numbers in unsupervised, uncontrolled environments. IN-SCHOOL SURVEILLANCE The campaign includes extending the repressive apparatus deeper into schools as well. Many schools are routinely patrolled by police, who conduct arbitrary student searches at the whim of officials. In April, students at East Aurora High School in Chicago arrived at school to find more than 50 school officials and pigs waiting for them with hand-held metal detectors. No weapons were found in the search, but the pigs confiscated some lighters and a cellular phone. They claim to have found a pocket knife in a nearby trash can. The district plans to extend the policy of random searches to middle schools.(4) In Texas, state education code forbids any student from having or using a pager in school or at any school- related activity. Students caught in violation of this code can have their pagers confiscated and face disciplinary action at the school level.(5) Pagers foster spontaneous and unsupervised communication among youth, and are therefore held suspect by the state. Texas recently passed the Texas Safe Schools Act, which among other things establishes a "zero tolerance" policy which seeks to yank "violent or disruptive" students out of regular schools and stick them in "alternative settings."(6) They should call it "Social Control 101--Introduction to Prison." In a socialist society, in which a progressive education system fosters equality and collective development, disruptive students will be challenged to clean up their acts--to make principled criticisms of the school system or reform their behavior in conjunction with other students, for the common good. Student agitation can be a powerful force for advancing socialism.(7) In a society that fosters the alienation of all youth, and the oppression of internal nation youth, coercing them into "good" behavior is an oppressive act of social control. In imperialist Amerika, oppressed-nation youth are potential leaders of revolutionary struggles, and white-nation youth are the most likely members of their nation to throw away parasitism and join the struggles of the people. State repression of youth--whether violent, cultural or medical--is designed to stop this rebellion. Maoists want to foster collective action and rebellion among young people. [The D.C. curfew has since been enacted -ed.] Notes: 1. Washington Post 6/11/95, p. B1. 2. Bureau of Labor Statistics 6/2/95. 3. Statistical Abstract of the United States 1994, p. 46. 4. Chicago Tribune 4/15/95. 5. Texas Education Agency representative in public Internet comments. 6. American Teacher 4/95, p. 3. 7. For descriptions of education in socialist China, 1949-1976, see *Women and Child Care in China*, by Ruth Sidel (Penguin: 1973); *China: The Revolution Continued*, by Jan Myrdal and Gun Kessle, (Vintage: 1970). * * * ENGLAND AND AMERIKA SABOTAGE TRUE PEACE IN IRELAND Despite the Irish Republican Army's (IRA) cease-fire, London and its allies in Dublin and Washington continue to attack activists working to end the imperialist- imposed partition of Ireland. The English government recently renewed the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which allows English security forces to detain people for up to seven days without charges or access to a court.(1) And the United States continues to extradite people wanted for "terrorism" by the authorities in the Six Counties, so-called Northern Ireland.(2) England is offering some false concessions. England recently signed a Framework Document with the government of southern Ireland which weakens the partition of Ireland on paper. In return for limited self-rule for the Six Counties' Catholic minority, England wants the IRA to surrender all of its weapons. Sinn Fein--the party politically affiliated with the IRA and led by Gerry Adams--responded ambiguously to the Framework Document and has indicated that it might participate in a new northern parliament. Many nationalist activists have criticized Sinn Fein for taking the reformist road leading to capitulation. A RECYCLED NEO-COLONIAL ARRANGEMENT The Framework Document signed by the English and southern Irish governments in February nominally gives the Republic of Ireland more control over certain affairs in the Six Counties. The Framework also calls for the re-establishment of the Six Counties' parliament at Stormont.(3) The Stormont Parliament was established in 1922 as part of the partition of Ireland and was dominated by Unionists--those who prefer to maintain the Six Counties' status as an English colony. Nationalist protest overthrew Stormont in 1972; England has ruled northern Ireland directly since then.(4) The Framework upholds the policy nationalists have dubbed the Unionist Veto, which dictates that the status of northern Ireland will only change by a vote of the majority of the people living there.(4) This policy guarantees English rule in Ireland, since partition designed so-called Northern Ireland as the largest area of Ireland with a Protestant majority. COPPERFASTENING OF THE UNIONIST VETO Nationalist organizations--including the Irish Republican Socialist Party and Republican Sinn Fein (which split from the Adams-led Sinn Fein in 1985)-- have denounced the Framework as a "rejigging of failed solutions."(5) The Irish in Britain Representation Group defends Irish prisoners and does legal work on behalf of Irish nationals living in England. This group stated that the Framework is "a copperfastening of the British/unionist veto, an acknowledgment by the Irish government and an acceptance of the British border in Ireland, and an attempt to rebuild the failed unionist statelet with a few 'be nice to Catholic' clauses."(5) Sinn Fein has said it is "willing to consider" working in a new Stormont as a "temporary arrangement."(5) This directly contradicts the position Sinn Fein and the Provisional IRA took before the abolition of the old Stormont: "In the struggle for civil rights the *abolition* of Stormont would, as an interim measure, be a step forward. It would make much easier the achievement of full rights and would bring us into *direct confrontation with Westminster*. English imperialism, both in its old and new forms, has been the root cause of Ireland's ills."(6) Sinn Fein and other revolutionary nationalists also opposed the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement. Sunningdale--a "cross-Border power-sharing" arrangement similar to the current Framework--collapsed within five months.(7) Republican Sinn Fein has begun to openly criticize the Adams-led Sinn Fein's implicit acceptance of the Framework--as abandonment of armed struggle in favor of the parliamentarian Social Democratic Labor Party's tired old strategy of negotiating for sovereignty. According to one activist quoted in Republican Sinn Fein's newspaper, Sinn Fein and the Provisional IRA are "not merely switching tactics, they are ceding the goal."(8) ENGLISH REPRESSION CONTINUES The renewal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) shows that England has given up nothing of substance. English authorities have detained 7,000 people under the PTA, but have released most of them without charge. Of the 153 who were detained under the PTA in 1994, only seven were charged with any offense.(1) MIM Notes recently reported that the leader of the Irish National Liberation Army (which has not called a cease-fire) was arrested by the southern Irish police in April.(9) This is not an isolated occurrence: English troops alone staged 216 raids in the Six Counties in the last quarter of 1994.(10) Republican Sinn Fein points out that when the IRA took part in bilateral truces in 1972 and 1975, arrests and prosecutions of activists were regarded as violations of the truce.(2) U.S. GNAWS ON PIECE OF THE ACTION The United States has played an active role in the recent round of Sinn Fein/English government negotiations. President Clinton granted a 48 hour visa for travel in the United States to Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, allowing him to build political support here despite his connections with the IRA which Amerika defines as terrorist. The U.S. put pressure on the English government to drop its hard-line "no deals with terrorists" line. In return, the United States has been pressuring the IRA to give up its guns. In May, President Clinton called for more Amerikan investment in northern Ireland: "The opportunities are excellent, the work force is well educated and well motivated. The productivity levels are high." And the kicker: "The unit labor costs are low." The U.S. is already the largest foreign investor in northern Ireland. Clinton coupled his call for investment with the "peace process," saying that "to keep this process going... we must make hope real." But behind this pitiful carrot remained the stick: "paramilitaries [but not the English military--MIM]... must get rid of their bombs and guns for good."(11) WHAT PRICE "PEACE"? MIM does not dogmatically reject cease-fires or peace negotiations. On the contrary, MIM believes that peace negotiations are a useful tactic with a successful history in the International Communist Movement. But we agree with the nationalist critics of Sinn Fein that withdrawal of English troops must be at the top of the negotiations' agenda. Disarmament in return for a "kinder, gentler" English rule would be a giant step backward. Imperialists cannot be reformed, negotiated, or "power-shared" out of power--they must be booted out by armed struggle. In the last decade many national liberation movements which had upheld the necessity of thorough armed struggle turned their military power into a bargaining chip which they used to buy some reforms. The PLO, ANC, and FMLN are all examples of this phenomenon. MIM hopes that Sinn Fein has not fallen into this trap. At the same time, MIM agrees with Ruairi O Bradaigh, president of Republican Sinn Fein, who says: "[T]he lesson of Irish history is that as long as Britain remains in Ireland there will be a revolutionary movement here to oppose them."(12) Notes: 1. Saoirse (Irish Freedom--newspaper of Republican Sinn Fein) 4/95, p.6. 2. Saoirse 5/95, p.1. 3. Saoirse 4/95, p.1. 4. MIM Theory 7, p.109 ($4.95 from MIM). 5. Saoirse 4/95, pp. 2, 6. 6. "Freedom Struggle of the Provisional IRA," 1973, p.12, quoted in: Sean Cronin, Irish Nationalism (New York: Continuum) 1985, p.206. 7. Cronin, p.206. 8. Saoirse 4/95, p.16. 9. MIM Notes 5/95, p.5. 10. Saoirse 5/95, p2. 11. LA Times 5/25/95; Daily Bruin 5/26/95. 12. Saoirse 5/95, p.3. * * * "WAR ON CRACK" = WAR ON BLACKS, LATINOS Despite evidence that large numbers of whites use and sell crack cocaine, federal law enforcement in Southern California has waged its "war on crack" almost exclusively in the internal colonies, sentencing Blacks and Latinos to some of the harshest drug penalties in the United States. Prosecutors hammer Black and Latino defendants with 10-year mandatory federal sentences while whites prosecuted in state courts face a maximum 5-year sentence. In the United States, whites account for over 67% of people who have ever used crack (2.3 million out of 3.4 million total) and 53% of those who used crack in the last year (488,000 out of 906,000). But less than 4% of the defendants prosecuted in federal courts for crack- related offenses in 1994 were white. Whites accounted for 51% of crack users in the Los Angeles metro area, but not a single white has been convicted of a crack cocaine offense in Los Angeles federal courts since 1986, and only 4% of those prosecuted in state courts were white. Federal lawyers deny that nation plays any role in prosecution patterns--but they openly admit that federal and local law enforcement agencies concentrate almost exclusively on minority communities. For example, 96% of those arrested during a 1989 anti-drug sweep of L.A. schools were minorities, because only minority schools were targeted. Whites charged with possessing enough crack to be prosecuted under federal laws are not referred for federal prosecution because they are not considered "big enough." They are considered to be middle-people while Blacks and Latinos are considered to be top dealers. At the same time, Blacks and Latinos are regularly handed over to federal prosecutors for possessing similar amounts (or less) than amounts for which whites are only charged locally. In many cases, undercover agents make larger and larger demands on suspects they buy from--entrapping suspects into carrying amounts sufficient for federal prosecution. Note: LA Times 5/21 /95. * * * MUMIA ABU-JAMAL FACES DEATH WARRANT JUNE 4, 1995--Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge has reenacted the death penalty in his state, and he has a perfect victim: Mumia Abu-Jamal, an outspoken journalist and former Black Panther who publicly documented police brutality and attacks on Black people in Philadelphia. Mumia's supporters are mobilizing support to put political pressure on Ridge and the courts to stop the execution. Many different groups, with differing political views, are joining to oppose the execution. The International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal has called for actions on July 3 & July 4. These include an emergency response rally on July 3 from 11am to 4pm at the Liberty Bell on 5th and Market Streets, Philadelphia. On July 4 from 10am to 9pm there will be an Free Mumia Conference at the Calvary Methodist Church at 48th and Baltimore, also in Philadelphia. MIM joins in the call for a stop to Mumia's murder. See below for how to help. Ridge signed the death warrant--setting the execution for 10 p.m. on August 17 of this year--to preempt legal challenges to the execution by Abu-Jamal's defense. Mumia's trial was a sham even by bourgeois legal standards. His new defense has prepared extensive arguments justifying a new trial that could result in Mumia's acquittal. Ridge, who campaigned on a promise to murder Mumia, remains staunchly set against justice. Mumia was framed for the righteous killing of a Philly cop engaged in an act of police brutality. Someone else killed the cop, but the Amerikan system of injustice-- backed up by the fascist anti-crime fever among a great majority of whites--demands that someone die for the killing of a pig. These fascists prefer to kill Mumia than the real killer, because Mumia is an outspoken leader who generates public opinion against the system. His political views, including his agreement with Mao Zedong that "power grows out of the barrel of a gun" were used as evidence against him in trial. Mumia Abu-Jamal's case is one of many crimes committed against the people by the imperialist state and its murderous Amerikan followers. Every day, hundreds of thousands of members of Amerika's oppressed internal colonies are held captive behind the bars of one of the world's most repressive legal establishments. Most of these people were not political activists when they were jailed, but more of them are becoming activists and revolutionaries every day. The struggle to end oppression in Amerika is much bigger than one case. MIM urges readers to learn about Mumia Abu-Jamal's case, and to take action to stop the murderous execution. MIM also urges readers to see this case as a symbol of the repressive injustice system, which itself is a tool for imperialist oppression in the USA and all over the world. Every month, MIM publishes letters and articles from revolutionary political prisoners all over this country. We send free subscriptions of our publications, and collect books to send to these prisoners. Get involved with this work, and contribute to the eventual liberation of millions from imperialism. Here's how to work directly to help defend Mumia Abu- Jamal: # Contribute to: Black United Fund/Mumia Abu-Jamal Accounts, 419 South 15th St., Philadelphia, PA, 19146--(215) 732-9266 # Join the emergency response network: (215) 476-8812. Leave phone numbers, fax numbers & e-mail addresses for updates and info on what to do now. # To get the racist executioner judge Albert Sabo off the case, call and fax these judges, urging them to take Sabo off the case: Judge Alex Bonavitacola phone: (215) 686-3770 fax: (215) 567-7328 Judge Legrome Davis phone: (215) 686 9534 fax: (215) 686-2865 # Write, call or fax to demand justice for Jamal: Governor Thomas Ridge, Main Capital Bldg., Room 225 Harrisburg, PA 17120 Phone: (717) 783-1198 Fax (717) 783-3369. If you find the numbers have been changed, contact Equal Justice USA at (301) 699-0042. # Subscribe to: The Jamal Journal P.O. Box 19709 Philadelphia, PA 19143 Call (215) 476-8812 for ad/sub rates. # E-mail Mumia at Mumia@aol.com and ask questions and show support. # Order Mumia's new book of essays "Live From Death Row," or cassette, from: Equal Justice USA P.O. Box 5206 Hyattsville, MD 20782 Tel: 301-699-0042 Fax: 301-864-2182. All proceeds go to the MAJ Defense Fund. # On the world wide web, see http://huizen.dds.nL:80/~tank/mumia002.htm for more information. # These people will provide information about upcoming rallies and events, or for press kits, photos, video- or audio-tapes: Pam Africa: (215) 476-8812; Noelle Hanrahan: (301) 699-0042; and The San Francisco Bay Area Network for Mumia: (415) 648-4505 EVENTS PROTEST MUMIA'S DEATH WARRANT, MAKE CONNECTIONS TO LARGER ISSUES In early and mid June all around Amerika, there were events protesting the signing of Mumia Abu-Jamal's death warrant. This writer attended several events in Western Massachusetts, discussing the significance of the government campaign against Mumia in the context of general government repression. MIM also spoke with several other activists about Mumia on a local radio station. At all the events, attendees struggled to make a broad analysis of national oppression and the political nature of crime. Someone would mention that the Philadelphia police are notoriously racist, and others would add an anecdote about Los Angeles. Discussion would then turn to local issues and increased pressure on youth by cops under the pretense of fighting "gangs". As people noted again and again, the really dangerous gangs are the ones in the marble homes and the blue and white cruisers. Mumia's case is a perfect example of the "justice" system being an oppressive institution that has nothing to do with justice. His persecution is also connected to his open revolutionary politics. Mumia's revolutionary politics and leadership skills have made the injustices done to him public, and helped provide a forum for exposure of the entire system. The judge in Mumia's trial may be more of an animal than most (even earning criticism from Mumia's prosecutor), but we should not endorse the rest of the system. Mumia addressed the error of looking at individual "bad apples" rather than corrupt systems in a commentary on the May 13, 1985 police bombing and mass murder of MOVE members. (MOVE is a Black nationalist back-to-nature group that was singled out by the Philadelphia police for extermination.) This commentary was read during an educational event at an anarchist bookstore in Northampton in mid-June: "Why did May 13 happen? To look at May 13, 1985 as an isolated act of official evil is to fall victim to the wave of propaganda that washed over much of America since that fiery, fateful day. City officials and much of the media have painted a picture of bungling, errors of judgment and misfortune. Who can forget the idiotic imagery of the Major of the City of 'Brotherly Love' defending the carnage of Osage Avenue with the words, 'Perfect ... except for the fire'? "The truth points a far more felonious finger at authorities and exposes such portraits as pure fraud, for the May 13 massacre was not a monumental 'boo-boo,' as in the sense suggested by both the politicians and press. May 13 was no mere 'mistake,' not a 'bad day' nor an incident showing 'bad judgment.' No. May 13 was an exercise of *deliberate mass murder*, one *planned* and premeditated for months beforehand! For months prior to May 13, 1985 police tested high explosives at a city facility in its Northeast section. Was it mere 'coincidence' that a federal agent of the United States Department of Justice (FBI) would *give* Philadelphia police over 37 1/2 lbs of a potent military explosive (C-4)? How about the cop who 'happened' to add C-4 to the satchel bomb--William Klein? Was that a 'boo-boo?' And what of the commissioners of the Police and Fire Departments? When else will people see such 'civil servants' as these, who: (a) start a residential fire; (b) fail to fight it; and (c) use it as a 'tactical weapon' of mass murder and destruction? How does one plan, construct, drop and detonate an incendiary bomb by mistake? How does one barbecue babies by 'boo-boo'?" A statement from Chokwe Lumumba, national Chairperson of the New Afrikan People's Organization (NAPO) pointed out that the MOVE bombing shared history with a similar bombing, the only other air bombing ever perpetrated by the u.s. government within Amerika. The first bombing was in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921. Black Tulsa residents were successfully beating back white mobs during a "red-blooded American lynching spree." The person who read the statements spoke briefly about the significance of the Police Commissioner's warning to MOVE moments before the bombing: "Attention, MOVE! This is America!" The artificial parallel between Mumia's planned execution and the execution of the Rosenbergs in 1953 came out at several events. During the radio show, one guest criticized reaching so far back in history for a comparison with white communists, while ignoring the daily repression of the Black Nation through the 1970s and 1980s. This guest argued that Mumia's work exposing Amerika's oppression of the Black Nation shows his revolutionary awareness that the problem is systemic oppression, not a problem of individuals. MIM added that Amerika uses different weapons at different times to silence its opponents. Fred Hampton had no trial before he was executed by the police and the FBI. Mumia Abu-Jamal's case is a bit stretched out, and people attempting to save him must turn this into a tactical advantage. We also pointed out that prisoners who are not openly political suffer from the same oppressive society that framed Mumia. Amerika has no moral authority to determine what is a "crime" and what is not. FREE MUMIA! JUSTICE FOR ALL PRISONERS! ALL PRISONERS ARE POLITICAL PRISONERS! * * * POLICE ARRESTED FOR ATTACKS AGAINST BLACKS, LATINOS IN NEW YORK by Blooming Tree "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? The headlines tell part of the story. On May 3, 1995, over a dozen police from New York's 48th Precinct were indicted. Charges range from 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 the man whose pit bull dog and semiautomatic weapon were stolen by police, and the person, in jail, was terrorized by police (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? Poor communities 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 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 proportions. We need a mass need a mass struggle for freedom and liberation and we need it now! 1. NYT 5/4/95, p. A18. 2. 1990 Census figures. 3. NYT 5/6/95, p. 16 (emphasis added). * * * = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = S P E C I A L M I M N O T E S S E C T I O N O N K O R E A = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = PROLETARIAT IN "MIRACLE" COUNTRY SQUEEZED HARD: COST OF LIVING EXCEEDS NEW YORK CITY PRICES WHILE WAGES REMAIN LOW by MIM correspondents It is well-known that Korean wages are low relative to those of wages in other countries, but the cost of living is not as well understood. The latest data shows that the cost of living in Seoul--the largest city of southern Korea with 10 million people--is 24 percent higher than that in New York City. The difference is not affected by the dollar's exchange rate, because the Korean currency is more or less fixed by the government in proportion to the U.S. dollar. Other cities that are more expensive than New York to live in but with lower wages include Brazzaville, Congo; Taipei,China; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Singapore, Malaysia; Douala, Cameroon; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Nairobi, Kenya; Dakar, Senegal; Dar Es Salaam, Amman, Jordan; Jakarta, Indonesia; Cairo, Egypt and Montevideo, Uruguay. Tied with New York in cost of living are Bangkok, Thailand and Lima, Peru. Only 12 cities out of 125 surveyed have costs of living less than 80 percent of that in New York. Bombay and New Delhi, India are the most important of these, ranking in at 76 percent of New York City costs. Another three cities in that category are from Canada, which is an indication that the difference in costs of living internationally is not radical. There is no denying that Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong have industrialized successfully compared with the rest of the Third World. For this reason, any difficult conditions faced by the working class in these places are indicative of even worse situations elsewhere in the Third World. DESPITE MINIMAL GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES, COSTS EXCEED WAGES In Korea, a labor aristocracy of the relative importance seen in the United States has not formed. Instead, the poor material condition of industrial workers remains the reason for the insecurity of Korean ruling class. MIM's research might show that the figure which says cost of living in Seoul is 24 percent higher than in New York may be low. Food prices in Korea are generally at least double what they are in the United States. It is possible to buy rice and kimchee prepared at fast- food restaurants for about a $1.33 for lunch. A scallion pancake is about the same price in the lowest- priced street-market cafeterias. By themselves, neither meal would be adequate nutritionally. A 15 ounce box of raisins is $4. Bananas may go for 50 cents a piece in the street market while approximately a pound of fresh peas costs up to $4. Any meal wi mtheat in it enters a price zone unfamiliar to U.S. residents. It is also common to see large pizzas sell for $20. The government subsidized Seoul subway costs only 45 cents. Any service sector consumption is cheaper in Korea than the United States: taxis, hair-cutting etc. The real killer of working class conditions in southern Korea is real estate. Speculation in Korea in the last decade has rivaled Japanese real estate pricing. A two- bedroom apartment in Seoul can cost $1000 per month. Most Korean families will spend perhaps $700 a month on rent--without women working for wages. There is a substantial class of Korean millionaires who have made their fortunes in real estate in recent years. They are capable of a lifestyle comparable to the nouveaux riche in the West. Their own fabulous wealth leads to common stories of spoiled children running around with wads of hundred dollar bills and leaving $100 tips; this wealth is coming at the expense of the working class in Korea. College graduates at Korea Telecom on semi-strike only earn $800 a month. Common lower wage grade workers make as little as $400 a month. Workers at comparable companies may make 29 to 40 percent more, but it is clear that even such better-paid workers are truly struggling to make ends meet. Note: USA Today (International Edition) 6/9/95, p. 2a. * * * STUDENT AND WORKER POLITICS FLAME IN SOUTHERN KOREA Southern Korean students and workers continue to demonstrate a high level of ideological awareness despite the doomsaying of bourgeois critics. In June, it seemed as if every college in Korea was holding a demonstration every day and with the arrest of the Telecommunications workers' union leader, the number of workers raising the stakes in struggle increased. DOOMSAYERS TRY SPIN CONTROL OF MASS MOVEMENT Attempting to make use of cultural conformity traditions, the capitalist press never stops talking about how the progressive movement in Korea is "cooling off." The tactic attempts to generate a self-fulfilling prophecy by pointing to "what everyone is doing." An article in the Korea Times titled "Students Favor Fun over Ideology" is a good example. It attempts to pit the wealthier supposedly apolitical students against the campus activists: "Then came the 1990s with all the political and social changes accompanying the fall of communism and the progress in democratization not to mention the improvement in the living standards and travel liberalization that have undermined the strength of student nationalism. "Ideologically, the college students had very little to base their argument on when the Berlin wall came tumbling down and domestic political advancement finally installed a non-military government for the first time in more than three decades. "Economically, their situation had improved dramatically with private tutoring being legalized once again and they were able to make bundles of money teaching high school students. "With money in their pockets and restrictions on foreign travel alleviated, Korean college students have been backpacking or enrolling in language courses in the U.S. and Europe during school vacations and returning with a much broader view of the world. "All this has greatly weakened the clout the student councils enjoyed over decision-making in campus activities. Collegians now prefer less ideologically oriented and more fun oriented activities for their time off from lectures and books."(1) The above quasi-government propaganda is wrong on numerous levels. First, the collapse of the Berlin Wall had little effect on the Korean activists; as MIM has reported for years, they were never very pro-Soviet, unlike communist-led movements in many countries. Through twists and turns and various factions, the vast majority profess a respect for Mao Zedong, who was the most accurate forecaster of the collapse of socialism in the Soviet bloc. Second, while the Kim Young-sam regime is indeed of tame "opposition" background, his election in 1992 did not change much that the students were protesting against. Students tabling with literature for hours at points all across Seoul National University were quick to point out to MIM that even setting up a literature table to support the labor struggle is illegal in southern Korea. Students in an organization called Patriotic Young Men continue to admire Stalin and Mao and said that the Kim Young-sam regime "is no different" than the preceding capitalist governments. Finally, the students today cannot be apolitical, as is proven by the fact that they continue to elect the most stout political activists as student government leaders. Numerous bystanders told MIM that they supported their student activist leaders, even if they don't voice their opinions as much. As the author of "Students Favor Fun Over Ideology" admits, the student government elections are rigorously democratic. The student council leaders continue to support protests, support each other nationally and get themselves arrested for their activities. MIM knows what it means when students are "cooled off." The mobilization of students in southern Korea is at such a level that the student governments have power beyond the imagination of their U.S. counterparts. ATTEMPTED DISTRACTIONS ALSO FAIL The southern Korean regime has done as much as possible to distract the students from politics. This includes encouraging tours to China and other foreign countries. We found banners and posters for China tours and learning English on every campus. These were the only banners that rivaled those of the political students in size and directness. As one China tour guide explained, the tours use China to show the students what a failure socialism is, because living standards in southern Korea are higher. This approach is pure capitalist nonsense; China is currently suffering under capitalist restoration and has been since 1976 when Mao died and the "Gang of Four" was arrested. MIM recognizes that travel is good for expanding people's understanding of other countries and other nations' style of life and standard of living. This expanded view is important to revolutionary internationalists because it improves their ability to converse with and work cooperatively with comrades in other countries. But the southern Korean government aims only to impress students with the wonders of capitalism abroad; and to promote travel for individualist reasons. One thing that has increased in Korea, but is not mentioned in the "Fun over Ideology" article, is the use of MTV-like soft pornography in cultural realms. In MIM's 1987 report on the Korean student movement, students still did not wear shorts because of a concern for traditional sexual morality. Today, a minority of women wear shorts and many wear mini-skirts. The regime has allowed this trend as ads on television, in the subways and on billboards scream at the youth to take up the diversion of romance culture. The writer of the "Fun Over Ideology" article is correct that students have more money in their pockets than in the past. This is partly a result of the Korean economic boom and class polarization creating a genuine capitalist class and petty-bourgeoisie. Another part of the money comes in the form of frenzied demand for private tutoring of high school students. Private spending on education exceeds six percent of GNP, while public spending is only 3.9 percent of GNP. Parents desperately seek to have their children succeed on entrance exams for college and college students can earn money tutoring high school students for the exam.(2) On many campuses, bystanders will tell the curious that until 1987 and the adoption of the pretense of democratic presidential elections, students fought police every day. Things have "cooled off" since then though; not every demonstration held every day ends in police fighting students. MIM agrees that the movement has "cooled off." But it continues every day and in much more diverse forms than we read about in the Western press. LEADERS MOVE WITH THE PEOPLE The Korean mass movement's leaders are skilled in swimming in the sea of the masses. They make the regime pay for every inevitable mistake it makes, and always take the high ground of opposition to colonialism and support of redistribution of wealth. On June 6th, the regime arrested labor leaders on church grounds. Within 72 hours Christian and Buddhist leaders denounced the government; students at Seoul National University, the leading university collected 7,000 signatures in a student body of 30,000; university workers at Seoul National University went on strike; and a group of chanting students advocated unified national health care in place of the current system of "chaos." Demonstrations not necessarily directly in support of the labor leaders took place on every campus. This was the same day that students firebombed the Japanese Cultural Center; and a demonstration against U.S. troops took place at the Seoul Subway Station along with a one-man sit-in by the person beaten in the subway. Students MIM interviewed who did not take part in the demonstrations expressed support for these student actions. When asked why they and others did not participate, one student said "Police intimidate others; most students [are] afraid." MOVEMENT MUSEUM The regime may survive temporarily by telling the Korean people lies about crazy, randomly violent students, but millions of people have seen the truth up close and it is not likely that this generation of political leaders will ever enjoy the political stability they desire. Something so inconvenient as a photograph or videotape quickly punctures the regime's lies. One of the most militant of the demonstrations for the labor leaders took place at Yonsei University on June 9th. About four hundred students listened to sharply punctuated speeches, chants and songs. They raised their fists together, distributed photograph books of past regime repressions and staged a virtual movement museum complete with a sample tear gas canister for people's education. Another item on display was a Molotov cocktail constructed by a female university student. Helmets, gloves, protective kneepads and other demonstrator clothing were all on display. The earnestness of the Yonsei youth is just one warning to the regime that there is only so far it can go before a true explosion of the people brings the regime down. Symbolizing the difficulties of the regime, one gray-haired and one white-haired man wearing clothes from another generation asked MIM to distribute leaflets to the people. Anti-government politics thrive outside the student movement as well; the regime will have to do more than repress students to kill these politics. Campuses throughout Seoul were thoroughly politicized as enlarged photographs of regime brutality against the people lined the roads on campuses in the aftermath of labor union leader arrests. It would be impossible for a Korean student to avoid this political struggle despite the steady drumbeat of regime lies and quasi- governmental news media. Even CNN contributed slightly by admitting that Korean police attacked the June 4 demonstration by students in solidarity with the labor movement before students used force. Over 10,000 people attended this demonstration, according to student leaders. No wonder the people so widely support the students wielding Molotov cocktails and sticks. Many times and in public places outside campuses, it is not possible to hold demonstrations any other way. FOLLOWING ARRESTS, DEMONSTRATIONS CONTINUE June 7th, after the arrests of the labor leaders in the churches, the students held another solidarity demonstration which was attended by over 1,000 people to protest the government actions in the churches. At this demonstration 80 students were arrested. June 9th there was an all night demonstration at Korea University in protest of the arrests of the students and the following day a memorial service and demonstration at Sungkyunkwan University in solidarity with labor movements. The memorial service at Sungkyunkwan was attended by thousands of people filling a football stadium commemorating the many people killed by government repression. Student contingents from universities across Seoul attended carrying bright flags, many with pictures of raised fists or other revolutionary symbols or words, proudly displaying the activism of their campuses. Not far away from this memorial, a smaller group of students held a demonstration in solidarity with the labor unions. This demonstration did not feature the sophisticated loud speaker system of the memorial service, but these radical students wore red arm bands of solidarity and also carried flags with school names on them and enthusiastically chanted slogans with the speakers. The rally was organized by the national student council and attended by the more class conscious of the students, contributing to the radicalism on the campus of Sungkyunkwan University that Saturday. WOMEN'S UNIVERSITY LESS POLITICIZED MIM talked with a number of student leaders at Ewha University, the largest women's university in southern Korea. These student council members said that women in their organization make up the majority of the active students on campus. In spite of their small numbers, these women are a strong part of the progressive movement. Five of the 80 students arrested protesting the government action in the churches were from Ewha including their student council president and vice president. When asked why more women were not active they explained that it is related to the culture and position of women in society. Even women who attend college can not expect to get a job when they graduate. Most women are encouraged to study at a university so that they can find a good husband because many of the "best men" search for wives at the universities. This attitude is reflected in the selection of majors at Ewha which includes "Home Management." Women who want to get a job after graduation generally have to move to another country to pursue a higher degree and get a job there. The united states and Canada are top choices for these women. The women expressed a conviction that there is a need for feminism and change in women's role in southern Korean society. They pointed out that many prominent feminist speakers come to their campus and they, along with other radical student councils, are struggling for equality of the genders as a part of their overall goals. HIGH IDEOLOGICAL LEVEL OF STUDENTS The student council at Hongik University opened discussions with MIM saying that "students involved in student union look for socialism." All of the students there agreed in their support for Marx, though there was disagreement over Lenin, Trotsky, and Mao. These students uphold themselves as the left wing of the student movements as Marxists and internationalists organizing for revolution. One student responded to a question about the goals of the recent student demonstrations saying "Our campus, surrounded by capital and violence, is struggling...in spite of problems, our common future is forever" expressing the anti-capitalist sentiments of the movement and the strong solidarity felt for the masses in Korea. Another student said "[the] working class movement is [the] essential problem" expressing the strong class consciousness of the students. The majority of students MIM spoke with said that the U.S. army should go home. There was a minority of non- active students who believed the government propaganda that the U.S. army is necessary to guard against war with northern Korea. But even these students demonstrated a high level of ideological awareness on other issues. One such student expressed support for the recent student demonstrations saying "the demonstrations are connected with redistribution of wealth. Some day conditions will be much better. Now redistribution of wealth is not enough." Students lead the struggle for reunification of northern and southern Korea. A Hongik university student said "I think that unification is working class movement." Several students made it clear that they don't support talks between two presidents as a means to achieve reunification because this would not be an action on behalf of the working class. A woman from Seoul National University who was not active in the demonstrations expressed support for the actions saying that the demonstrations force "people to think about affairs more. The nation needs to accept students' thought." She went on to explain that even the less active students are constantly studying social affairs. "Studying social affairs is important and then, [after studying, students] act. Action is based in thought." This student concluded the interview by saying "Thank you for writing about our State," a sentiment of the importance of internationalism that was common among the people MIM spoke with. Many student activists were as interested in learning about politics in the U.S. as they were in describing their own struggles. We had discussions about the labor aristocracy in Amerika, MIM's position on feminism and on homosexuality, the significance of revolutionary nationalism to communists and other topics. The students were clear about their interest in solidarity with U.S. progressive movements and at the end of the discussions at Hongik University students presented MIM with a gift of a bag they had made that says on it "small effort big distribution, student welfare committee" which they used to collect clothing for the poor in a recent campaign on their campus. Notes: 1. Korea Times 6/9/95, p. W-1. 2. Korea Herald 6/9/95, p. 3. * * * OUTRAGE AND PROTEST AGAINST JAPANESE IMPERIALISM IN SOUTHERN KOREA by MIM correspondents As Japan's parliament worked to formulate and approve a resolution of regret for its colonialist actions in World War II, the Socialist Party president in power had to threaten resignation and the collapse of the government to obtain the resolution. At this 50th anniversary of the end of the war, many members of the Japanese government opposed any statement admitting Japanese wrong-doing. Yet the southern Korean government thinks this apology is important because it wants to offer its people up to exploitation by Japan again while putting on an anti- imperialist face. The southern Korean government is forced to appear anti-Japanese by the masses of southern Korea who will not be so easily fooled into accepting Japanese colonization. One of the lies that the capitalist internationalists tell the world is that capitalism brings peace through expanding world trade, and that this creates economic harmony. As they inch toward world government, the capitalist internationalists attempt to lull the proletariat with false promises of peace. Watanabe ignores trade concerns; antagonizes the Korean and Chinese people Former Japanese foreign minister Michio Watanabe, a key politician of Japan's most powerful political party-- the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)--opposed the resolution of regret before being forced to concur with the Socialists. In early June, he justified Japan's invasion and annexation of Korea between 1910 and 1945 as an action that was concluded "amicably, not by force."(2) Every incident like this inflames the peoples of Korea and China against Japan, because both countries suffered under Japanese invasion and colonial rule before Japan's loss in World War II. Watanabe is aware of this fact, but he persists in his reactionary nationalism anyway. Even as a leader in the LDP--which has had power the longest in Japan, and is an important bourgeois faction in a country heavily reliant on trade--Watanabe does not express peaceful internationalism in the name of promoting trade. Instead he allies himself with redneck reactionaries in Japan instead. MASSES' RESPONSE OVERSHADOWS GOVERNMENT TALK Anti-Japanese imperialism sentiments are strong in Korea as the memory of exploitation and oppression under Japanese occupation is clear in the people's minds. The southern Korean government strongly condemned Watanabe's remarks but their response in words was nothing compared to the outrage and action of the masses of southern Korea. On June 6th, members of the group Sochongnyon, the activist federation of student councils of Seoul universities, fire-bombed a Japanese Cultural Center in Seoul, destroying part of the building. The students were chanting slogans that included "Repent Colonial Atrocities," and "Stern Warning to Conspiracy to Revive Colonialism" and scattered leaflets accusing Japan of "trying to whitewash its brutality in the past."(3) The students had to fight their way past riot police already guarding the building to get close enough to throw the fire bombs. (These riot police guard all potentially controversial buildings at all times in addition to many random street corners and areas around universities.) 58 people were arrested.(2) The Korea Times reported that 13 university students were being held and prosecuted on charges of violating the Law on the Use of Firebombs.(4) Members of an association of bereaved families of those who died fighting Japanese imperialism protested Watanabe's remarks on June 5th in downtown Seoul. In addition, other organizations held rallies to condemn Watanabe's statements and call for apologies. WITH MINOR APOLOGIES, IMPERIALISM CHARGES AHEAD In response to the protests, Watanabe apologized and retracted the key word "peacefully" from his earlier statement "Japan peacefully took over Korea in 1910" but he did not go any further in retracting his remarks.(2) This resolution leaves the Japanese government apologizing for past imperialism while charging full speed ahead as a modern imperialist on a global scale. The apology was necessary because past imperialist acts were taken against countries that Japan now wants as allies. No apology was made to Peru or any of the other current colonies which remain politically powerless and hence unimportant to Japan's international image. The government even plans to tear down a building in Seoul that used to be the Japanese administration headquarters but which was since converted into a museum. They say that this is in response to the memories of Japanese imperialism that this building invokes. But token actions of tearing down unused buildings and criticizing Watanabe's statements do not change the comprador nature of the southern Korean government which is now servant to a different master: U.S. imperialism. Notes: 1. The Korea Times, 6/10/95, p.1. 2. The Korea Times, 6/7/95, p.4. 3. The Korea Herald, 6/7/95, p.1. 4. The Korea Times, 6/9/95, p.3. * * * DANKOOK STUDENTS REBEL: EDUCATION SYSTEM CRITICIZED by MIM correspondents In early June, students at Dankook University in Seoul, Korea, rioted against their conditions at the University. Hundreds of Korean riot police with shields, batons and tear gas were posted to control the demonstration. Riot police throughout the city and the occasional Korean Army grouping protected government buildings. Dankook scared the Korean regime, because of its proximity to foreigners, especially U.S. citizens. Across the street from the Dankook demonstration, U.S. troops sat on rooftops watching the Korean police and students. The U.S. troops were to "protect" a nearby residential compound composed largely of foreigners, especially U.S. citizens. The Dankook students have a gripe with the University administration's plans to move the school to new physical locations and change admissions requirements. Two separate students said that it "was very complicated" to explain the problems of just "our university." Several Korean college administrations are moving to admit students if their parents make a sufficient donation to the college. Yonsei University has come out in favor of using any admissions process that will increase its own prestige, including the donation route. The students rallied late into afternoon and finally were filing out to the sounds of classical music over loudspeakers. Nonetheless, formations of Korean riot police continued to guard key intersections. LOCAL CONDITIONS AT UNIVERSITIES The idea of purchasing admissions is not unique to Korean universities. MIM has heard Harvard University admissions officers argue that the last few seats of every college class should be auctioned to the highest bidders so that the funds could be used to support poorer students. In capitalist education there really can be a rationale for selling college admissions. Sogang University in southern Korea has adopted this line of thinking for itself.(1) Today in southern Korea, some have argued that adopting a more American approach to education would be more humane and encourage better-rounded students. And college administrators have taken advantage of dissatisfaction with the examination system to make admissions decisions based on money or other confidential criteria. One student from Hangik University referred to the spring demonstrations as Korean students rallying against the effects of capitalism on education. A week after the Dankook demonstration on local conditions, Hangik had its own. At Hangik, a large nine-story building is under construction right in front of the gate to the college. Students say that the fact that the building is for bars and dancing while there is no bookstore in the neighborhood shows that capitalism cannot rationally address the needs of education. About 100 students marched at Hangik on June 9. Simultaneous demonstrations across the city supported striking workers, opposed Japanese imperialism and grieved against the U.S. colonial presence of 38,000 troops still under U.S. command. CONFUCIAN AND NEO-CONFUCIAN EDUCATION The Confucian tradition has been to have a single standardized national examination to determine one's future, in terms of college admissions and also in terms of the eventual ability to obtain jobs in both the civil service and in the corporations of Confucian cultures. The examination process in Korea and China is clearly linked to suicide among high school seniors, whose lives depend on a score sufficient to get into college. Under Mao Zedong in China, examination grades as the criteria for getting ahead were downplayed in favor of a process of political recommendations from one's peers and superiors. The line behind this was that only those with a demonstrated desire to serve the people and apply their knowledge to this purpose should obtain the scarce resources for college education that were afforded to one percent of the population. A movie on this topic available in some Amerikan video stories is titled "Breaking with Old Ideas." In the process of capitalist restoration, Deng Xiaoping and crew have restored the national examination system in China. Now southern Korea and China have similar neo-Confucian approaches to education. THE U.S. CONNECTION Some incidents between U.S. soldiers and the Korean people have outraged Koreans from all different classes. In one incident in a subway on May 19, Koreans alleged that a U.S. soldier was sexually harassing a Korean woman. The words "violated" and "assaulted" were used by some Koreans simultaneously with "teasing." The press used the words "sexual harassment" and "fondling."(2) The U.S. soldier most directly involved in the incident claimed the woman was his wife and hence the Korean "mob" that rose to "protect" a "violated" Korean woman has a dubious gripe. He received some substantiation when the woman failed to step forward to prosecutors. The troops were prosecuted for beating the Korean bystanders.(3) Further indicating the possibility that the U.S. soldier was telling the truth, prosecutors also indicted his wife for helping in the brawl.(2) This incident could just be a bad reflection on both the American and Korean sides of the conflict, as is so often the case with patriarchy. MIM was not on the scene of the incident and it is not MIM policy to base an argument on a single case. The truth in the Korean discussion of this incident--even as political metaphor or symbol--is that U.S. troops answer to U.S. authorities. One student at the Dankook demonstration, who was kindly explaining why U.S. troops were looking at the demonstration pointed out that if U.S. troops commit a crime against Koreans, "we cannot punish them." In an incident which demonstrates that the Korean masses are correct, on June 8th, the press learned that a U.S. employee of the Eighth U.S. Army legally fled Korea on April 13, after being convicted of "beating up his Korean girlfriend." The incident is embarrassing to the southern Korean regime, because it underscores its U.S. puppet status. The southern Korean ruling class has considerable independence relative to many poorer Third World comprador regimes, but the united states has failed to bring the convicted man back to Korea for justice thus far.(3) Oppressor country citizens' immunity from the laws of a colony is a mark of colonialism. In China, Mao broke the imperialists' hold on China's cities and forced foreigners to obey Chinese laws. Although Korea is in many ways very powerful and modern, the Koreans have yet to gain the power for themselves that Mao Zedong seized in 1949 at the expense of imperialists and their lackeys. MIM believes one interviewed Dankook student that it is likely that such incidents "always happen; we like the Americans, but not the troops." The most radical activists always carefully distinguish between the American people and U.S. troops. The ruling class media tries to make the issue one of simple "anti- Americanism," as a way to aggravate various nationalisms to their own benefit. Yet surveys show that Koreans are not anti-American. Perhaps the issue should be anti-Amerikanism. But the real issue in the Korean people's minds is anti-colonialism. U.S. TROOPS ARE NOT COMPLETELY IN THE DARK Some in Korea and Amerika already regard the 38,000 troops as an anachronism given Korea's evident economic muscle and ability to run its own affairs. The troops themselves are not immune to these thoughts. One former GI has already called for the troops to be sent home, partly to make up the U.S. budget deficit.(4) The troops in Korea can have a good time at the bars and dance clubs made for Americans. Apart from having fun shopping, dancing, smoking and whoring in the post- Cold War world, the U.S. soldiers live out a bundle of contradictions in Korea. There are numerous Black troops in Korea and one bar for Americans flies the Puerto Rican flag for its clientele. One might wonder how the youth from the Puerto Rican colony feel about serving in the Korean colony. There must be strong feelings of ambiguity, especially after incidents like that on the subway, where it will seem that the troops got something different than what they bargained for. Another contradiction the troops face is that while some Koreans support their presence there and Americans are generally well-liked, politics and law enforcement are very different in Korea from the united states. One member of the U.S. military we spoke with openly expressed his sardonic appraisal of the ever-present Korean riot police. In Amerika there is not such a powerful worker and student movement and riot police are not on the street everyday. Notes: 1. Korea Times 6/6/95, p. 3. 2. Korea Times 6/11/95, p. 3. 3. Korea Times 6/9/95, p. 3; Korea Times 6/11/95, p. 3. 4. Korea Times 6/10/95, p. 6. * * * KIM SUN-MYUNG: GOOD COMMUNIST IN PRISON Surpassing the Nelson Mandela-era political prisoners in South Africa, Kim Sun-myung has been in southern Korean prison since 1951 for refusing to renounce his belief in communism. Now there is a movie about him and other prisoners called "Perfect Encounter." Kim's 44 years in prison appear to be the world record for political prisoners. He is in solitary confinement and the regime allows him no attorney. Notes: Korea Times June 6, 1995, p. 10. * * * HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT-TEACHER ROMANCES COMMON A spate of stories about romance between high school teachers and students emphasizes the decadence of romance culture in Korea. "In a 1993 national survey, 25 percent of girls and 10 percent of boys in grades 8 through 11 said they had been sexually harassed by a member of the faculty or staff during high school. "In an earlier survey of North Carolina high school graduates, 13.5 percent said they had had intercourse with a teacher." Notes: Associated Press in Korea Times 6/6/96, p.11. * * * FOOD POLITICS "Even food has become a weapon in the bitter rivalry between North and South Korea. The South warned Japan not to grant the North's request for emergency shipments of rice until the North responds to the South's offer for help."(1) According to Japan, the U.S. and their puppet media, northern Korea has asked for rice to feed starving people. Southern Korea is crowing over this alleged fact and making propaganda of it every day in the press. To draw out the issue over time, the southern Korean regime initially approved rice aid unconditionally. Now it is attaching political conditions. The new policy of politicking with food started May 27 and there is still nothing that the press reports new of the north Koreans' response. It's just the same old stale news recycled from Japanese news services again and again. As of June 11, the southern Koreans' newspapers are still reporting the same old thing. Notes: 1. USA Today (International Edition) 6/9/95, p. 5a. 2. Korea Times 5/28/95, p. 2. * * * STUDENTS AND UNIONS SUPPORT TELECOM WORKERS A measure of Korean union and student leaders' close relationship to the masses is their ability to deliver on threats to organize. So far, they have delivered on all the threats they have made in connection to the Telecom struggle.(see "Korea Telecom workers arrested" in this issue) On June 6, a national labor alliance threatened to hold anti-government rallies on June 10 and engage each of its unions in the struggle the following week if the regime didn't back down.(1) On June 10, one anti- government rally at Sungkyunkwan University filled a stadium. Even the Korean government television covered the unrest. As at other universities, the Sungkyunkwan demonstration on June 10 featured long rows of enlarged pictures of missing, dead or injured activists repressed by the U.S.-backed regime. The parents and other relatives of the victims of government repression had special seats in the stadium. Huge banners featuring workers and people from both the North and South in a smiling unity were further proof of the professional nature of the organizing. A Korean band of traditional drummers also entertained the audience as did several guitar players. At this rally, petitions for imprisoned workers circulated. MIM sent the organization behind that drive a token sum just over $50 and a statement from MIM mentioning prisoners here in the "United States" as well. As MIM Notes goes to press it is apparent that other unions realize that the position of the Telecom union is related to their own situation. Subway workers sprang into action before the week was out with 77 percent of 8,046 people participating in a meeting that voted for collective struggle. Only 21 percent opposed the actions.(2) Seoul National University workers also went on strike. Notes: 1. Korea Times 6/7/95, p. 3. 2. Korea Herald 6/11/95, p. 3. * * * KOREA TELECOM UNION LEADERS ARRESTED The Kim Young-sam regime arrested 13 leaders of the Korea Telecom union of 50,000 workers on June 6th. They had taken refuge in Buddhist and Christian temples and churches, where the religious authorities refused to turn them over. For two weeks they had successfully protested the regime's attack on their union.(1) The quasi-governmental Korea Times reported that "the 13 union leaders are suspected of masterminding the seizure of the office of information-communications minister in April and the assault against senior officials of Korea Telecom to demonstrate their defiance against the government's policy to open the telecommunications market to foreign service providers and limit the wage increase rate to under 3 percent."(1) According to the quasi-governmental Korea Herald, "it was the first time that police forces have been sent in to the Catholic church in its 98-year history."(2) Telecom workers' union chair Yu Tok-sang is still at large underground. He called for demonstrations in 12 places to step up the struggle. The workers had already begun "work-to-rule" procedures: denying state employers the usual overtime while unleashing a campaign of politeness to the public to win its sympathy. The workers make it clear that they are on strike against their employers, not the public. Under the best of circumstances, southern Korean workers average 44 hours per week and work on Saturdays. CAPITALISTS CALL WORKERS' POWER STRUGGLE "ILLEGAL" The Korean capitalist class rarely expresses itself honestly and clearly, because many disagree with its view that workers are not entitled to demand as much pay as workers in Japan or other imperialist countries. The capitalists believe paying the workers more is "illegal" and "harmful" to the national economy. In 1990 the Korean Supreme Court ruled that it is illegal for workers to stop working overtime if employers are used to having them work overtime, which workers do in most of Korea.(3) When the press inveighs against "illegal" union activities, this includes any power struggle of workers against their employers. Conformity with employers and legality are synonymous. MIM finds it ironic that the bourgeois propagandists, who call for rational dialogues between workers and employers in the national interest, argue that employers deserve their position under the natural law of survival of the fittest. The government is expected and allowed to privatize Korea Telecom, demand overtime, allow foreign competition, pay less than other exploiting employers, wonder why there is so little order and so much unrest and then expect workers not to engage in a power struggle. MIM believes that such a short-sighted class is doomed to extinction. The capitalists use their ideology of economic Liberalism to try to persuade workers not to organize collectively, but to go one-on-one against the capitalist class. This hopeless method is the capitalist class' only means of survival. OPPORTUNIST ENEMIES ATTEMPT TO BANK ON THE STRUGGLE; CHURCHES ARE SUPPORTIVE Opportunists in the opposition Democratic Party opposed the arrest of the union leaders, but held that the issue should be settled through dialogue and not power struggle. The Democrats claimed to fear that the government would win public support at the local elections on June 27 if the workers did not restrain their demands.(4) The churches' reactions were friendly to the workers. The Catholic church at Myongdong Cathedral rang funeral bells at 4 p.m. every day and protested the arrest of demonstrating students at their Cathedral. "20 church men and nuns blocked police vans carrying the students at the cathedral gate."(5) In response to this opposition, the police reportedly apologized and released the students. The Catholics then started a sit-in protest and gained the endorsements of the National Catholic Alliance for Justice. On June 9, Cardinal Kim Sou-whan said such occurrences did not happen under the worst of past military dictatorships, echoing the students' conviction that Kim Young-sam is no better than those military dictators. The National Alliance for Democracy and Unification also denounced the police.(5) MIM stands with the Korean telephone workers against privatization and the opening of the economy to imperialist competition. We also sent a token sum of about $35 to support the struggle and we are undertaking a campaign to sell T-shirts bearing a likeness of a Korean Telecom union leader; most of the revenue will go to support the Korean workers, the rest will go to postage and publicity of the Korean workers here. Though we may have some disagreements with the organizers of the struggle, there is no question that MIM supports the Korean proletariat against the U.S.- backed Korean regime. We call on our readers to help us with this campaign to support the Korean workers' struggle by buying T- shirts. Let the success of this campaign be one of many for international solidarity with the exploited workers of the world, each campaign an example for the next successful campaign. Residents of the united states have a special responsibility in this matter, as the Korean regime is a product of U.S. invasion and colonialism. Notes: 1. Korea Times 6/7/95, p. 1. 2. Korea Herald 6/7/95, p. 1. 3. Korea Times 5/28/95, p. 3. 4. Korea Herald 6/7/95, p. 2. 5. Korea Herald 6/9/95, p. 3; Korea Times 6/10/95, p. 1. ============================================= BUY REVOLUTIONARY T-SHIRTS, TUNES AND POSTERS ABOUT KOREAN LABOR STRUGGLES ============================================= SOLIDARITY T-SHIRTS ------------------- Limited edition T-shirts in solidarity with southern Korean labor struggles. T-shirt displays picture of labor leader who is currently in prison for his activism. Blue on white and gray on white available. XL or XXL sizes. $10 with a year subscription to MIM Notes ($12) or purchase of any issue of MIM Theory ($5).$12 without subscription or MIM Theory purchase. REVOLUTIONARY MUSIC ------------------- Tape/CD of songs from labor leaders in southern Korea. All music in Korean. Three different tapes available, one on CD as well. Limited copies, first come first serve. $10 for tapes with year subscription to MIM Notes ($12) or purchase of any issue of MIM Theory ($5)$15 for CDs with year sub to MIM Notes or purchase of any issue of MIM Theory With no other purchase Tapes: $15; CDs: $20 Posters ------- Solidarity poster of labor march superimposed on globe, blue on black. Limited copies. $5 with one-year subscription to MIM Notes ($12) or purchase of any issue of MIM Theory ($5) $7 with no sub or MIM Theory purchase * * * UNDER LOCK & KEY NOTIFICATION OF DISAPPROVAL--PUBLICATIONS Title of publication: MIM Notes #97 Publisher: Maoist Internationalist Movement Pages which meet disapproval criteria: various pages Description of material that meets disapproval criteria: Calif. Code of Regulations, title 15: Any matter of a character tending to incite murder; arson; riot; or any form of violence or physical harm to any person, or any ethnic, gender, racial, religious, or other group. AB-95/1 --Pelican Bay State Prison, California, 3/29/95 IOWA CENSORS MIM NOTES MIM Notes #95, 12/94, ... has been reviewed by the Publications Review Committee and found to be in violation of Standard "4A" of this committee's standards. This standard is: "Is likely to be disruptive or produce violence." This publication is being returned to the institution. You will have five days to advise where you want it sent. After that time, this publication will be disposed of by the institution.... Sincerely, --Jim McKinney, Iowa Dept. of Corrections (sic) Deputy Director--Institutions, 1/27/95 MIM RESPONDS TO THE PRISONCRATS AT PELICAN BAY AND IOWA STATE: We plead not guilty on all counts. We believe that the masses will have to resort to armed struggle to end imperialism, capitalism and patriarchy, because oppressors like you will give up your power without violence. But far from inciting murder, arson, riot or violence, we make it clear that such actions here and now are counterproductive. Instead, we encourage people to organize with MIM to build public opinion for the construction of a world without oppression. MIM Notes readers can send letters of protest to Mailroom, Pelican Bay State Prison, P.O. Box 7500, #SHU-C9-122, Crescent City, CA 95532-7500 and Publications Review Committee, Iowa State Penitentiary, Fort Madison, IA 52627. Please send a second copy to MIM. POLITICAL MURDER On December 6th, I lost a friend--killed by police on the streets of Kansas City. He was Black, 38, born in Chicago and moved to Birmingham, Alabama at age 14. Other than the spirit of Cinque in his heart there was no advance notice of his death. It's taken me four months to connect with someone in Kansas City that can help me find out why Mike Turner died so violently and what happened with his body. Also in December, a young Dominican man was beaten and choked to death by police officers in the Bronx. Anthony Baez succumbed to the blue terror while his family and friends looked on in horror. February, in Patterson, New Jersey an unarmed 16-year- old manchild--Lawrence Myers--had his brains blown out by a housing project cop working for federal dollars. The shooter was white. The victim was Black. The only warning any of them got was color and class. The list is endless. For Mumia Abu-Jamal there was an additional warning. The state has proclaimed loud and clear its intention to kill him. The state is backed in its warning by the Philadelphia Police Department, judicial compliance, and a sickening apathy on the part of too many people. The facts demonstrate that Mumia was beaten and shot by Philadelphia police in a city notorious for police murders and brutality. They show that Mumia's trial was fundamentally unfair and that he was framed by a hanging judge. The fact is this system places no human value on Mumia's life but does place symbolic value on killing a principled and courageous defender of the Black Nation. Mumia has been made a target of opportunity in a political climate rancid with racism and reaction. It's often said that it is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness. That's fine as far as it goes but it is presently not deep or strong enough to deter the State's executioners. We are at a point beyond candle vigils that reflect little besides moral indignation. We are beyond the point of watching and staring in disbelief. Protest must continue and increase, but it is the fire of resistance that must be ignited. And I don't mean the path of least resistance. I mean resistance that fires from the heart rather than a sense of obligation. I mean sacrifices that compensate in some meaningful way for the shameful indifference that afflicts so many who should be supporting Mumia. Political murder grants nothing to moderation. We live in a country that passed a "crime bill" imposing the death penalty for 50 new offenses at the same time a national day of mourning was declared for a war criminal like Richard Nixon. We all bear some degree of responsibility for this American nightmare. We are all responsible for rectifying it. The Law functions as an ethical sanction of state violence. It's the government's trump card; the corporate ace in the hole. Cops kill us with impunity and we are hurled into the world's largest prison system while the quality of life gets pulled from under us by King Capitalism. Those who rule have the law and most of the guns on their side. Mumia's lifeblood and political activism have roots in the Middle Passage and Black bondage. The law has its own bloody roots in supporting genocide, slavery, racism and the penitentiary system. The use and abuse of the law from the patrol car to the Supreme Court only adds to the debilitating effects of lives rubbed raw by oppression--an oppression Mumia has resisted since his formative years with the Black Panther Party. To respect and defend Mumia is to act.... I'm reminded of Ida B. Wells and her hard-fought campaign against lynching. Throughout her many years of activism she was dismayed with the large number of professionals who put their positions and comforts over the needs of a community under attack. And for the uninitiated let me add that Ida B. Wells possessed a big pistol which she acquired after seeing enough men lynched to know that bitter fruit is most often Black, and the system attacks the most vulnerable. It is my view that the rights due us by virtue of our humanity and labor are continuously violated, and that no comprehensive relief or solutions lie with the courts. However, this is not to say that battles cannot be won through the law. For this reason, every avenue of the law should be pursued to save the life of Mumia and others. What I am saying is that it may not be enough, and for THAT reason other avenues need to utilized in local, national, and international efforts to stop this execution. We need to go beyond the merely acceptable to another level of energy, commitment and possibilities. Every neighborhood, every workplace, union, church, mosque, NAACP chapter, Leonard Peltier Defense Committee--every National Lawyers Guild member--needs to get down in a serious way with this campaign. No one should claim immunity or prior commitments: it's going to take sweat and maybe pain. It's going to take a big noise and maybe confrontation. This is a commitment that requires whatever it takes for as long as it takes. --a federal prisoner in Colorado, 4/95 For more information about the railroading of Mumia Abu- Jamal, the "Voice of the Voiceless," contact: Pennsylvania Committee To Free Mumia, Box 10174, Pittsburgh, PA 15232-0174, (412) 361-2889 Noelle Hanrahan, Equal Justice USA (301) 699-0042 Coalition To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal (212) 330-8029 Write: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, SCI Greene, 1040 E. Roy Furman Highway, Waynesburg, PA 15370-8090 International Political Prisoners unite to save Mumia Abu Jamal: Art and writings against the death penalty Sisters and brothers, more than 90 politic palrisoners from the United States, France, Germany, Chile, Belgium, Denmark, Spain and Peru have contributed art and work, crafts and writings to our collective project: Art and Writings Against the Death Penalty. We are grateful to everyone inside who has contributed and to those on the street who have given our work a means of expression. The response from prisoners was perhaps no surprise, but the project has also been enthusiastically embraced by many people outside. The art and performance aspects of this unprecedented effort are reaching into new communities with our call for solidarity with Mumia and every person on death row. WE ARE BEING HEARD! The art show recently concluded a month-long exhibition at the Art Gallery of the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building in New York. The show will be on display in various American cities during the year and will be in Toronto in August. Many of the art pieces contributed in the first call have already been sold with the condition that they will continue to travel with the exhibit. None of us, however, expected this project to carry on through the entire year and there is a practical need to deliver some of the artwork by June to those who have already purchased it. There will be more opportunities to sell more artwork and crafts during the upcoming tour and funds for Mumia's defense are still urgently needed. If, due to the deadline of the original call, you haven't had the chance to contribute, you can do so now. If you have already contributed, please consider contributing additional pieces of artwork....You can contribute works to: Political Prisoners Unite 164 Lexington Jersey City, NJ 07034 (201) 420-9434 --reprinted from Prison News Service, 3/95. PNS can be reached at P.O. Box 5052, Stn. A, Toronto, Ont., Canada M5W 1W4 PRISONER USES MIM'S SPANISH-LANGUAGE WORK AS AN ORGANIZING TOOL Dear MIM, I just wanted to keep you up to date with what's happening in the Washington Correctional (sic) Center for Women. The last time I wrote you, I told you that the mattresses were being taken away down in segregation. This has been stopped. I've been down there twice since I last wrote--due to the fact that I won't kiss the pigs' asses. But while I was there, I noticed a lot of favoritism going down. I saw a half-Black, half- Cambodian sister being refused the book-cart and room- cleaning privileges--just because she didn't have her glasses and couldn't see the book titles. The pig didn't feel like pushing the book-cart closer to her cell--so she was denied a book. But on a lighter note, a Latina woman just noticed the Spanish writing on the back of my Feb. issue of Notes and asked if she could read it. After reading that issue, she wanted more. I'm taking her the 8/94-1/95 issues, including the 16-page special you sent in August. My September issue was denied. But I'm very excited about having someone to share my "Notes" with. These women here just seem to think if we ignore something it will go away. Tell that to my Samoan friend who was beat up by seven male pigs. Supposedly she was resisting. Most of the women here in Maximum (CCU--Closed Custody Unit) saw the whole thing. Only four of us, including myself, wrote letters to the Superintendent stating what really happened. They didn't want to bring attention to themselves. Of course, the video cameras didn't show up until she really was resisting. But it didn't start off that way. I try to get these women interested in what happens here, but they seem to not want to be bothered. I am making progress, though, like with this Latina woman. And they took a sister to the hole this morning for refusing her medications and cussing out the guard. Not two hours later, I saw a white girl cuss out the same guard and disobey a direct order. What happened to her? Not a fucking thing. But we struggle on. Please keep sending me my papers! Your sister in the struggle, --a Washington state prisoner, 3/8/95 PRISONER UNITY SCARES PRISONCRATS ... An interesting event took place about the second or third week of March, I believe. At the medium-maximum prison at Baker one evening, a group of about fifty Nation of Islam inmates gathered together for a fitness run around the compound. They sang cadence and chanted as well, as they made their way around the camp. The very next morning, they were all packed up and sent to various prisons in the state. This was witnessed by my brother who said they looked like a regular Army platoon and that it was apparent they scared the shit out of the administration, I bet. Needless to say, they have all been moved, which puts each and every one of them in a position to teach and gather at new places. I'll be willing to bet the administration has no idea what it's done. As for myself, I do try to discuss Maoism as well as articles I read in MIM Notes with others. When I mentioned reaching population, I meant sending my old MIM Notes to the library out there and saying a few words to those who pass by back here, mostly laundry personnel. I feel even just a few words will give them something to think about, even if it's something along the lines of, "hey, let me go back and ask that cat about this or that," you know? Well, my friends, that's the latest from this Auschwitz.... Thank you again for sending MIM Theory and Maoism and the Black Panther Party. I enjoy reading them and will see that they get around. In struggle, --a Florida prisoner, 3/31/95 SUPREME COURT ATTACKS PRISONERS The Supreme Court has upped the ante of fascist repression against prisoners in Amerika's gulags. A 5-4 decision (Sandin v. Conner) written by Chief Justice William Rehnquist held that prisoners do not have a "liberty interest" protected by the 14th Amendment's due process clause if they face repression that is not "atypical" in the prison. The prisoner in this case, DeMont Conner, was thrown in solitary after supposedly insulting a guard during a strip search. Conner was not permitted to call witnesses at the hearing that sent him to solitary. He sued, arguing he was deprived of liberty without due process, as supposedly guaranteed by the 14th Amendment (which was supposed to end slavery). But Rehnquist said that because the Halawa prison in Hawaii was so often under lockdown, "disciplinary segregation ... did not work a major disruption in his environment." He added, "The regime to which he [Conner] was subjected was within the range of confinement to be normally expected for one serving an indeterminate term of 30 years to life." Finally, "We hold that Conner's discipline in segregated confinement did not present the type of atypical, significant deprivation in which a state might conceivably create a liberty interest." That means that the worse the "normal" conditions are in a prison, the more severe a restriction of liberties will have to be before it can be considered "atypical and significant," the new standard Rehnquist set. This fascist subjective standard allows for continuously increasing repression justified by the "rule of law." Fourteenth Amendment challenges have been a useful tactic for prisoners challenging their conditions. With that avenue largely shut down, prisoners will need to raise challenges under the 8th Amendment ("cruel and unusual punishment"). But the Supreme Court has also been toughening the standard for offenses under the 8th amendment as well. Lawsuits won't end the genocidal oppression of Amerika's prison system, but they are important tactical tools. This setback in legal tactics should redouble the dedication of revolutionaries to overthrow the system that perpetrates this oppression. -MC12 Notes: Supreme Court decision transcript, Sandin v. Conner (No. 93-1911) 6/19/95. New York Times 6/20/95. MODERN INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE ... These people ... in their disciplinary unit have instruments of torture and ... use these instruments of torture on a regular basis. They have something called a "four way." This is a medieval type of device in which the prisoner is shackled to a bed and is stretched as far as his body will allow. Then these evil people open the windows and turn on the fans in the dead cold winter... --an Indiana prisoner, 1/26/95, in the 3/95 Coalition for Prisoners' Rights Newsletter, which can be reached at P.O. Box 1911, Santa Fe, NM 87504-1911. CASE OF THE KILLER CLERGYMAN Raymond Carl Kinnamon was murdered by the state of Texas on December 11, 1994. His final statement was cut short. He was speaking like an intelligent, feeling human being, like a man, and it was feared by his killers that he might start to seem human to the rest of the world. That wasn't to be tolerated. When the warden stepped in to hold him down, shut him up and begin the lethal poison, an attending clergyman assisted, placing his hands on Carl's chest to help kill him. We know that Texas prisons are a sham that only pay lip-service to rehabilitation, and that everything that goes on in Texas prisons is a sham to fool the public. We know that on death row, the unwritten goal is to try to break the spirit, destroy the manhood, sever family ties. But must a murdering preacher be tolerated? At the point when a man lies down on the gurney, that's the ultimate and irreversible punishment. Why can't he be attended by a minister who...is there for him..., or attended by no minister at all if that is his choice, instead of a minister who sucks up to the prison system, even so far as to assist in the execution? --Coalition for Prisoners' Rights Newsletter, 3/95 YARD TIME I run miles in squared circles 22 strides long by 11 wide, Brushing the walls with my shoulders, Nudging them outward ... pushing against my confinement. Flying in my mind's eye, challenging their oppression. I daydream of loved ones and glance at the sky On the straight-aways ... 22 strides long by 11 wide. I fight all the battles we won on the streets, I breathe with the cadence I set with my feet. And when I tire before I'm ready to stop My mind recalls the story I've read so often to my kids. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can ... As the little engine struggles to the top, And the joy of the children as they change the chant ... I thought I could, I thought I could, never say can't. So the pain melts from my lungs And settles in my heart As my stride opens up To the pace at the start, A new cadence grows as I cover the distance, One we all know ... Repression Breeds Resistance Repression Breeds Resistance Repression Breeds Resistance --by a federal prisoner, now in Illinois, while in Control Unit, Trenton State Prison, New Jersey. Written 1990. Reprinted from North Coast Xpress, 10/94. North Coast Xpress can be reached at P.O. Box 1226, Occidental, CA 95465.