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         THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

     MIM Notes 105                  October 1995


Get MIM Notes 105 from the Maoist Internationalist 
Movement (MIM), and get the latest in Maoist news 
and analysis - put a revolutionary weapon in your 
hands.

In MIM Notes 105, read about the struggle of the 
Chippewa Nations to reclaim land that white 
Canadian settlers have stolen from them. Follow the 
ongoing efforts of MIM cadre to expose police 
brutality and the hypocrisy of the criminal 
"justice" system. Check out resolutions made at 
MIM's 1995 Party Congress, as well as MIM's answers 
to a survey about the EZLN. Revolutionary film 
reviews and letters from Amerikkka's gulags round 
out another great issue of MIM Notes.

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.

For a free issue mailed to your Internet address (a 
large text file), send a message explaining your 
interest to: mim@mim.org.

MIM Notes 105 includes:

IN THIS ISSUE:

 1. CANADA GUNS DOWN CHIPPEWAS OCCUPYING THEIR 
    RIGHTFUL LAND
 2. LETTERS TO MIM
 3. HILLARY ON CHINA: KEEP STERILIZATION UNDER US 
    CONTROL
 4. MIM SHOWS "THE FBI'S WAR ON BLACK AMERICA"
 5. ASSASSINATION AND MURDER ARE NOT UN-AMERICAN
 6. KUNSTLER: MIM REMEMBERS RADICAL HERO OF THE 
    PEOPLE
 7. AMERIKA JUST WAKING UP TO POLICE BRUTALITY
 8. STUDYING PSYCHOLOGY OF PIGS' VIOLENCE WON'T END 
    BRUTALITY
 9. COLLEGE TOWN CAFE WORKERS STRIKE AGAINST 
    CORPORATE ELITISM
10. MIM ANSWERS EZLN SURVEY
11. SURVEY RESULTS LEAVE MEXICAN SITUATION MURKY
12. IMPERIALISTS LET OPPRESSED COUNTRIES DO THE 
    DYING
13. 1995 MIM CONGRESS SHOWS SPIRIT OF EXPANSION AND 
    STRENGTH
14. THE LABOR ARISTOCRACY QUESTION IS AN 
    INTERNATIONAL LINE OF DEMARCATION
15. CHIPPEWA NATIONS FIGHT JUST STRUGGLE TO RETAKE 
    LAND
16. AMERIKA CLEANS UP IN BOSNIA: MAKING PEACE WITH 
    THE COMPRADORS
17. REPUBLICAN UPHOLDS WHITE NATION CHAUVINISM
18. REVOLUTIONARY CULTURE: KIDS; SANKOFA; MORTAL 
    COMBAT; JEFFREY
19. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: LETTERS FROM PRISON



* * *



CANADA GUNS DOWN CHIPPEWAS
OCCUPYING THEIR RIGHTFUL LAND

On September 6, Canadian pigs opened fire on a 
group of protesters occupying Ipperwash Provincial 
Park in Ontario, killing one and wounding two 
others. This act of repression by the Canadian 
government is part of a violent imperialist policy 
in response to increasingly radicalized First 
Nation activism. There have been similar incidents 
at Lake Gustafsen in British Columbia and in Mohawk 
Nation territory in Quebec. Nationalists continue 
to occupy the Ipperwash park, ancestral burial 
ground of the Kettle and Stony Point band of the 
Chippewa nation.(1) MIM was privileged to speak 
with some of these people and find out more about 
their situation.

A QUESTION OF RIGHT; NOT WHO SHOT FIRST

"What is a provincial park?" said one revolutionary 
nationalist. "Just a white man's false name for 
stolen land."(2) The pig-account of the so-called 
shoot-out is that provincial police were clearing 
access to the park (carrying their military-style 
assault weapons even though they claimed no 
intention of forcing the occupiers out) when First 
Nation persons came speeding in a school bus to run 
them over. The officers said that shots were fired 
from the bus, and that they returned fire. The 
Chippewas maintain that they were unarmed.(3)

It doesn't matter if Indians did or didn't fire on 
the pigs. If the Chippewas did attack, the attack 
was just. Blaine Favel, chief of the federation of 
Saskatchewan Indian Nations explained: "All that 
matters is that an Indian was killed while 
protecting Indian land. The anger will sweep across 
Canada."(4)

FIRST NATIONS ACROSS OCCUPIED CANADA
STRUGGLE FOR LAND

On private ranch land near Lake Gustafsen in 
British Columbia, the First Nations that have been 
occupying the land traded shots with the heavily 
armed mounties that had come to end their protest 
by force. There is potential for a massacre at Lake 
Gustafsen as four Canadian military armored 
personnel carriers move closer on the protest camp. 
The Canadian government called the occupiers 
"terrorists," but their lawyer maintains that their 
violence is a means to resist "treason, fraud and 
genocide" by Canada.(5)

Other nations throughout Canada have expressed 
their support for the indigenous at Gustafsen and 
Ipperwash. On September 9, Mohawk nation 
demonstrators marched in Quebec, blocking highways 
for several hours. According to the Mohawk Nation 
News Service "The men of the Mohawk Nation issued a 
position on September 7th that they would not idly 
stand by while the Canadian police and military 
forces continue to brutalize the Aboriginal people.

"It was further stated that any further violence 
committed against any Aboriginal Nation will be 
answered in kind; those directly or indirectly 
responsible for the murder of their brother will be 
identified and held accountable for their actions; 
and those responsible for the beatings of 
Aboriginal women and children at Ipperwash will 
also be identified and held accountable for their 
actions."(6) 

IPPERWASH MURDER AN ATTEMPT TO
PROTECT HISTORY OF OCCUPATION

The murder at Ipperwash is part of the pigs' 
campaign to occupy and deprive Indians of rightful 
claim to their land. In 1942 the Canadian army 
seized more than 2,000 acres of land on Lake Huron 
which had been ceded to the Chippewas 117 years 
earlier. Canada promised to give it back after 
World War II ended and while the government never 
denied it was violating its treaty with the 
Chippewas, it refused to abandon the Ipperwash 
Military Reserve.(7) In 1993, the Canadian 
government feigned a process of return, making nice 
proclamations.(8) Chippewas began to occupy the 
camp in 1993, and took the military base late last 
July 29. The army abandoned the base in the face of 
threat of bloodshed.(9)

The Canadian bourgeois press recognizes the killing 
as a "watershed" event because it "is likely to 
precipitate a new era in hardline leadership by 
Canada's Indian leadership." Yes, repression does 
bring radicalization. The trend among First Nations 
is going against Ovide Mercredi, grand chief of the 
so-called Assembly of First Nations, which was 
created by the Canadian government. Instead, the 
Nations are turning to direct re-occupation to get 
their territorial demands.(10)

NOTES:

1. Globe and Mail 9/8/95, p. A10.
2. Boston Globe 9/10/95, p. 20.
3. Boston Globe 9/10/95, p. 20.
4. Boston Globe 9/10/95, p. 20.
5. Boston Globe 9/10/95, p. 20.
6. MNNS, posted on soc.culture.native. Contact MNNS 
at P.O. Box 333, Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, 
(Quebec, Canada).
7. Boston Globe 9/10/95, p. 20.
8. Globe and Mail 9/8/95.
9. Boston Globe 9/10/95, p. 20.
10. Globe and Mail 9/8/95, p. 10A.



* * *



MIM STUMBLES IN ATTEMPT TO GRASP
IRISH QUESTION


Dear MIM:

I saw your article in the July MIM Notes and 
although I am quite impressed with MIM's grasp of 
the situation, I think it looks bad politically to 
have leaned so heavily on Saoirse [newspaper of the 
Republican Sinn Fein] for sources. Republican Sinn 
Fein plays an important role in the current 
situation (peace process) as a militant voice 
within the increasingly respectable republican 
movement. Other than this, RSF has remained 
relatively minor in the political field. The peace 
process, did not lead, as the Brits hoped, to a 
split within the IRA or Provisional Sinn Fein which 
RSF could capitalize on. RSF could still perhaps 
grow to a vanguard position, but not yet. At this 
moment in time, it remains a small organization 
that has organized adequately in the 26 counties 
only.

Other points about the article are: "Northern 
Ireland" is the British imperialist name for what 
Republicans call the "occupied six counties." The 
name you use with regard to the North decides 
(usually) which side you are on. the neo-colonial 
South, which, incidentally has no multi-national 
corporations, is referred to by Republicans as the 
"26 counties" and sarcastically as "the Free 
State."

One other point concerns the INLA-when the chief-
of-staff and his comrades' case came to court, they 
dropped a bit of a bombshell when they announced 
that the INLA. had declared a cease-fire in June, 
several weeks before the IRA. However, in a more 
recent statement on May Day of this year, they 
confirmed that this cease-fire is not permanent:

"The past few months has shown with great clarity 
the obvious disdain in which the British hold for 
Republicans adopting a non-violent approach to 
conflict resolution."

However, as soon as I can, I'll draft an update for 
you.

--An Irish comrade

August, 1995


MIM REPLIES: We apologize for referring to 
"Northern Ireland" when we meant the occupied six 
counties. We made the same mistake with "Eritrea" 
vs. "Ethiopia" and hope we haven't made the mistake 
since being straightened out by our Eritrean 
comrades. Even in our own language for our 
situation here, we get politically lazy sometimes.

We are working to extend our work in Ireland and 
England and letters like yours have contributed to 
our understanding and contact with the masses 
there. We aim toward having our Maoist comrades on 
the ground there write all our articles for MIM 
Notes and MIM Theory. A certain narrowness in our 
sources will decline as the struggle progresses. 
Till that time, we will certainly make many errors 
as we get our feet wet.


"RIGHTEOUS" KILLING?


In MIM Notes 104, you wrote: "Mumia was framed for 
the righteous killing of a police officer."  
"Righteous"?  What do you mean by that?  Are you 
defending the killing of the police officer, and if 
so, why?  There isn't a single organization that I 
know of--Concerned Family and Friends, Equal 
Justice, that is applauding the killing of the 
police officer.  That kind of talk sounds like an 
agent provocateur.

--Internet Reader

September 1995


MIM RESPONDS: The writer is referring to the 
practice of state infiltrators urging people on to 
illegal or imprudent acts as a way of undermining a 
movement. This is a common police tactic. You may 
disagree with our views, but there is no evidence 
of provocateur behavior in our plentiful political 
work. Many people have mentioned MIM's use of 
"righteous" in describing the killing of the Philly 
cop, and we are glad to explain. We must be clear 
that we do not speak for the organizations you 
mentioned or anyone else not explicitly affiliated 
with MIM.

Because MIM sees the police as agents of the 
Amerikan state, as an army of occupation of this 
whole continent in general and of the land of the 
various oppressed internal nations in particular, 
we call the killing of this cop "righteous." Of 
course, in his particular case he was killed during 
the commission of a specific act of murderous 
violence against Mumia's brother. So, in general 
and in the specific case, we call it "righteous."

However, we do not support this act as a political 
action, nor do we advocate violence at this point 
in the revolutionary struggle. Anyone who reads MIM 
Notes knows we regularly try to convince people 
against picking up the gun prematurely. Without the 
proper basis of mass support, enough so that the 
imperialists are already weakened by loss of 
support, such acts are politically 
counterproductive, resulting in premature death for 
revolutionaries and in political setbacks as well. 
For more on this see Chapter 5 of MIM Theory 5 
(1994), "Armed Struggle Now: An Ultraleft 
Deviation" ($5 postpaid for the magazine).

There are two reasons to condemn the killing of 
this cop. First there are pacifists who condemn all 
violence, including the death penalty. Some of 
these people have done good work on the Mumia case 
and against state repression in general. If they 
stop to think about it, they know that imperialism 
is the most violent system ever in history. The 
other reason is tactical: supporting the killing of 
this cop will undermine mainstream support for 
Mumia's case, these activists fear. Many taking 
this position regardless of their own views (and we 
don't speak for them) have done great work on this 
case as well. MIM's responsibility is different. We 
are not leading a single-issue movement to save the 
life of one person, although our work has 
contributed to that effort. Our responsibility is 
to lead the broad movement against imperialism and 
for national liberation, socialism and eventually 
communism. In the present stage, that goal requires 
political struggle--agitation, education, and 
building independent institutions of the people. 
The oppressed have to know exactly what we stand 
for; we have to call a pig a pig.



* * *



HILLARY ON CHINA: KEEP STERILIZATION
UNDER U.S. CONTROL


Hillary Rodham Clinton gets MIM's Hypocrite of the 
Month Award. From the podium of the U.N. conference 
on women's rights, Clinton and delegates from the 
U.S. sharply criticized China's "two-child" policy. 
Clinton said: "It is a violation of human rights 
when women are denied the right to plan their own 
families, and that includes being forced to have 
abortions or being sterilized against their 
will."(1) Strange words from a representative of a 
government which has more than 27 years of practice 
running the world's most genocidal sterilization 
programs.

MIM does not defend the policies of state-
capitalist China; we have a responsibility to 
criticize that government for its brutal policies 
against the Chinese people and for its attempts to 
defame communism and Maoism by claiming to uphold 
both while practicing capitalism. We must also 
criticize the U.S. government for systematically 
sterilizing Third World women against their will: 
this practice underlines the gross hypocrisy of 
bourgeois democracy.

INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES ATTACK
THIRD WORLD WOMEN

International agencies like the World Bank, IMF, 
USAID and the International Planned Parenthood 
Foundation (IPPF) use the pseudo-feminist rhetoric 
of fertility rights to push their depopulation 
strategies on Third World people. These 
organizations act on Amerikan imperialist authority 
and they have successfully sterilized more than 15% 
of married women in the following countries: Puerto 
Rico (46%), Panama (29%), China (27%), South Korea 
(23%), Thailand (19%), El Salvador (18%).(2)

The United States government has sponsored several 
sterilization programs in Puerto Rico to control 
the Puerto Rican work force and suppress 
revolutionary movements. Third World Resurgence, a 
Third World-oriented environmentalist magazine 
writes of the Amerikan sterilization campaign in 
Puerto Rico: "private agencies, including the IPPF, 
and the Puerto Rican government, with U.S. 
government funds, encouraged women to accept 
sterilization by providing it at minimal or no 
cost. By 1968, one-third of women of childbearing 
age had been sterilized, the highest percentage 
anywhere in the world at that time."(3)

Over 17% of married women living within U.S. 
borders had been sterilized by the mid-80s. Betsy 
Hartmann points out that: "today sterilization is 
the most widely used from of birth control in the 
U.S. but, as in many parts of the Third World, 
sterilization 'choice' often takes place in a 
restrictive context."(4) Oppressed women from 
internal colonies lack other contraceptive options. 
While there is no public funding for abortions, 
Medicaid covers 90% of the cost of sterilization.

CAPITALIST LABOR REQUIREMENTS
DICTATE STERILIZATION

Production for profit demands that capitalists both 
keep large sections of the proletariat unemployed, 
and fail to satisfy the peoples basic needs. People 
for whom the capitalists refuse to provide work, 
and who cannot provide food and shelter for 
themselves are a danger to capitalism if their 
numbers grow too large. The capitalists must 
control this "excess population," as it is a 
breeding ground for rebellion. Eugenics programs in 
places like Puerto Rico are vulgar forms of social 
and political control.

Since capitalism was restored in China in 1976, the 
Chinese state has had an interest in using 
"population control" to nip any potential revolt in 
the bud. The current "two child policy" was 
implemented by Deng Xiaoping, not by Mao. The 
Chinese government has also encouraged the revival 
of many patriarchal elements which socialism had 
destroyed. Female infanticide and wife selling have 
become regular occurrences.

MIM supports the progressive demand that women 
should control their fertility. But MIM recognizes 
that for the majority of the world's women, 
reproduction is not a question of "choice" but of 
national, class and gender liberation. This is why 
MIM believes that all true feminists must also be 
anti-imperialists: willing to expose the ugliness 
behind pro-imperialist phony feminism, and ready to 
build and support a movement for proletarian 
feminist revolutionary nationalism through 
independent institutions of the oppressed.

For more on the forced sterilization of Third World 
women, see MIM Notes 63, p. 4.

NOTES:

1. Los Angeles Times 9/6/95.
2. Maria Mies, "Housewifization International" in: 
Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale 
(London: Zed Books, 1986).
3. Third World Resurgence 12/91, pp. 24-26.
4. Betsy Hartmann, Reproductive Rights and Wrongs 
(New York: Harper and Row, 1987), pp. 100-105, 227-
242.



* * *



MIM SHOWS THE FBI'S WAR ON BLACK AMERICA

LOS ANGELES, August 28--As part of MIM's Los 
Angeles film series, MIM and RAIL showed The FBI's 
War on Black America. A lively discussion followed 
the film.

The film deserves some of the credit for provoking 
the discussion. The film contains rare footage of 
the Maoist Black Panther Party and other Black 
activists, and their repression by the state. The 
film also includes interviews with surviving 
Panthers and activists.

A MIM supporter opened up discussion by commenting 
that MIM chose to show this film in part because it 
shows the power of revolutionary nationalism. MIM 
sees that revolutionary nationalism has posed a 
greater threat to U.S. imperialism than have the 
revisionists' "Black-and-white-unite-and-fight" or 
"revolutionary integrationist" strategies. The MIM 
supporter pointed out one reason why the 
integrationist approach has failed: the North 
American white working-class is a bought-off labor 
aristocracy.

These comments provoked a defense of the white 
working-class from two white audience members. But 
the Blacks and Africans in attendance did not 
express the same interest in winning over white 
people. They ended up dominating the discussion. 
MIM was happy to let them do so, because their 
focus was on resolving the question of building 
power for Black people.

The participation of two young Africans, one from 
Azania (the settlers' South Africa) and one from 
Nigeria, was particularly welcome. The comparisons 
these two drew between the experiences of their own 
nations and the experience of North America's Black 
Nation highlighted the national nature of the Black 
struggle. This helped to illustrate the idealist 
nature of the unite-and-fight approach. 
Furthermore, the Africans' attendance and 
participation was a welcome gesture of 
internationalist support for the Black national 
liberation struggle.

The Azanian audience member had been a participant 
in the struggles of his nation. He described how he 
was shot in the knee at a protest in Soweto, and 
noted that South Africa has its own FBI-type 
domestic political police, the BOSS. He was moved 
by the film, and he explained why. When he was 
growing up in Azania, he said, his mother told him 
that Blacks in North America face oppression like 
Azanians do. At the time, his response was one of 
disbelief: "No, not in the United States! That's a 
civilized nation!" Now, he said, it was clear to 
him that his mother was right.

The Nigerian audience member, on the other hand, 
apparently knew when before he arrived that Amerika 
is "a land of deception...founded on violence and 
oppression and injustice."

At one point in the discussion, the question came 
up as to why some progressive leaders were 
assassinated, and why some were not. The mention of 
Nelson Mandela's name in this context prompted the 
Azanian audience member to point out that the South 
African government did not dare to kill Mandela for 
the simple reason that the Azanian masses were 
well-organized. According to the Azanian audience 
member, the militants of the Pan-Africanist 
Congress of Azania (PAC) were taunting the South 
African government, saying, "Go ahead and kill 
Nelson! Go ahead!" His point was that these 
militants knew that a government assassination of 
Mandela would only invigorate the revolutionary 
movement as Steve Biko's assassination had already 
done.

The discussion touched on various questions 
relating to the direction of the Black struggle, 
including reparations, crime, affirmative action, 
Mumia Abu-Jamal, prison, Black capitalism, and the 
need for revolution.

MIM sees the Black national bourgeoisie's struggle 
to set up an independent Black national economy as 
a progressive struggle at this stage. A white 
leftist in the audience was turned off when the 
discussion turned to building "self-economic power" 
and "Black-owned businesses." But MIM was happy to 
let this discussion continue for a while, because 
we find this position of the national bourgeoisie 
more progressive than the unite-and-fight position 
of the white leftist, which in practice ends up 
"integrating" the anti-imperialist demands of the 
proletarian oppressed nations with the pro-
imperialist demands of the white settler labor 
aristocracy.

Despite its alliance with the revolutionary 
national bourgeoisie, MIM takes the class, national 
and gender standpoint of the international 
proletariat. MIM's alliance does not liquidate its 
independent role. Thus, when MIM judged that the 
conversation had gone too far in the direction of 
promoting Black capitalism as the way forward, a 
MIM supporter broke in to point out that while 
Black capitalism is part of a strategy for national 
liberation, by itself it will only create new 
relations of oppression for the Black masses. For 
national liberation to be genuine--for it to 
liberate the entire nation--it must be led by a 
proletarian and feminist line and must ultimately 
incorporate armed struggle against the occupying 
nation. The audience was sympathetic to this 
position.



* * *



ASSASSINATION AND MURDER ARE NOT UN-AMERIKAN

Boston, MA--MIM showed the film "School of 
Assassins" September 10th. The film about the 
Department of Defense-run School of the Americas in 
Georgia, which trains assassins to work in Third 
World countries murdering innocent people. In 
reformist style, the film focuses on a bill to 
abolish the school. The bill was proposed by 
Congressperson Kennedy of Massachusetts. A woman in 
the film criticizes the School as "un-American" and 
the film encourages audiences to write to their 
congresspeople to get this Kennedy bill passed.

MIM opened the discussion by asking the audience if 
this really is "un-American," suggesting that 
murdering people who refuse to bow to the 
imperialists is an integral part of Amerikan 
imperialism. Closing one school will not change the 
nature of Amerikan foreign policy. One person in 
the audience challenged MIM saying that they are 
American and they don't support this, and think 
that most Americans would not support this if they 
knew about it. MIM pointed out that Amerikans 
support Amerika's murderous foreign policy for 
example in the Persian Gulf War.

People wanted to know what MIM's alternative is to 
the violence of imperialism and this led to a 
discussion of Maoism and Communism. One person said 
that while they like the goals of communism they 
believe that people are not equal and that people 
will always be greedy since this is human nature. A 
number of people disagreed with this giving 
examples of Andean people and African people who 
are able to live in harmony without selfishness, 
pointing out that it is culture that creates 
selfishness in individuals, not human nature.

This led to an interesting discussion about how to 
change the culture and reeducate people that 
selfishness is not a good thing. MIM pointed to the 
example of the Chinese Cultural Revolution as the 
correct way to handle these questions. We talked 
about the Ricketts, Amerikans who were in Chinese 
prison for re-education, who came out and wrote a 
book about how correctly their situation had been 
handled.



* * *



KUNSTLER: MIM REMEMBERS RADICAL
HERO OF THE PEOPLE

Radical lawyer William Kunstler died on September 
4, 1995 of heart failure. He was 76, and had spent 
the better part of his life serving the people by 
taking on political clients no one else would 
represent. He did not charge these clients fees, 
but made his money doing speaking tours and 
writing. Kunstler was not a revolutionary, but his 
heart was in the right place and he was truly 
dedicated to the defense of radical causes and 
unpopular clients. Kunstler believed in the danger 
of the state and happily violated many rules of 
legal and courtroom decorum to make political 
points, and often win acquittals or appeals for his 
clients.

Kunstler defended clients ranging from Bobby Seale 
and the Chicago Seven, Martin Luther King Jr., 
Philip Berrigan, and Jack Ruby. Some of these 
clients and their cases were overtly political. 
Others, like Ruby, were just unpopular. Many of 
Kunstler's critics complained that he was a show-
off, too interested in the spotlight and not humble 
enough for their tastes. Kunstler did indeed enjoy 
grabbing the microphone and getting media 
attention, as he frequently admitted, but MIM says 
so what? He righteously advocated for oppressed 
nation defendants and their causes. MIM is happy 
that Kunstler and the cases he worked on got media 
attention even though Kunstler was no revolutionary 
himself, and had a political line and practice that 
MIM would have struggled over with him if given the 
chance.

For example, Kunstler had many extramarital 
affairs.(1) Also, Kunstler had recently said that 
he would never defend someone like O.J. Simpson, 
because he had beaten his wife. Kunstler attributed 
his "feminist" thinking to the fact that his wife 
and daughters influenced him in that direction.(2) 
MIM obviously does not uphold spouse abuse, but it 
would be more feminist to defend a Black man 
against any charges in this criminal injustice 
system than to parse out cases that are "offensive" 
to liberal pseudo-feminists. But even with these 
personal and political flaws, Kunstler was one of 
the best things that oppressed nation folks who 
were trying to fight their battles in the legal 
arena had going for them. He said, "minorities need 
stronger advocates than whites. And the rich have 
resources that the poor can't even imagine. Thus, I 
define capital punishment this way: Those without 
capital get punished."(3)

He was a dedicated lawyer who had an "in your face" 
attitude toward judges and prosecutors, and he won 
a significant number of trials and appeals. He 
developed the "black rage" defense for Colin 
Ferguson, the man accused of the Long Island 
Railroad shooting spree in December, 1993.(4) The 
theory was that while Ferguson did have 
psychological problems, the black rage that he 
experienced as an oppressed man in Amerika acted as 
catalyst for this insanity and caused Ferguson to 
strike out at white people on the commuter train. 
MIM would argue that "black rage" is laudable under 
any circumstances in Amerika, and knows that it is 
not "insane." But developing this theory in the 
context of an Amerikan court which says that Black 
people are criminals who have nothing to rage about 
is still progressive.

Bill Kunstler will be missed by radical and 
revolutionary activists who know that while the war 
will ultimately be won through revolutionary 
struggle, it is important to have friends and 
allies fighting the legal battles along the way.

NOTES:

1. William M. Kunstler, with Sheila Isenberg, My 
Life as a Radical Lawyer Birch Lane Press 1994, p. 
165.
2. Speaking tour promoting autobiography, 
Washington, D.C., November 1994.
3. My Life, op. cit., p. 375.
4. Ibid, p. 386.



* * *



AMERIKA JUST WAKING UP TO POLICE BRUTALITY

by MC31, MC53 & MC45

In the wake of the recent revelations that LAPD pig 
Mark Fuhrman is a racist, brutalizing pig, Amerika 
is going "huh?" and scratching its head in pretend 
wonder and outrage. Oppressed nations have for 
centuries experienced the brutality of the state 
crashing down on their heads in the form of police 
batons. They know that Amerikans are not outraged, 
only perhaps embarrassed at being caught by the 
mainstream media. Even the media does not admit 
that racist police brutality is par for the course 
in an imperialist country where white-nation 
domination is the social order pigs are meant to 
control and enforce.

The pervasiveness of police brutality in the 
oppressed nations is the reason MIM Notes publishes 
Under Lock & Key: news from prisons and prisoners 
every month.(see pages 8 and 9) It is MIM's job as 
a Maoist, anti-imperialist force to build public 
opinion in opposition to imperialism and in favor 
of independent institutions and national liberation 
for the oppressed nations. MIM invites any of our 
readers with knowledge of incidents of police 
brutality to write up the cases they know of and 
take advantage of the pages of this newspaper to 
expose the brutality of the Amerikan state.

BOURGEOIS MEDIA USE FUHRMAN CASE
TO CONFUSE THE ISSUE

Fuhrman is at the same time (according to the New 
York Times) a "rogue cop" and a symbol of what is 
wrong with police departments in general. "While 
many police officials have sought to portray Mr. 
Fuhrman as a lone rogue, race has also played a 
part in recent police corruption investigations in 
Philadelphia, New Orleans and New York, lending 
credence to the notion that the problem remains the 
same."(1)

Unfortunately for O.J. Simpson, the jury did not 
hear most of the instances of Mark Fuhrman talking 
about "niggers," and heard none of his boasting of 
planting evidence and beating the shit out of Black 
"suspects." But the tapes have been played and 
discussed on national TV and radio shows over and 
over. MIM knows that the fundamental nature of the 
police state will not change, no matter how many 
"sensitivity training" courses police are forced to 
go through. In fact, one leader of the sensitivity 
unit in the Philadelphia police department was 
transferred after he was overheard saying to a 
fellow officer, who is Black, that he was "sweating 
like a nigger" and that as a joke he should bring 
the Black cop home and tell his wife that he was 
their daughter's boyfriend.

YOUTH MURDERED BY A PIG IN DETROIT

Charles Ledell Clay, 13 years old, was murdered by 
one of Detroit's killer cops on Wednesday, August 
23. Clay was unarmed when Detroit Pig Archie Ard, 
who was leaving a Detroit bar, shot him in the 
back. Ard said Clay was attempting to break into a 
car and when Ard yelled and warned him to stop, 
Clay came at Ard with something shiny in his hand. 
Clay's mother told the Detroit News & Free Press "I 
don't think he knew how to [steal cars]. Even if he 
was doing it, he didn't deserve to die for it. How 
could you shoot a kid in the back?"(3)

It is unclear why Ard thought he could get away 
with saying he had shot Clay from the front in the 
chest. But the Wayne County medical examiner's 
office determined that Clay died from a shot in the 
back.(3) Ard was off-duty at the time of the 
shooting so it will be harder for Clay's mother to 
hold the city responsible for her son's death. If 
Ard had been on duty at the time of the shooting, 
the city would have more legal responsibility for 
Clay's death. Because Ard was off duty, the city is 
free to dissociate itself from Ard's actions. But 
MIM understands that legal responsibility is the 
only thing affected by Ard's off or on duty status. 
Pigs haunt the streets of Detroit every day to 
detain, arrest and murder youth. Ard could have 
done this just as easily on duty as off.

Detroit's primary bourgeois newspaper, the Detroit 
News and Free Press, did its best to go along with 
Ard's cover-up in the first article it ran on the 
murder. The paper dug up Charles Clay's record 
showing that he had spent time in a youth home this 
June for driving a stolen car (the Juvenile 
authorities wouldn't say if they had decided he was 
guilty or not). MIM emphasizes that there is no 
positive information that Clay stole any car. It 
makes no difference to us if he did because this 
type of property crime disappears by comparison 
with the crime of the cops occupying the streets as 
the Black Panther Party described it: "like a 
foreign troop."

Whether he did what he was accused of or not has no 
bearing on the circumstances of his death: he was 
shot in the back while trying to run away, and not 
even Archie Ard is claiming that Clay's murder had 
anything to do with his supposed crimes.(3) The 
reason the press brings up this issue of Clay 
possibly having a criminal record is that the 
system looks at class, race and gender indicators 
for both the murderer and the victim when trying to 
decide how harshly to prosecute the killing. If the 
state can establish doubt in Charles Clay's 
character (that he was a car thief, not the perfect 
all-Amerikan kid), then Charles Clay's life will be 
seen as less valuable, and his death will mean 
less.



* * *



STUDYING PSYCHOLOGY OF PIGS' VIOLENCE
WON'T END BRUTALITY

The articles examining the problem of police 
brutality offer all sorts of psychological insights 
into police behavior. U.S. News & World Report 
states that the burden of being responsible for 
crime rates leads to "frustration" on the part of 
the pigs, and "like some soldiers in a no-win war, 
they commit atrocities."(2) The Black and Latino 
targets of state repression and police brutality 
are far more frustrated than the cops who try to 
keep them down.

Admitting that in a society where racism is still 
so prevalent it is to be expected that the police 
departments would reflect those same biases, the 
Times printed an interview with a psychologist who 
said, "It's an evolutionary process. . . It takes a 
long, long time, almost like getting genetic 
differences in new generations of people."(1) Well, 
MIM says that it takes a revolutionary process to 
eradicate nation, class and gender oppression from 
society.

The New York Times also claims that the "problems 
of racism and corruption in law enforcement are 
complicated these days by the inability of the 
criminal justice system to staunch the flow of 
drugs and guns on the streets."(1) Of course, this 
ignores the reality that the state often injects 
these drugs into the oppressed communities and that 
many cops help themselves to the drugs and money 
when raiding oppressed nation communities. The 
Times article also ignores that the criminal 
injustice system is perfectly capable of 
imprisoning a huge number of Black men, and 
destroying families and communities.

MIM does not support drug trafficking and urges 
oppressed youth to take up revolutionary study and 
struggle. Only by taking down the system that 
created and supports the criminal injustice system 
with its national network of pig enforcers will we 
be able to create a truly just society.

NOTES:

1. NYT, 9/4/95, p. 1.
2. US News & World Report, 9/11/95, p. 20.
3. Detroit News and Free Press 8/25/95, p. 3D; 
8/26/95, p. 1A. 7A.



* * *



COLLEGE TOWN CAFE WORKERS STRIKE
AGAINST CORPORATE ELITISM

Ann Arbor, MI--The staff and manager of the popular 
campus-area Espresso Royale Caffe refused to open 
shop on the first day of University of Michigan 
classes Tuesday, September 5. All but two workers 
at the cafe quit their jobs over a new dress code 
which among other things would have barred workers 
from changing their hairstyles without consulting 
management, and dictated that the cafe not hire any 
employees with serious acne. Cafe management also 
attached an anti-discrimination policy to the dress 
code which neglected to mention that the cafe would 
not discriminate on the basis of sexual 
orientation.

The workers' statement, printed in the Michigan 
Daily student newspaper, read in part "the original 
dress code was intended to select an elite 
clientele and eliminate specific types of 
employees, as well as customers, from the Espresso 
Royale environment." In addition to conforming with 
the Michigan state health code, the new rules 
addressed the cafe's image stating that employees 
are hired both for their pleasant personalities and 
attractive appearances.

The striking workers are mostly college students, 
and MIM thinks it's good that they are riled by 
such decadent policies. But demonstrations like 
this one only detract from political energy that 
should be spent fighting the battles of the 
oppressed. It's nice for people in the First World 
that they don't have to work at places which have 
nasty and intrusive lifestyle policies, but we 
should be keeping these things in perspective. MIM 
calls on First World people angered by capitalist 
decadence to work for socialism and a world in 
which the proletariat of the world can realize its 
demands for decent wages and living conditions as a 
priority over fighting reactionary policies in 
First World companies that employ the labor 
aristocracy and petty-bourgeoisie.

NOTE: Michigan Daily 9/7/95, p. 4; Ann Arbor News 
9/6/95; electronic posting from plefr@umich.edu.



* * *



***Last month MIM Notes ran an article about 
negotiations between the Zapatista National 
Liberation Front (EZLN) and the Mexican government 
that began in April but haven't produced anything 
more than a cease fire. Many people outside of 
Mexico have seen a Zapatista-circulated document 
called "ballot for the national Plebiscite in 
Mexico and International Consultation. July 1995." 
The purpose of this document is to listen to the 
voices of those "affected by [a possible war] in 
Mexico."***

In the article by a RAIL comrade published last 
month, MIM Notes pointed out that this survey 
reflects the Zapatistas politico-military method of 
fighting: spontaneous mass insurrections and 
sporadic violence are used as tools for 
negotiations; and that the Communist Party of the 
Philippines has criticized this strategy 
extensively.(Rebolusyon, Special Edition 1, Jan. 
93)

This month MIM Notes publishes the questions in the 
referendum with our own answers. Although the 
questions are vague, and ask for a "yes", "no", or 
"i don't know" response, MIM will answer them 
fully.

1. Do you agree (with) the principal demands of the 
Mexican people (and the EZLN) (for): land, housing, 
work, food, health, education, culture, 
information, independence, liberty, justice and 
peace? 

MIM: The oppressed of the world deserve that and 
more. The only reason why they don't have that now 
is because they live under imperialist domain.

2. Should the different democratizing forces unite 
in a broad-based opposition front to struggle for 
the 13 principal demands? 

MIM: Activists working for the self-determination 
of the Mexican people need to kick the imperialists 
out of Mexico and replace the comprador regime with 
a state seeking to build socialism and serve the 
people. There can be no justice or democracy under 
a bourgeois capitalist government. The workers and 
the peasants are the backbone of the progressive 
forces in Mexico. Other classes that are tired of 
the Yankee domination in Mexico should unite behind 
that force. 

A broad-based united front led by the proletariat 
that unites all who will work in the interests of 
the proletariat would be correct. A coalition of 
forces that is not led by the proletariat would 
only end up watering down and selling out the 
interests of the proletariat as it is forced to 
give in to the demands of the middle class and 
national bourgeoisie.

3. Should a profound political reform be made (in 
Mexico) in terms which guarantee: equity, citizen 
participation, including that of non-partisan and 
non-governmental organizations, respect to the 
vote, reliable voter registration of all the 
national political [organizations] and 
[recognition] of all national, regional, and local 
political forces? 

MIM: Reforms, no matter how profound, are 
concessions that the ruling class utilizes as tools 
in order hold on to state power. The vote is a 
farce with the same purpose. As long as the 
imperialists dominate the people economically and 
militarily, how can any vote be "fair?" Even if the 
people did vote for a revolutionary government, the 
imperialists would try to buy it off or overthrow 
it by force. For the people to truly speak their 
voice the people must have their own vanguard party 
that will be the new government.

4. Should the EZLN be converted to a new 
independent political force? 

MIM: MIM understood that the EZLN already was new 
and independent. In MIM's opinion the EZLN must 
study the historical instances in which other 
groups almost identical to them, in all of Latin 
America, have attempted the same. Guerrilla warfare 
without a party, and without the participation of a 
mass base, is a sacrifice in vain. Many have given 
their lives to confused and wrong ideas.

5. Should the EZLN unite with other forces and 
organizations and form a new political 
organization? 

MIM: The EZLN must study, understand, and uphold, 
the theory of Marx, Lenin, and Mao. Then they must 
analyze the Mexican society completely. That would 
be an enormous step forward. The Mexican people do 
not need another party to run in the elections, 
they need revolutionary vanguard leadership based 
in the Mexican masses. MIM's answer to this 
question is "yes": unite with communists to form a 
revolutionary Maoist party.

6. Should the equal presence and participation for 
women be guaranteed in all the positions of 
representation and responsibility in the government 
or civilian entities? 

MIM: Inequality is a characteristic of capitalism. 
The inequality between man and woman must be 
abolished in the process of the abolition of the 
inequalities between the imperialists and the 
oppressed nations, and in the process of the 
abolition of the inequalities between the poor and 
the rich. A woman in a capitalist government is 
going to serve to the interests of the capitalists, 
a woman in a new popular government is going to 
serve the interests of the people.

Note: This copy of the survey came from CAPAZ-NCDM, 
P.O. Box 861837, Los Angeles, CA 90086-1837



* * *



SURVEY RESULTS LEAVE MEXICAN SITUATION MURKY

On September 5, a mass organization called Alianza 
Civica published the definitive results of the 
referendum on the future of the EZLN printed, with 
MIM's answers to the survey questions, on this 
page. 126,248 indigenous people from Chiapas voted 
out of an estimated total of 1,088,094 
participating in the consultation. 52.6% favor the 
EZLN becoming a new and independent political 
force. 38.2% oppose this. The MIM supposes that the 
other 9.2 answered with "I don't know." 48.7% were 
in favor of EZLN uniting with other groups and 
forming a new political organization. 43.2% were 
against. Even with these survey results, MIM does 
not know what this means for the EZLN's future 
course as these survey responses to not mark a 
clear path forward.

NOTE: La Opinio'n. 9/5/1995, p. 4A.



* * *



BY THE NUMBERS: IMPERIALISTS LET
OPPRESSED COUNTRIES DO THE DYING

by MC12

MIM often says that imperialism is the most violent 
and oppressive system in world history. Among the 
rich peoples, many sneer at this assertion, because 
to them everything is fine.

In this article we take some information on infant 
mortality from the imperialist World Bank's World 
Development Report to demonstrate the brutality and 
inhumanity of world capitalism.

Infant mortality, measured as the number of deaths 
in the first year of life per 1,000 live births, 
ranges from 7 deaths per 1,000 live births in the 
richest 23 countries, to 164 deaths per 1,000 live 
births in Sierra Leone. Overall for the world, 
there are 48 deaths per 1,000 live births in 
countries where the World Bank has data or 
estimates.(1)

One way to look at how bad imperialism is for the 
oppressed countries is to see how many infants are 
dying unnecessarily. Take the World Bank's poorest 
45 countries. Those countries in 1993 had 3.09 
billion people, and a crude birth rate of 28,000 
births per 1,000 population, or 86.6 million 
births. The infant mortality rate in those 
countries is 64 per 1,000, meaning 5.5 million 
infant deaths in 1993.

If the whole world had health care and other basic 
needs of the standard maintained in the richest 23 
countries, there would have been only about 519,000 
infant deaths out of those 86.6 million live 
births, or 5 million less than there actually were.

Of course, you could say it's not realistic to 
blame imperialism for the fact that the whole world 
is not as healthy as the richest 23 countries. So, 
let's instead compare how many infants would have 
died if the poorest 23 countries had an infant 
mortality rate equal to the world average, 48 per 
1,000, instead of the 64 per 1,000 that they have. 
That's still almost 7 times worse than the richest 
countries. In that case, there would have been 4.2 
million deaths in the first year of life in 1993, 
instead of the 5.5 million that there actually 
were. That's 1.3 million extra deaths in the 
poorest 45 countries in 1993--in one year--because 
their infant mortality rates are higher than the 
world average.

Another way saying this is that the poorest 45 
countries had 1.3 million more infant deaths than 
their share of the world total in 1993 as a result 
of inequality between countries. If all countries 
had the same rates--if there was an equal 
distribution of resources over the world--there 
would be more deaths in the rich countries and 
fewer in the poor countries. Inequality just says 
the poor countries suffer more than their share at 
the current level of overall world resources. 

Well, you might say, infant mortality all over the 
world is getting better. And overall that's true, 
according to the World Bank figures. It turns out 
that increasing infants' chances of living to age 1 
is so cheap that even most of the poorest countries 
can do it if they devote some resources to it. In 
the poorest 45 countries, the infant mortality rate 
was 108 per 1,000 in 1970, compared to the 64 per 
1,000 that it is now. At the same time, the rate in 
the richest 23 countries has fallen from 19 to 7 
per 1,000.

But that means the gap between rich and poor 
increased in that time. The ratio of infant 
mortality in the poorest 45 to the richest 23 
countries increased from 5.68 in 1970 to 9.14 in 
1993. The infant mortality rate is now more than 9 
times worse in the poorest 45 than in the richest 
23 countries.

On the level of individual countries, in 1970 Mali 
had the worst infant mortality rate, 204 per 1,000 
live births (more than one-in-five). At that time, 
Sweden had the best rate with 11. That ratio is 
18.5:1. But in 1993, the worst rate (Sierra Leone) 
was 164 per 1,000, and the best rate was Japan, 
with 4. The ratio between the top and bottom has 
now more than doubled, to 41:1.

The language in the World Bank report is very dry 
and technical, but the reality behind its words is 
astounding to people who care about ending 
oppression and human suffering. The World Bank 
writes: "Divergence in incomes per capita is the 
dominant feature of modern economic history. By one 
estimate, the ratio of income per capita in the 
richest to that in the poorest countries has 
increased from eleven in 1870, to thirty-eight in 
1960, and to fifty-two in 1985."

NOTE: All numbers calculated from World Bank, World 
Development Report 1995, "Workers in an Integrating 
World." New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. In 
1991 the white infant mortality rate within U.S. 
borders was 7.3 per 1,000; the Black rate was 17.6, 
putting the Black nation between Chile and Uruguay, 
better off than most Third World countries. 
(Statistical Abstract of the United States 1994, p. 
91.) The gap between rich and poor countries would 
be even bigger if the World Bank counted internal 
nations separately.



* * *



1995 PARTY CONGRESS SHOWS SPIRIT OF
EXPANSION AND STRENGTH

At its 1995 Party Congress, MIM took on the 
challenge of expanding our work and influence both 
within U.S. borders and abroad as we look toward 
proclaiming MIM to be the vanguard party for more 
territory in the imperialist world. The Congress 
advanced MIM's plans for party-led organizations 
such as the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League 
(RAIL) and the MIM Supporters Group (MSG), as well 
as our thinking on the United Front in general. MIM 
also approved a more extensive program around which 
to unify and build public opinion. Modeled after 
the Black Panther Party Program "What We Want and 
What We Believe," MIM's new program is the Maoist 
statement of beliefs and principles for the 
vanguard party of all nations in North America.

RAIL

RAIL is a MIM-led organization of anti-imperialists 
whose requirement for joining is the open 
understanding that RAIL is led by MIM. Formed in 
December 1994, RAIL was initiated as a structured 
way for the party to work with anti-imperialist 
people who are not willing to commit to democratic 
centralism. During the Congress, MIM cadre 
reaffirmed its position that RAIL is both a 
training ground for future MIM members as well as a 
place of honorable anti-imperialist work for people 
who might never advance their level of commitment 
to MIM. This work allows MIM to broaden the base of 
people we work with without compromising the 
principles by which we lead.

We are happy to announce a new, continent-wide RAIL 
newspaper. This continental paper will serve to 
accelerate the development of emerging RAIL 
branches to the point where they can produce and 
fund self-sufficient local literature for political 
agitation. MIM will work with RAIL to achieve this 
self-sufficiency.

MIM also moved toward greater unity on the question 
of raising standards and requirements for MIM 
membership. MIM is in an ever stronger position to 
be able to work with people at different levels of 
commitment to the revolutionary struggle. At the 
same time as we restrict membership in the party to 
people who believe in our three dividing line 
questions in practice (printed on page 2 of every 
issue of MIM Notes) and are also ready to commit 
fully to the discipline of democratic centralism, 
we are expanding our work and influence through 
organizations such as RAIL and MSG.

MIM cadre are united behind the principle that new 
comrades need to demonstrate over some length of 
time that they can show independent initiative in 
matters of theory and practice. Such is the 
definition of a leader, and everyone in the 
vanguard party must be a leader. The 1994 Congress 
had yielded a stronger party position on the need 
for hierarchy within the vanguard party, and 
between the 1994 and 1995 congresses, MIM approved 
formation of party-led mass organizations to apply 
this theory of leadership and hierarchy outside the 
party as well.

"One reason for hierarchy that should not be 
forgotten is that ranging from the non-voting RAIL 
member to the party's top leader, there is a step 
by step hierarchy of commitment to making Maoist 
revolution."

BUILDING THE UNITED FRONT

At the outset of the Congress, MIM had a policy in 
place preventing the party from organizing events 
(as in co-sponsorship or shared publicity) with 
revisionist organizations. A revisionist 
organization is one that claims the banner of 
Marxism-Leninism or Marxism-Leninism-Maoism in 
word, but whose political line objectively 
undermines these principles. We have this policy to 
avoid confusing the masses about what is real 
communism and what is revisionism, and to maintain 
a strong focus within our own ranks on our 
principal task of building the vanguard party to 
overthrow imperialism.

At the 1995 Congress, MIM added the further, 
related stipulation that in order for MIM to 
participate in a united front with mass 
organizations, Maoism has to be the dominant voice. 
By mass organizations we mean primarily progressive 
organizations of the middle classes, which may have 
some common specific goals with MIM, but whose 
overall orientation is not toward the proletariat. 
Just as we keep a clear distinction between 
ourselves and the Trotskyists, we take 
responsibility for keeping the masses informed on 
the differences between MIM and non- proletarian 
forces.

SERVE THE PEOPLE

In the belly of the beast, surrounded by wealth in 
the form of superprofits extracted from the 
international proletariat, MIM reaffirms its 
commitment to maintain and build the proletarian 
pole. MIM recognizes its own publications and labor 
as riches to be used in the service of the people; 
they are the property of the international 
proletariat. MIM works in territories dominated by 
English-speaking imperialists to build public 
opinion in the name of the Third World proletariat.

THE NATIONAL QUESTION

In the period since the last Congress the Spanish 
speaking forces in MIM have made enormous advances. 
Notas Rojas is the party's regular Spanish-language 
organ; Spanish translation work continues to expand 
as an ongoing commitment to help advance our line 
and international work. As the party advances its 
Spanish-language work in support of Spanish-
language organization and the formation of a 
separate party for the Spanish-speaking masses, we 
maintain our line put forth in MIM Theory 7, 
"Proletarian Feminist Revolutionary Nationalism on 
the Communist Road." That line states that self-
determination of the oppressed nations is of 
cardinal importance for Maoists, and Maoism is the 
best way to advance the national liberation 
struggle, but the form of organization (either 
single-nation or multi-nation) is not itself a 
cardinal question.

In 1995, MIM also resolved to be more vigilant in 
our political language, making sure that our 
references to supposedly neutral geographical 
places -- such as the "United States," -- reflect 
our understanding of these places as illegitimate 
entities with militarily enforced borders. 
References in MIM literature to such deliberately 
derogatory terms as the "United Snakes" will 
hereafter assert this revolutionary nationalist and 
internationalist line. In these and other 
endeavors, MIM looks forward to the continued 
influence of the masses' creative energy.

NOTE: MIM Notes 95 12/95.



* * *



THE QUESTION OF THE LABOR ARISTOCRACY IS AN
INTERNATIONAL LINE OF DEMARCATION


***The following two resolutions were approved as 
party line during MIM's 1995 Congress. We print 
them here in MIM Notes to make clear our developing 
line on the international communist movement.***

No International that has respect for national 
conditions in the spirit of Mao or joint 
declaration involving imperialist country Maoists 
will gain MIM's adherence without the following 
preconditions of membership by imperialist country 
parties if other imperialist country parties are 
involved: 1) The recognition of superprofits 
extracted from the oppressed nations as a central 
fact of economic life in the imperialist countries. 
2) Upholding Lenin's distinction between labor 
bureaucrats and labor aristocrats. 3) Upholding 
Lenin's distinction between the labor aristocracy 
and the proletariat. 4) Seeking the dictatorship of 
the proletariat where that is defined as excluding 
the labor aristocracy.

In addition, MIM will not adhere to any 
international organization of communists or joint 
declaration or communique involving imperialist 
country parties that does not recognize that the 
imperialist country or "white" proletariat is 
either non-existent or a tiny minority as indicated 
in the conditions of white-collar work and the pay 
of those workers. This has become a matter of 
applying the science of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism in 
the imperialist countries and continuing with the 
methods and definitions of "proletarian" and "labor 
aristocracy" laid down since Lenin.

REJECT THE OUTDATED IDEA OF AN "EMERGING CENTER"

While the Revolutionary Communist Party-USA (RCP-
USA) leads the Revolutionary Internationalist 
Movement and claims it is the "emerging center" of 
the international communist movement, we at MIM 
hold that the RIM is not yet applying Maoism in the 
imperialist countries. In addition, the RIM is not 
applying Maoism in the question of relations 
amongst proletarian organizations on a world scale.

When Leninism was young, there was a world party 
connected to a conception of quick overthrow of 
imperialism centered in Europe. Since that time, 
and as Lenin himself sometimes predicted, the 
revolutionary initiative passed to the East, and 
also the South. It was Mao who fully embodied this 
truth and under imperialism it will be impossible 
for technology to speed up the communications and 
translation of languages sufficiently to justify a 
world party which would have to lead a revolution 
whose social forces are more than 80 percent 
located in the Third World. Meanwhile it is 
Trotskyism in its various forms that is so 
stressing the European industrial worker-based 
revolution led by a Fourth International. For these 
reasons, attempts to reform the RIM from within can 
never fully succeed and struggles starting with the 
assumption of a RIM can only mire themselves in 
confusion.

At this time the idea of "an emerging center" of 
the international communist movement is itself in 
contradiction with Maoism. We at MIM instead see 
"an emerging leadership by example" in the case of 
the Communist Party of the Philippines on questions 
of international relations amongst proletarian 
organizations. Since there is confusion and 
difference on these questions, we urge our comrades 
to study the example of the Communist Party of the 
Philippines on questions of international 
organization, bilateral relations and so on.



* * *



CHIPPEWA NATIONS FIGHT JUST STRUGGLE TO RETAKE LAND 

September 17, 1995

Dudley George, a member of the Stony Point Chippewa 
band, was murdered on September 6 by the Ontario 
Provincial Police on September 6 for defending his 
people's land. Members of the Stony Point Chippewa 
band recently retook the Ipperwash Military Base in 
western Ontario, Canada.

As MIM Notes goes to press the Stony Point members 
who have retaken the base, the Ontario Provincial 
Police (OPP) and the Kettle and Stony Point band 
office are negotiating details of the investigation 
into Dudley George's murder. The negotiations also 
address clean-up of the former military base to 
make it habitable.(1) Both sides have agreed not to 
release details of the agreement until it is 
finalized.

MIM supports the Chippewas' just struggle to 
reclaim what white settlers have stolen. The 
provincial police, and various other Canadian 
military bodies have harassed and battered the 
Chippewas for years. Here MIM recounts pieces of 
this history told to us by members of the Kettle 
and Stony Point band. We condemn the pigs for the 
recent murder of Dudley George by the OPP and for 
the murder of Guy George last year.

SETTLER TRICKS: STEAL THE LAND, WAFFLE ON THE 
RETURN,GO FOR THE GUN

In May 1995, the Kettle and Stony Point bands sued 
the government for $725 million for its failure to 
return the land occupied by the military after 
World War Two. Today the land lacks adequate roads; 
and sewage facilities and water systems will 
require millions of dollars in investment. The 
military has also left toxic waste, hydrocarbons 
and munitions behind.(2

In 1993 the First Nations began to demonstrate and 
retake land near the shore of Lake Huron, most of 
Ipperwash Provincial Park. The government agreed in 
1994 to return the land but took no action on this. 
On July 29, 1995, Stony Point members advanced to 
take back the land under the military base further 
inland. Military personnel on the land left 
immediately to avoid a conflict at that point and 
to strategize for a later offensive.(2)

BULLETS CANNOT KILL THE DESIRE FOR
SELF-DETERMINATION

There was one pig in particular who did not like 
Dudley George. At one point Dudley told this pig to 
get off First Nation land and the pig threatened: 
"If anyone goes down, it's gonna be you." The 
mainstream media go back and forth on the question 
of whether the Kettle and Stony Point people had 
weapons and started the shooting.(3) Yet a member 
of the band told MIM that the Indians had no 
firearms; and the bullet wound that killed Dudley 
was angled downward, which shows that there must 
have been a sniper.

Bernard George was also shot by the OPP. He was 
caught and beaten with billy clubs, dragged into 
the paddy wagon and beaten some more. The pigs also 
wounded a young man in the attack when he was 
pushing a dumpster in front of them. Later that 
night, the provincial government's park store was 
burnt down. It was a money maker for the settler 
government which did not belong on First Nation 
land.

One band member told MIM that the OPP murdered him 
because they thought he was a ringleader and that 
killing him would weaken the struggle. S/he added, 
Dudley was not a ringleader, just an ordinary 
member fighting in defense of the land. Others now 
carry on the fight.

FIRST NATION ACCOUNT OF SEPTEMBER 6TH 

Stony Point band members and peace keepers are now 
guarding the former military base. The barricades 
that were put up after the siege have been taken 
down around the rest of the territory, mostly by 
the second weekend in September. The cottagers (or 
settlers) have returned to their homes which the 
OPP had evacuated. And the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
(BIA) has finally acknowledged having evidence that 
the land under dispute is sacred ground. One First 
Nation member told MIM that Dudley's death probably 
could have been prevented if the BIA had admitted 
this earlier. The defense attorney for the Stony 
Point band members, John McNair said, "If Irwin's 
[Ron Irwin, Northern Development Minister] 
department had found that documentation earlier, 
there is a chance the confrontation between natives 
and OPP... would have cooled."(1)

Mike Harris, Premier of the Ontario Province, 
sustained the territorial dispute because of the 
tourist revenue at Ipperwash Park. The OPP had 
tried to get an injunction against the Stony Point 
band prior to the siege, and even though it was not 
approved, Harris ordered the military to invade.

FIRST NATIONS STRUGGLE FOR TWO YEARS WHILE
CANADA SPIES AND LIES

On April 6, 1993 members of the Stony Point band 
camped out on military-occupied land. It started as 
a peaceful two-week protest demonstration. Some 
members left after two weeks, but others came back 
and retook the land on May 6, 1993. One member who 
had participated said that the military guards just 
laughed at the Nation members when they returned--
thinking that it was another peaceful two week camp 
out, until members cut the fence in the back to get 
in bringing with them equipment for a longer stay. 
The guards tried to give the members of the band 
eviction notices--even the children. Then the 
members gave the military personnel eviction 
notices.

The military brought in troops from Quebec to train 
new cadets on the base. The RCMPs stayed at the 
base, but because of the protests, the government 
stopped using the camp as a training ground for new 
cadets later in 1993.

In 1994, RCMPs from Quebec occupied the base. These 
white separatists were especially hostile to the 
band members retaking Ipperwash. They painted 
swastikas on the trees and in one incident, they 
stole a flag from the Chippewa Nation. The Kettle 
and Stony Point Chief at the time told the leader 
of the RCMPs that if they wanted a flag that bad, 
he would have given them one.

In the summer of 1994, more pigs came to replace 
the white separatists and helicopters routinely 
flew around the Stony Point defenders' camp. With 
heat sensors, the military could count the number 
of First Nation members defending the land. The 
pigs would also use infrared glasses to spy on 
First Nation members at night.

One time the MPs were snooping loudly in thorny 
bushes at night. The Stony Point defenders waited 
until the spies were at the edge of the camp and 
then let their dogs rush at the MPs and shined 
their flashlights on them. The MPs ran back to the 
barracks shouting about the thorns. When the Chief 
of the Kettle and Stony Point band told the leader 
of the MPs about this incident, saying that he 
could prove that the MPs had been out spying, the 
pig acted embarrassed because MPs were not supposed 
to be out spying at night. But this was a regular 
occurrence.

RAID OF THE FIRST NATION DEFENDERS 

Later in the summer of 1994, a military helicopter 
was flying around 150 feet above the ground. A 
group of pigs in plain clothes on one side of the 
camp and Quebecois troops on the other raided the 
camp and accused the First Nation members of 
shooting at the helicopter. The MPs promised to be 
back in the morning to search for weapons, like the 
handgun that was supposed to have damaged the 
helicopter.

The MPs found no weapons in the camp the next 
morning. MPs used the opportunity of the search to 
take photographs of Chippewa documents and were 
told that there were no guns there. The MPs then 
asked for a list of the members of the Nation and 
were refused.

The MPs produced three different versions of the 
incident. All rested on the helicopter pilot 
hearing a .45 bullet hitting the helicopter. The 
irony of this claim is that a helicopter pilot can 
hear very little, and once the First Nation 
defenders demanded ballistic evidence of the damage 
they had supposedly caused, the MPs' story changed 
to account for the lack of evidence. The pigs 
provoked this incident to create an excuse to 
search the camp, and dropped the issue without 
charging the defenders with anything once they 
realized they were not going to be able to prove 
their case.

MURDER OF GILBERT 'GUY' GEORGE

Guy George was killed by a pig May 25, 1994. The 
pig, Daniel Peavoy, tried to say that it was in 
self-defense. After the murder George's body, with 
no weapon, was found in an alley. At trial Peavoy 
testified that George had said that it was the 
white man that had stolen the land and Peavoy 
called George a "wagon burner." George's mother 
told MIM that her son was peaceful but died for 
something that he believed in. His death is part of 
the long history of genocide and oppression 
launched by white settlers against the First 
Nations.

1942 OR 1492?

In February 1942, the Canadian Department of 
National Defense asked the Chippewas of Kettle and 
Stony Point to surrender (sell) the entire Stony 
Point Reserve which was over half of the band's 
land base. On April 1st of that year a large 
majority of the band rejected the surrender. The 
Canadian government invoked the War Measures Act 
and occupied the land, ostensibly to return it 
after the war was over. The government did not 
evict nearby cottagers or use provincial park land. 
After the war the government ignored continuous 
Kettle and Stony Point appeals and refused to 
return the land.

In 1942 the government forcibly removed people and 
their houses from the land. The Stony Point 
territory was amalgamated with the Kettle Point 
territory; the people of Stony Point were picked up 
and placed on the land of the Kettle Point people. 
One band member that when s/he came home from 
school while her/his parents were at work, the 
soldiers had placed the family's house on a semi-
truck to move it to the other territory.

The military met Indian defiance of this action 
with force. The military mortared one woman's 
house, forcing her to leave. Then they captured her 
and dragged her away from her land.

In 1982, after negotiations failed, the band 
accepted $2.4 million as a partial compensation but 
still with the agreement that the band held the 
reversionary interest in the land, which would 
eventually be returned when the military no longer 
needed the land.(4)

NOTES:

1. The London Free Press, 9/15/95, p. A8.
2. The New York Times, 8/27/95, p. A4.
3. The Boston Globe, 9/10/95, p. 20.
4. Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point, Historical 
Backgrounder, 9/8/95.
All uncited information is from interviews by MIM



* * *



AMERIKA CLEANS UP IN BOSNIA: MAKING PEACE WITH THE 
COMPRADORS; BEATING OUT RIVAL IMPERIALISTS

by RAIL comrades

The war in Bosnia is a sticky situation for 
Amerika. The U.S. military and Amerikan capital 
want to extend hegemony in southern Europe and the 
Mediterranean region, yet until recently direct 
military involvement has been risky. NATO conducted 
the recent bombings of Bosnian Serbs in the former 
Yugoslavia only after the Yugoslav army had 
demonstrated its unwillingness to become involved 
in the conflict--NATO and Amerika refused to step 
in until they could do so "risk free."

If Serbia will abandon the Bosnian Serbs in favor 
of a deal with western capital, Amerika can 
maintain hegemony in the region. The Croatian army 
recently attacked Serb positions and got no 
response from the Yugoslav army. The U.N., 
previously afraid that an attack on the Serbs would 
draw in the Serbian-dominated Yugoslav army, was 
calmed by four months of inaction on the part of 
that army.(1) Now that the Croats tested the waters 
and NATO is willing to get involved militarily, 
Amerika is credited internationally with taking a 
leading role in pushing for negotiations and an end 
to the fighting.

The United Snakes has no special interest in ending 
the fighting or in regional peace, only in 
manipulating historical circumstances so that it 
can expand its imperialist domination. Imperialist 
countries with an interest in the former Yugoslavia 
include Russia, which has historic influence with 
the Serbs and current economic concerns in 
Yugoslavia; Germany, with the highest level of 
economic interest in the region; England and 
France, with no particular historic interest but a 
desire not be left out of the pickings; and 
Amerika, the young imperialist with some economic 
ties to the region and the most firepower. The 
recent bombings and the current talks are the 
process through which the imperialists will decide 
the allegiances and level of autonomy of the 
assorted pieces former Yugoslavia.

IMPERIALIST RIVALRY

Through imperialist-comprador and inter-imperialist 
relations, NATO effectively represents all the 
rival forces in the region with the exception of 
the Bosnian Serbs. Following Croatia's August 
attack on Krajina, Croatian President Tudjman 
refrained from launching offensives which would 
cause Croatia to lose U.S. support. If Croatia 
plays within NATO rules, it will receive U.S. 
economic support (comprador status) and leverage 
against the Serbs.

For Amerika, stifling Serb expansion means blocking 
German and Russian domination of the region. Russia 
is currently demanding an end to U.N.-imposed 
economic sanctions on Yugoslavia (which now 
consists of Serbia and Macedonia). Amerika has used 
the sanctions as leverage to prevent the Serbs' 
bringing the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army into the 
war.

Germany, Russia and Amerika all used the former 
Yugoslavia as a dumping ground for overproduced 
commodities and outdated industrial machines. They 
also sucked under priced raw materials from the 
country and superprofits from the labor of easily 
exploitable and underemployed women doing piece-
assembly work.(2)

PATH IS CLEARED FOR NATO INTERVENTION

After the August military strike by the Croatian 
army in Krajina, the Serbs lost an important 
incentive to continue fighting. The Croatian 
military drove 100,000 Krajina Serbs from the area, 
decreasing the Serb population there to less than 
3%.(3) This ended the drive toward a Greater 
Serbia, making negotiations more amenable to 
Serbian interests.

NATO warned Croat President Franjo Tudjman (a 
former general in Tito's Red Army) against further 
military action while it tolerated the August 
attack. Because of Croatia's usefulness as an ally, 
the imperialists have overlooked Tudjman's anti-
Serb and anti-Muslim attitudes. Croatia's attack on 
the Serbs served the NATO-friendly purpose of 
making "risk-free" intervention possible, once 
Serbs were weakened into a negotiating position.

The Western and European imperialists want more 
Bosnian control, and less Serb control of the land 
that is currently Bosnia. This ratio is best for 
imperialism because Bosnia is more open to 
comprador status than Serbia. For this reason, 
Amerika vows to hold out on its proposed map which 
would allot 51% of the land in Bosnia to a Bosnian-
Croatian union, while giving 49% to the Serbs. The 
Serbs now control 70% of the land in Bosnia.

A Bosnian-Croatian federation is questionable given 
Tudjman's prejudices toward Muslims, as well as 
Serbs and Jews, and his popular support among the 
Croatian masses.(3) Tudjman does seem content to 
comply with imperialist interests for now.

NOTES:

1. New York Times 8/31/95, p. A6.
2. Is Yugoslavia a Socialist Country? Renmin Ribao 
& Hongqi 9/26/63.
3. New York Times 8/20/95, p. 6.



* * *



REPUBLICAN WEENIE DENOUNCES SELF-DETERMINATION FOR 
THE OPPRESSED; UPHOLDS WHITE NATION CHAUVINISM

by MC17

Bob Dole, Republican presidential candidate, made a 
speech at the national convention of the American 
Legion in Indianapolis on September 4th where he 
warned that "'ethnic separatism' is a threat to 
American unity." Dole is jumping on the English-
only bandwagon and fighting to make English the 
official U.S. language. This only makes Dole a 
hypocritical ethnic separatist himself. The 
English-only movement is an attack by the white 
nation on immigrants and non-English speakers. The 
goal is cultural destruction and white domination 
of other cultures and nations.

MIM agrees with Dole that the separatism he 
criticizes is a threat to Amerika. But we don't 
play games pretending that "separatism" is morally 
wrong and then hypocritically condemn oppressed 
nation separatism while upholding white separatism. 
MIM proudly upholds revolutionary nationalism as a 
weapon against imperialism and national oppression. 
We oppose white nation chauvinism because it 
supports and defends these forms of oppression. MIM 
works to lead a revolutionary nationalist struggle 
which will overthrow the reactionary unity of the 
Amerikan imperialists with their bought-off labor 
aristocracy.

NOTE: Boston Globe, 9/5/95, p. A1.



* * *



REVOLUTIONARY CULTURE


KIDS 

Kids is a stark look at the lives of teens in NYC. 
The youth are portrayed in a realistic and somewhat 
disturbing way, and the film presents a case for a 
larger indictment of imperialist, patriarchal 
society. The youth are privileged by their freedom, 
including time. Yet the bourgeois and patriarchal 
social structure offers them no meaningful way to 
spend their time or channel their energies.

Clearly, late teen-aged youth are capable of 
wielding significant power and responsibility, 
which is why they can effectively create youth 
havens and subcultures. But society tells them they 
are useless by giving youth no power to determine 
their own lives or to influence the course of 
history or politics. Many youth opt for escape from 
bourgeois society through drugs or alcohol. The 
other option is playing "good" in a system which 
lacks values just as much as the subcultures 
created to escape it. The contradictions youth face 
are impossible to resolve without seizing political 
power.

Individuals have control over their own actions and 
the behaviors depicted in this film should not be 
dismissed as "just the fault of society." But 
children should be expected to act in accordance 
with values of the society in which they live. In 
Kids, we see the results of patriarchal imperialist 
values.

One clear example of society's values manifesting 
among the characters is patriarchy. The men in the 
film treat women as objects, as ground to be 
conquered. Fucking them is seen as a victory and in 
one character's case, fucking virgins is the 
ultimate prize. While this is a sick way to view 
women and sex it is not diametrically opposed to 
how women are viewed in society as a whole. While 
some pseudo-feminists want to indict individuals 
and ignore systemic analysis, they conclude that 
changing attitudes or finding a man with the 
"right" attitude is the key to escaping patriarchy.

It is paternalistic and unrealistic to indict this 
grotesque individual behavior and not patriarchy as 
a whole. It is also insulting to think that this 
represents the ultimate act of indecency and 
vulgarity toward women when one person adopts the 
values so prevalent in society in a way which 
people find particularly offensive. This is not to 
excuse the behavior and to claim that individuals 
don't have some control over what they do, but one 
must not be quick to only judge a symptom of 
behavior manifested by patriarchy while ignoring 
patriarchy as a system.

Youth have an interest in revolution because in 
capitalist society they are property. They are 
property of their parents microscopically and 
macroscopically they have no large significant or 
meaningful role in society. That is why it is 
played out generation after generation: kids rebel 
against their parents, but then later buy into the 
system and create their own property who do the 
same thing and so on. To end the fate of children 
as property youth should join the revolutionary 
movement which works to build public opinion of the 
oppressed and to seize power and eventually 
eliminate the existence of private property, 
including children.

JEFFREY

review by MC49

Jeffrey is a movie about rich, white, gay Amerikan 
men and how AIDS touches their lives. The film 
revolves around the character Jeffrey, who wants to 
give up sex because it's just too traumatic given 
the risk. Jeffrey's attempts at escapism cause 
great emotional pain to people around him who are 
dying of AIDS, watching their partners die of AIDS, 
or who are HIV+ and trying to get Jeffrey to go out 
with them. But by the end of the film Jeffrey 
learns that AIDS, to paraphrase one of the 
characters dying from the disease, is like an 
uninvited guest at a party but hey, "it's still our 
party!"

The majority of people affected by AIDS, those who 
reside in the neocolonies, principally neocolonized 
women, do not have slick, cute movies made about 
them. Nor is life outside of their illness a party. 
But hey, that's imperialist culture for you. 
Jeffrey, like almost all Hollywood movies, promotes 
and is a part of individualist romance culture.

MORTAL KOMBAT

review by MC17

This film combines cartoon-effect cinematography 
and excellent audio effects with a weak plot that 
has some politically redeeming elements. This take 
on the video game Mortal Kombat puts out some 
positive messages to the youth it intends to 
attract. Mortal Kombat effectively mocks some 
elements of religion and religious worship and 
argues that people make their own destinies. 
Unfortunately, Mortal Kombat also incorrectly 
advocates the idea that individuals can save the 
world on their own.

Mortal Kombat is a good v. evil struggle to save 
the earth: mortals are brought to fight the evil 
forces in matches to the death that will determine 
the future of the planet. The good deity, portrayed 
as a Jesus-looking youngish white dude with long 
white hair (who has some impressive powers) is 
subject friendly (self) mockery, and the audience 
is encouraged not to take him very seriously. He 
does not have the power to save the earth: the best 
part of the plot is that only the humans can do 
that.

Another good part of Mortal Kombat is the theme 
that mortals without weapons are able to overcome 
the more powerful bad guys by using the correct 
strategy. The film does individualistically pretend 
that one person (rather than the armed and 
organized masses) could win the battle to save 
humanity. While MIM upholds the conviction that the 
masses make history without supernatural 
assistance, we base this conviction on scientific 
knowledge of what the masses can accomplish working 
together.

Mortal Kombat is marred by a pathetic display of 
bourgeois gender nonsense. The two women characters 
in the film are supposed to be good fighters; but 
neither one takes any leadership in defeating evil. 
After minimal resistance and a couple of story-line 
obstacles, the women fighters wind up coupled with 
the two main men characters. The women are not 
there to fight or serve humanity, only to wear 
tight clothing and support the men.

One final plus for the movie worth noting is the 
way it mocks the western capitalist values of its 
wealthiest character. He is made to look foolish 
for carting around all his expensive luggage and 
putting on airs. The hero of Mortal Kombat rejects 
western values and individualism for broader 
humanitarian goals.

SANKOFA

Sankofa is an independently produced film about the 
lives of African slaves on a 19th century Amerikan 
sugar cane plantation. It is a good example of what 
progressives and revolutionaries can do with 
independent media. The imperialist bourgeoisie will 
not let us say what we want to say with their 
media, but independent releases like Sankofa can be 
honest and critical and do good work to expose 
settler history.

Sankofa confronts the brutality of the white 
masters and refuses to cater to modern-day 
Amerikans by including a liberal white ally of the 
Black masses (a la Mississippi Burning ). It 
highlights the slaves' resistance, which culminates 
in a planned armed rebellion.

One of the more interesting things about Sankofa is 
its portrayal of the differences among the slaves 
and how these differences are overcome or 
intensified throughout the course of the slaves' 
struggle. Field slaves form the bulk of the secret 
society which plans escapes and rebellions in 
Sankofa. Most of them were born in Africa and have 
no interest in the Amerikan society which exploits 
and oppresses them. A few slaves receive some 
meager privileges. Those who work in the house have 
better clothes and more food; one of the head 
slaves is "adopted" by a Christian missionary and 
taught to read.

The characters who receive privileges are torn 
between their desire to rebel and their fear of 
losing what little sustenance they have. The main 
character eventually rejects her privileges and 
joins her friends in the fields after their 
resistance and the slave masters' brutality 
convince her that the slave masters are totally 
corrupt. When one of the head slaves obstinately 
identifies with the masters, the secret society 
attempts to assassinate him.

Hollywood did not fund or distribute Sankofa 
because it just would not play well in the white 
suburbs and would not be profitable for the media 
monopolies. Director Haile Gerima raised the money 
for the film with the help of other members of the 
Black national bourgeoisie, and the Black national 
bourgeoisie is helping to distribute the film as 
well. In Los Angeles, Magic Johnson Theaters has 
shown the film all summer. The only other theater 
in Los Angeles to show Sankofa closed it after two 
weeks, saying it was "too volatile."

MIM builds its own independent media for the 
oppressed with MIM Notes and MIM Theory. Sankofa 
shows that the Black national bourgeoisie can be an 
ally in the struggle to build this independent 
media.



* * *



UNDER LOCK & KEY

DISCUSS, ORGANIZE AND AGITATE

This is being directed at brothers, to let them 
know that we continue to resist at MCC (Maximum 
Control Complex), no matter how oppressive our 
conditions. We continue to discuss, organize and 
agitate against the U.S. government. As of February 
2, 1995 brothers have been placed on punitive 
quarantine status without probable cause other than 
pick and choose. This started about a TB 
(tuberculosis) shot which the majority refuse 
because of religious reasons. Others refuse the 
shot because guards say the shot is mandatory, 
which it's not. We continue to resist even though 
we know they may obtain a court order forcing us to 
receive the TB shot. We have discussed this point 
too and stand ready to resist.

Standing strong

-- an Indiana prisoner, 4/4/95


NEW YORK GUARDS SELL DRUGS


Dear comrade,

I've received your May and June issues of MIM 
Notes. I like the paper very much because it is 
enlightening me about the forces of oppression and 
how they work.

Also I would like to inform you of the continuing 
efforts of the penal system to break the morale of 
prisoners here in New York State. Despite the 
numerous attempts of prisoners to create an 
environment which may be conducive to 
rehabilitation and preparation for our return to 
society and our families, the government seems to 
find content in their every effort to sabotage our 
efforts.

In addition, the guards at this facility are 
selling drugs to prisoners in order to keep them in 
a zombie state of mind. So far several officers 
were arrested for running drug operations in this 
facility. Goes to show who the criminals are.

--a New York prisoner, 6/13/95


SILENCED SOULS RECOGNIZED AND SUPPORTED


The following statement was written by a New York 
prisoner for a "Forum on Political Prisoners and 
Repression in Amerika" in Boston

Throughout Amerika oppressed nationalities are 
hoarded up in Amerika's prisons. The white 
supremacist structure which is based and rooted in 
a world imperialist policy of exploitation and 
oppression seeks to dismantle the nationally 
oppressed minorities within her borders. Prison has 
played a large part in repressing revolutionaries 
of all sorts.

The oppressed nationalities that dwell within these 
steel and stone tombs face acute political 
repression. However some political prisoners are 
more well known than others and their cases are 
widely publicized while the majority of oppressed 
nationalities that are imprisoned are either 
ignored or unheard of. I'm most sure that Mumia, 
Sundiata, Geronimo, etc., are very aware that they 
are not the only ones that are politically 
repressed, tortured, executed and denied parole 
within the prisons of the U.S. empire.

There are whole clumps of nations in here, with 
prisoners that face the same injustice, frame-ups 
and politico-national oppression that other well-
known political prisoners face and experience.

By focusing on a handful of political prisoners 
while ignoring the rest, is undoubtedly sanctioning 
the political repression that thousands of other 
oppressed nationalities face at the hands of the 
common foe, i.e. the U.S. empire. This is not to 
negate the various sacrifices that well known 
revolutionaries have made and are still making. 
Yes, free Mumia but whatever happened to "Free the 
Black Nation," "Free the Latino Nations," "Free the 
First Nations" and "Free all the oppressed 
nationalities from the U.S. empire's dungeons!!!"?

The great revolutionary George Jackson recognized 
that we are all political prisoners because we all 
belong to various oppressed nationalities.

"UPDATE!, UPDATE! Just the other day at 7pm in 
Westbubblefuck Correctional Facility revolutionary 
Jane Doe was framed for the murder of a prison 
guard. Revolutionary Jane Doe was due to go home 
next week and had strong ties with revolutionary 
organizations throughout the nation. She is also 
known for organizing against cop brutality, 
censorship, and U.S. imperialism. Unfortunately, 
she is now facing life imprisonment without the 
possibility of parole."

"UPDATE!, UPDATE! Just in! Revolutionary prisoner 
John Doe was just found in his cell dead. He was 
due to go home in just 2 more days. Revolutionary 
John Doe was a well known Maoist throughout the 
Eastbubblefuck Prison Facilities. He is known for 
organizing against national oppression, homophobia, 
gender oppression and for peace truces between 
rival gangs. Police say that Revolutionary John Doe 
committed suicide by swallowing a bar of soap. No 
one has yet come to claim the body."

This occurs to hundreds if not hundreds of 
thousands of oppressed nationalities that are 
unheard of and ignored as they struggle against the 
U.S. empire and for national liberation, often 
sacrificing their lives. We must organize as a 
nation and for the nation; not just for a couple of 
people from the nation. There are many Mumias and 
Sundiatas within the U.S. prison system. 

As George Jackson said "a person that takes the 
civil exam today can kill me tomorrow and a person 
that took the civil exam yesterday can kill me 
today." This is the ever present reality for all of 
Amerika's prisoners especially the oppressed 
nationalities that come to prison and become 
politically conscious and active.

I think the important factor in Mumia's unjust 
trial is a lesson to be learned on how far the 
state will go to take away our most advanced 
leaders, especially when those leaders are calling 
for national liberation and the destruction of the 
U.S. empire. Many brothers that are in prison take 
up leadership roles and are subjected to the same 
repression of the Mumias and Sundiatas, however 
many of these revolutionary leaders do not receive 
a lot of outside support. 

It's extremely difficult for prisoners in here 
being that we are cut off from society. The lack of 
funds, outside support and revolutionary material 
greatly hinders the development of potential 
revolutionary forces in prison.

MIM's Under Lock and Key work has greatly 
contributed to supporting prisoners and allowing us 
to get our voices out there to the public. We need 
more people to contribute to MIM's work via money, 
books and/or time. Believe me when I tell you that 
many a good revolutionary has sacrificed their life 
or are brutally beaten in here and are railroaded 
by the law. However with your contribution to Under 
Lock and Key we could fight back much more 
effectively.

Let the thousands of silenced souls that dwell 
within these dark and dank tombs be heard and 
recognized and supported.

We are all in this together. Support Under Lock and 
Key

Death to the U.S. empire!

Long live the people's struggle for land and 
liberation

--a New York Prisoner, 8/18/95 


DONATION TO PRISON PROGRAM


I have just read Abu-Jamal's "Live from Death Row" 
and am working on a review of it. The book is so 
important, I think, that I am enclosing $200 to be 
earmarked for the Books For Prisoners Program. 
Please use the money to send Abu-Jamal's book to 
any prisoner who wants it.

In Solidarity,

-- a friend from the Midwest, 8/12/95


SHOULD CHILDREN BE TRIED AS ADULTS?


We live in a society where racism and double 
standards are the name of the game. It has a 
stratification system that economically, 
physically, and emotionally places the rich white 
capitalists on top and the poor Black or other 
people of color at the bottom. A system that 
economically, psychologically and physically 
manipulates it to remain as such.

No, I do not think that this society should try 
children as adults, unless society will try both 
white and black children the same. Which it does 
not. Most of the crimes in this country are 
committed by whites, out of its 175 million people-
-violent crimes included. Young Blacks are six 
times as likely to be arrested for violent crimes 
as Whites, of a Black population of 35 million.

Places of imprisonment are filled with people of 
color and to my way of thinking this constitutes a 
well defined system of racism, double standards and 
population control. Our children are not born 
murderers, rapists, thieves or criminals but are 
victims of the manipulation of the cruel capitalist 
society in which we live. It creates both the saint 
and madman, the poor, the desperate, the you and 
me. Trying a child of color as an adult and locking 
him or her away has, in reality, nothing to do with 
solving the created crime problem. Instead it adds 
to the hurt to an already injured people. 
Personally I believe in laws to govern the people, 
only when those laws govern with equity regardless 
of race, color, religion or economic status. This 
is not the case in the U.S.A.

--a Maryland prisoner, 5/15/95


FEDERAL CENSORSHIP


In accordance with Bureau of Prisons' Program 
Statement 5266.5, Incoming Publications, the 
following publication, MIM Notes, June 1995 issue, 
has been found unacceptable for introduction into 
the institution. Specifically, the article 
"Crossroad," page 10, in the "Under Lock & Key" 
section encourages activities which may lead to the 
group disruption. The contents of the publication 
pose a threat to the security, good order, and 
discipline, of this institution.

Consequently, this publication is rejected. You are 
hereby informed that you have the right to appeal 
this decision within 15 days, under the 
Administrative Remedy Procedure. [This letter was 
dated 6/29/95 and postmarked 7/14/95. So much for 
the appeal process. --MIM]

By copy of this letter, the sender MIM 
Distributors, is hereby notified of the decision to 
reject this publication. The sender may obtain an 
independent review of the rejection by writing to 
the Regional Director, Southeast Regional Office, 
523 McDonough Blvd., Atlanta, GA 30315.

Sincerely,

Fred J. Stock, Warden

U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of 
Prisons, U.S. Penitentiary, 601 McDonough Blvd. 
S.E., Atlanta, GA 30315-4423


FEDERAL PRISONERS FIGHT CENSORSHIP


Dear MIM:

Please be advised that the B.O.P.'s rejection of 
your recently sent material only applies to that 
specific issue. Please do not stop sending it. By 
doing so, you would prevent me from fighting the 
system from the inside.

Enclosed is a copy of my BP-8/Informal Resolution 
submitted in response to the refusal. As an avid 
reader and writer of MIM, you can rest assured that 
I will pursue this matter with vigorous zeal: if 
not for any other reason than the fact that it 
supports your position and argument to which I have 
been debating against for the last six months.


RE: REJECTED MAIL FROM MIM NEWSPAPER


Recently I received notification that a newspaper I 
receive was being withheld because an article 
advocated disruption of the prison system. This 
notification arrived one month after the newspaper 
had been returned to its sender and accorded me 
only a 15 day complaint time--which had obviously 
expired by 15 days when I received the notice.

The U.S. Supreme Court has set the following 
minimum standards that must be followed when prison 
officials censor or withhold mail. The inmate must 
be notified of the rejection of his mail, the 
mail's author must be allowed to protest the 
refusal and the complaint must be decided by an 
official other than the one who made the original 
decision to refuse delivery. Essentially, this 
administration denied me the opportunity to lodge a 
protest to the denial of my mail by its lengthy 
delay in notification.

MIM Notes is a newspaper that sends out its 
publication every month. It is written by the 
Maoist Internationalist Movement--a form of 
Socialist/Communist advocacy. I have enjoyed a long 
standing printed debate with this publication. They 
print my articles, even though they are contrary to 
their dogma, and respond in kind with their own 
socialist/communist propaganda. As far as I've been 
able to ascertain, that there are two inmates here 
that receive this publication and neither of us 
advocate for the communist doctrine. For me it is 
an opportunity to employ my writing skills to 
express my concerns regarding the deterioration of 
our liberties and freedoms. In fact many of my 
articles, though seemingly "anti-government," speak 
directly against the use of violence as a vehicle 
to promote change.

As you can see, your concerns for censorship are 
both unfounded and unjustified, and a poor excuse 
for denying someone else less enlightened and 
educated the right of freedom of expression and 
freedom of speech.

Sometimes, if given the opportunity, you find signs 
of responsibility in the least likely places. 
Because of all my articles to this publication have 
been printed, a certain amount of responsibility 
comes with the territory. Maybe my response to 
those inflammatory comments would have had an 
impact on someone else's life. And because I do not 
advocate violent revolution, maybe the impact of my 
comments might have made a difference to someone 
contemplating violent reaction. You prison 
officials need to remember that with your god-like 
power over our lives that there is just enough need 
for temperance as well as responsibility.

--a federal prisoner in Georgia, 7/24/95


PRISONERS FIGHT OPPRESSIVE CONDITIONS 


Once you are in a control unit, they will target 
you and you will be subjected to years of isolation 
for minor and/or no infractions, while others get 
15 days. Since this SMU opened in April 1992, it 
has always been 90% New Afrikan prisoner populated. 
This is by design. The oppressors that work here 
are always 95-98% white supremacist. So you can 
imagine what happens here.

We can not use hygiene materials of any kind, no 
body soap, no lotion, no deodorant, no hair grease. 
We have to wash ourselves with toilet soap that 
tears our skin off. We live in concrete bunks with 
a bright light in our faces 24 hours a day. 
Prisoners are beaten, maced, stoned, etc. for no or 
frivolous reasons. This concentration camp is on 
the same par as Hitler's Auschwitz.

We have filed 33 state habeas corpus suits and have 
been appointed a lawyer who has been on top of 
things. The first set of hearings was June 8,1995. 
The next sets should be held in late June and early 
July. Of course the prison staff here is upset, but 
who cares.

I look forward MIM Notes and sharing it with those 
around me who are conscious and in the struggle.

In struggle

--a Pennsylvania prisoner, 6/20/95 


MA GOVERNOR FIGHTS FOR MORE PRISONS


Massachusetts Governor William Weld is pushing to 
spend $705 million on new prisons, including two 
medium-security and one maximum-security prison.

Prisoners at MCI-Concord are suffering the worst 
overcrowding, at 300%. Superior Court Judge Patrick 
King ordered the Governor and the DOC to reduce 
overcrowding at Concord by September. King found 
prisoners "stacked in dormitories like cords of 
wood with virtually no space or privacy." The Globe 
described the conditions for many Concord 
prisoners: "housed 75 to a room, some without a 
mattress, sharing two toilets and one or two 
showers and guarded by one corrections officer."

Weld's problem with this is that it has led to a 
statewide increase in physical assaults on the 
pigs, up to a record 300 last year and have 
continued to rise. Weld is trying to use this new 
court order to build support for his new prisons 
plan.

The loyal Democratic opposition got a bill passed 
to spend $50 million building modular units that 
contain 800 beds. He also wants to spend $38 
million for "new facilities for the Department of 
Youth Services, including boot camps for youthful 
offenders" and $20 million on "community service" 
programs and electronic monitoring devices.

The Republicans are thinking more long term, but 
both agree that more of all kinds of confinement 
are needed immediately. The Demopublican-
Republocrat split is only on paper, and barely at 
that.

NOTE: Boston Globe 7/19/95, p. 19.


PRISONERS WITH HIV STRUGGLE AGAINST OPPRESSION


Dear MIM,

Excuse me for not writing sooner, I am HIV positive 
and am trying to stay healthy. I am still receiving 
my MIM Notes, so please keep me on the mailing 
list.

In your last issue, August 1995, the letter from 
Brother Mumia Abu-Jamal was moving and helped me to 
establish a base for my organization. Since last 
year, I have been a board member of the HIV/AIDS in 
Prison Project, but there were so many obstacles 
for us members to cross. HIV inmates were not 
properly informed of the their diagnosis, nor 
provided instructions for the proper use of 
medication, nor provided appropriate follow up 
treatment.

Also, there are few bilingual personnel whom can be 
called on for medical emergencies and who can 
understand inmates' descriptions of symptoms and 
medical histories. These factors resulted in a 
disproportionate number of preventable deaths among 
Latinos. So we inmate patients have to discuss 
amongst ourselves how deal and counter this problem 
that effects us daily.

These are the basic human rights issues that the 
California Department of Corrections have 
overlooked time and time again. The Vacaville 
California Medical Facility (CMF) administration 
has released the number of deaths to be around 400 
since 1989. We all know that this is a cover-up. We 
have demanded that the CMF at Vacaville release 
their information about prisoners with HIV and AIDS 
to an outside by of independent investigators on 
that matter. That was 11 months ago and we are 
still dying in record numbers. But we are still 
fighting this struggle.

Yours in struggle,

--a California prisoner, 8/24/95


PRISON BRIEFS


Doublecelling is proceeding a pace. Some of us 
political prisoners are forced to work in Unicor. A 
comrade was framed recently.

--a Kansas prisoner, 5/1/95


I was in Vietnam, captured as a POW and received 
better treatment than that which is now being 
afforded to me here.

--a Colorado Prisoner, 7/17/95


The blowers are being turned on in our cells, 
causing the temperature to drop to around 40 
degrees. This started about a month ago. For the 
first week the blowers remained on 24hrs straight. 
Since then they are turned on at 7am and shut off 
at 4pm. The reason: an alleged high level of carbon 
monoxide.

--a Maryland prisoner, 4/3/95


The beatings still go on. Isolation cells are still 
being used, although I hear that both the "pink-
room" and the "cadre area" isolation cells are no 
longer to be used due to a government 
investigation, but if so, it hasn't started yet. 
The physical and psychological torture is applied 
constantly and the blowers I mentioned are still in 
effect.

--a Maryland prisoner, 5/7/95 


Texas no longer feeds its captives beef. Yeah 
they've got a new flavor, "VitaPro" (soybean). They 
are actually feeding us animal food. That and pork 
(forced vegetarianism). Despite the fact that the 
system raises and slaughters 1,000s of cows and 
pigs a week. Obviously being sold for private 
profit.

--a Texas prisoner, 6/2/95