I N T E R N E T ' S M A O I S T M O N T H L Y = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = XX XX XXX XX XX X X XXX XXX XXX XXX X X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X V X X X V X X X X X X X XX XXX X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X XXX X X X V XXX X XXX XXX = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT MIM Notes 108 January 1996 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 108 includes: IN THIS ISSUE: 1. STUDENTS PROTEST NATIONAL OPPRESSION, POLICE BRUTALITY ON A MICHIGAN CAMPUS 2. LETTERS TO MIM AND RAIL 3. MULTI-NATIONAL ORGANIZING DEBATED: A LETTER TO UNION DEL BARRIO 4. MEXICAN MILITARY RAPES WOMEN: ZAPATISTAS FIGHT BACK 5. IMPERIALISTS WIN WAR IN BOSNIA 6. A FRENCH PROLETARIAT? NOT WITH THESE DEMANDS 7. AMERIKA ADMITS TO CONTROLLING HAITIAN DICTATORS 8. JAPANESE BANKS: THE FAILURE OF IMPERIALISM 9. PRISON GROWTH DEMONSTRATES NATIONAL OPPRESSION 10. PIGS PROFIT FROM PRISONS AT EVERY TURN 11. AMERIKAN PRISONS: OPEN SLAVE LABOR CAMPS 12. WANT TO END RAPE? SEIZE PROLETARIAN POWER 13. AMERIKAN MILITARY STILL CONTROL THE NET 14. NEW TREATY GRANTS U.S. MILITARY GREATER DOMINANCE IN THE PHILIPPINES 15. SHELL-BACKED NIGERIA EXECUTES OGONI ACTIVISTS 16. UPDATE ON DETROIT NEWSPAPER STRIKE: THE AMERIKAN "PROLETARIAT"? 17. PEOPLE'S WAR IN PERU 18. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISON AND PRISONERS 19. SAGE/UAW DEMANDS SHARE OF BLOOD MONEY 20. INTERVIEW WITH SCOTTISH COMRADE 21. FILM DOCUMENTS INDONESIAN BRUTALITY IN EAST TIMOR STUDENTS PROTEST NATIONAL OPPRESSION, POLICE BRUTALITY ON A MICHIGAN CAMPUS Black Eastern Michigan University (EMU) student Aaron Johnson was arrested on November 7 while trying to break up a fight between two other students in a University residence hall. EMU Department of Public Safety (DPS) pig Kenneth Hardesty used pepper spray to break up the fight. According to student witnesses, Hardesty punched, kicked and spat on Johnson. Hardesty then lost his pepper spray, and arrested Johnson on the felony charge of disarming a police officer.(1) Johnson was also charged with aggravated assault and obstruction of justice. The charge of disarming a police officer was dropped at a District Court hearing. MIM agrees with the many Black students who believe that the hearing should have resulted in dropping the entire case, but we know that there is no justice for Blacks in Amerika so we are not surprised that the case lives on.(2) During the fight, Hardesty pulled out his gun. Although he did not fire the weapon, Hardesty is now on paid administrative leave pending an investigation of the incident.(1) DPS has regulations for when officers are permitted to pull their guns but is refusing to release those rules to students protesting Johnson's arrest. The University administration is working with DPS to attempt to erase students' memories of the arrest and protests; and to minimize the significance of racism and national oppression in this case and on the campus in general. The administration has also supported DPS tactics of intimidation and manipulation in the investigation. STUDENTS PROTEST JOHNSON'S ARREST, DPS TREATMENT OF BLACK STUDENTS On December 4, 20 EMU students broke up the EMU-San Francisco State basketball game by taking over the court at half-time. The students peacefully expressed outrage at Johnson's arrest and at the University administration's complicity with the DPS brutality and cover-up. The students' initial demands were: 1) DPS pig Hardesty must be fired; 2) There must be a student advisory committee involved in the selection process for his replacement; 3) All charges against Aaron Johnson must be dropped. The first 20 protesters gathered supporters as they chanted things like "We're fired up, we're fired up, we ain't gonna take it no more" and "Who's my brother, you my brother" and "No Justice no peace." The lights on the basketball court went out and the loudspeaker announced that the game had been suspended. After everyone but the players and some of their family members had left, the doors were locked and the game resumed. Following the protest, the EMU administration announced that students who had participated would be expelled. MIM was told that the administration threw out the rules of its own hierarchy of discipline. Students with no records are supposed to receive less severe punishments. In this case, the administration wanted a blanket punishment for everyone involved. The administration was pressured into reconsidering the expulsions and following University policy. The majority of the students involved in the protest had no previous records and were given one year probation and 40 hours community service. But since the incident, pigs and the administration have closely monitored Black students who were involved in the protest in an attempt to catch them on other charges. Another count or infraction in addition to having participated in the protest would mean that these students get kicked out of school. MIM sees this as the administration using its power over students to silence protest and stop the exposure of national oppression on campus. While the EMU administration attempts to stifle protest campaigns around Johnson's case Black students continue to organize and educate. The students have demanded an investigation and just resolution to the case. They packed the December 5th student government meeting and called on representatives to support Johnson and the rest of the students who were involved in the protests stemming from the controversy at EMU's basketball game. Students urged the representatives to speak out against the administration and pushed the student government to pass a bill demanding amnesty for all students involved in the protest. The student government passed a resolution in support of the three demands brought out at the basketball game. Students also rallied the Black faculty and staff to pass a resolution endorsing the second and third demands as well as amnesty for the protesters. DPS RACISM AGAINST BLACK STUDENTS AND ADMINISTRATION COMPLICITY The DPS investigation was a classic demonstration of pig priorities: DPS tried to make itself look clean at Aaron Johnson's expense. EMU students said that the police chief manipulated their statements after the incident, asking repeatedly if the witnesses were "sure that this or that happened." The pigs continually hounded the students to get them to change their statements two weeks after the incident. The chief also used hypotheticals in questioning the witnesses to lead them to answers he would rather hear. For example, "Put yourself in Aaron's shoes, in such a situation can you say that x situation might have resulted." Students told MIM that the pigs have always had a bad relationship with Blacks on campus. For example, the Walton-Putnam dorm is more than 80 percent Black. It was the first place that the DPS installed video cameras to watch the students and the first place they stationed a DPS pig to watch the students. EMU students told MIM they believe the EMU administration's alliance with the cops is an extension of COINTELPRO--the FBI's Counter- Intelligence Program designed and implemented to monitor, infiltrate and destroy revolutionary nationalist organizations. The administration has singled out Black student leaders and is targeting them with punitive measures following the protests and organizing efforts after Aaron's arrest. This is nothing new in Amerika, and cases like these will not be solved in the courtroom. Justice for Aaron Johnson and the protesting students will only be won through strong protests and actions by the students and community who oppose national oppression, the pigs and administrations that uphold this unfair and unequal system. MIM agrees with these students who see the EMU pigs' actions as a part of a larger picture of national oppression. And we take the struggle further into the national and international arena to fight the pigs on their own level. Struggles like this one at EMU are important for exposing the daily oppression that goes on and fighting for some measure of freedom, but we can never lose sight of the bigger battles that have to be fought against the imperialist system that lives off of national oppression. NOTES: 1. The Ann Arbor News Nov. 9, 1995, p. C1, 2. 2. The Michigan Daily Dec. 6, 1995, p. A1-2. * * * LETTERS TO MIM AND RAIL DOWN WITH SENTIMENTALITY FOR ASSASSINS IN BLUE I received my MIM Notes 105, October, 1995 issue today and was glad I received it. In reading [the letter] on page 2 under the heading "'Righteous' killing?" by some Internet Reader, dated September 1995, I have something I want to say to this person: Your heart quivered because a comrade stated in his writing that a cop (pig) who got blown away (regarding the Mumia incident) was a "righteous" killing, tells me that you (Mr. Internet) cannot and would not ever be a true and devoted revolutionary for the cause. Your display of outrage made me want to punk on your sentimental head. Where in the hell do you think we're at? And what do you see taking place by these assassins in blue? Have you forgotten about what the pigs don to brother George Jackson? Well what about the SLA, the Black Panther Party, the Chicago Seven, Angela Davis, MOVE, Waco, and Randy Weaver and his family (though I don't go along with his "racist" philosophy), and the countless other citizens you and I never hear about who are victimized and murdered by these filthy cop pigs? You, with your weak heart, need to stay away from the struggle, because I know of people like you. I'm in prison (NOW) because of a faint hearted person like you. You're the type of person who wannabe in the crowd but when it gets thick and action has to be taken, you'd bust someone. You'd rat on your brethren. In other words, "you're a gotdam sellout and agent!" You are the same type of sentimental fool who could see a cop pig bashing a young boy's brains out, or a pregnant woman, or an elderly person, in the dark of the night (and with no one around) by one of those stinking pigs and you would run like a wet rat. And you'd probably fart from being so gotdam scared. My advice to you, stay clear of this revolution because this is not for the faint hearted or the sentimental yuppie/passive-ass you have displayed yourself to be. And in closing, before you check one of my comrades over what they wrote you better check yourself. --Political Prisoners of War Vanguard Coalition MIM REPLIES: Thank you for a sharp response. MIM often calls people to task for tolerating violence perpetrated by pigs against the masses, and you have expressed that well. One note, however, is that MIM does not write off people as you do above. We are willing to struggle with all those who are willing to struggle with us. This is because we reject the ideology propped up by the psychological establishment that maintains that there are types of people: immutably faint hearted or brave. Instead, we call on those people whose actions are not strongly on the side of the proletariat, those who waver and might be labeled "faint-hearted," to reform their ideology. Individuals are not born strong friends of the people--they develop their strength through struggle and through service. READER WANTS PRISONER AWARENESS MONTH Your latest issue has lots of news about Prison Awareness Week. This is a great idea but I suggest we should now have a Prison Awareness Month in 1996. Since February is set as Black History Month, perhaps March could be set as Prison Awareness Month? I will be willing to promote the idea in my area. How about other readers? --A reader in Pittsburgh MIM REPLIES: It is excellent that you are working on ways to organize in your area. One reason that news of the activities going on around the country is important is that it gives other readers ideas of how to apply a revolutionary analysis to their own conditions. If you decide that a Prisoner Awareness Month is a good way to organize activism in your area, that is a great advance over no time. MIM does not generally recognize the various designated Months because, for example, every month should be Black History Month. The Under Lock and Key section of the paper demonstrates the ongoing commitment to prisoner awareness. That said, however, we see great importance in organizing around specific campaigns. Prisoner Awareness Week was only part of a larger campaign focused on repression in Massachusetts prisons, predicated by study and organization and followed by rallying. The struggle continues. We encourage people to follow this reader's example and use MN's pages for organizing. We invite our readers to use our newspaper to plan their anti-imperialist and Maoist work. We will gladly support and participate in activities in March--as well as call on people to oppose prisons now! TRAVELER FINDS MIM Dear MIM: Hello, I would like to get some information on your organization. I recently was on a trip to the state of Massachusetts and went to two events the local chapter held and found them to be very interesting. That is how I heard of your organization, if you would like to know. Well, I look forward to the info. Thank you, A Friend in the South November 1995 AN RC REPLIES: Revolutionary Greetings! I am a member of the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) which is a multi-issue group with a wide range of anti-imperialist politics represented. RAIL works with and is led by the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM). Your letter asking for more information about MIM was passed on by MIM to me, so I could explain what RAIL is all about. The reason for this is that RAIL is the best place for people to start who are interested in doing work around various anti-imperialist issues and want to learn more about revolutionary communist politics, but aren't necessarily ideologically prepared or experienced enough to make the commitments necessary for working in MIM. RAIL has a national newspapers for different areas, and we can send you a free copy if you want; just write to let us know. The paper talks about what RAIL is doing in different areas and also has articles by RAIL members and others about anti- imperialist issues. Other things that RAIL members can do is put up posters about events or about issues like feminism, revolutionary nationalism, local political issues, capitalist atrocities, etc. Also, distributing these free newspapers and talking to people on the street or on college campuses is a good way to develop political consciousness in your area. RAIL or MIM can help connect you to other RAIL members in your area, or sometimes there are RAIL members kind of working alone in their area at first, but then as they do some projects -- they bring in more interested people. If you have an idea for a project, RAIL can help you set it up, or if you want to be given a project to do, RAIL can provide that as well. Please send your questions and ideas to RAIL/MIM. I look forward to working with you. PRISON RALLY FLYER CRITICISM Dear RAIL coordinators: I am concerned by your flyer advertising the rally against Massachusetts prisoner relocation. Your use of the term 'prisoner oppression' is particularly annoying and slyly misleading. Yes, rehabilitation is an important function of prison. But, sadly enough, so is punishment. It is ridiculous dogma to envision a society where everybody is rehabilitated and nobody is punished. Both ideas are essential in a fair criminal justice system, particularly with respect to violent crime. This is a fact you really should come to grips with. Punishment does not involve revoking a person's basic human rights. With this we must be careful, but there will always be partisan argument regarding the line between 'abuse' and 'punishment.' There are clear abuses that should be dealt with, but your approach doesn't address them, it simply indicts the entire system. If this isn't your intention, then please rewrite your flyers. Meanwhile if you're that anxious to do some good, some victim-advocacy activism, among other things, might be a more noble cause. Even better, why don't you work toward elimination of mandatory sentencing laws, and drug laws in general, if you really want prison reform? Inmates in Massachusetts jails are not, much as you'd like to believe, political prisoners or prisoners of consciousness. The tone and graphics of your call-to-arms flyer suggests otherwise. I suppose this is a reflection of the underlying motivations of your socialist organizations, but it is way off course. --a critic in Massachusetts November, 1995 RAIL RESPONDS: In response to your letter commenting about our flyers for the prisons rally there are several points that you make that should be addressed. In Massachusetts prisons, what was proposed as rehabilitation is being eliminated, leaving only increasing punishments. There has been a society in which most people can be rehabilitated. Revolutionary China was able to successfully rehabilitate prisoners and make them productive members of society by a process of criticism and self-criticism. This process and its success in helping an American spy be rehabilitated and reeducated is detailed in Prisoners of Liberation, by Allyn and Adele Rickett, Americans imprisoned in China in the 1950s. Punishment does not help the punished, it creates resentment anger and further rage when it doesn't destroy the person. Punishment's main goal is to make the victims and the state feel better by inflicting pain. Our approach does indict the entire system, the prison system as well as U.S. Imperialism must be destroyed. While RAIL supports efforts to help prisoners, RAIL does not wish to reform prisons, but to eliminate them RAIL does believe that all prisoners are political, as the Amerikan Criminal Injustice System is a tool of repression by the state which is directed at non-whites, for the purpose of maintaining control of these groups. * * * MULTI-NATIONAL ORGANIZING DEBATED: A LETTER TO UNION DEL BARRIO Union del Barrio P.O. Box 620095 San Diego, CA 92162 August 30, 1995 Dear Comrades, Congratulations are in order for your role in building a large, militant commemoration of the Chicano Moratorium on its 25th anniversary. The August 26 event in East L.A. was a powerful display of the progressive and revolutionary nationalist sentiments of the Chicano masses. We are writing, however, to express our disagreement with your organization's representative's actions at this event, and with the political line behind his actions. After a MIM literature distributor had passed out MIM literature for a while, a brother working security for the event told the distributor that s/he needed to wait while the security person got a second brother to "approve" the literature for distribution. The second brother identified himself as a representative of both the National Chicano Moratorium Committee (the coalition sponsoring the event) and the Union del Barrio. He told the MIM literature distributor that s/he had to stop distributing MIM literature or risk being thrown out of the event. (It turned out that the shutdown was not total, as once the march reached its destination and the rally began, the security folks allowed MIM to distribute literature, albeit only in a small area penned by security folks and removed from the crowd.) The Union del Barrio comrade justified his decision to censor MIM on the grounds that MIM is a multi- national organization and that distribution of MIM literature was therefore an act of "ideological imperialism." In a related incident at the event, a Union del Barrio comrade told another MIM distributor that distribution of MIM literature was prohibited because MIM is part of "the white left." We disagree with your comrade's actions for the following reasons: 1. While we are aware that Union del Barrio and others who compose the National Chicano Moratorium Committee put a lot of work into this event, we consider such events to be the property of the masses, not of the organizers. And it was not the masses who shut us down. Quite the contrary: while MIM literature was being distributed, the masses were snapping it up very quickly. 2. While we understand the desire of organizers to make sure their views dominate--MIM works to ensure that it gets at least equal time with competing ideas at events it sponsors--we do not believe it is necessary to censor competing ideas. For example, MIM had no interest in speaking from the stage. Your organization's influence over who controlled the stage and over the literature connected to the event (such as the official program) should have been enough to ensure that your ideas had more than equal time. 3. We believe that allowing competing ideas to circulate at one's events or anywhere one exerts power is a matter of strategic confidence in one's ideas. MIM allows competing ideas to circulate where we have the power to shut them down. This is because we are confident that our ideas are correct. We believe that our ideas will win out over competing ideas without us having to shut down our ideological opposition. We have seen this to be true. 4. Distribution of MIM fliers and newspapers is not "ideological imperialism." This argument sounds like a nationalist equivalent to anarchist- feminism. Anarchist-feminism treats revolutionary men as being either as bad as or worse than the men in power who control the imperialist patriarchy. (For more detail on anarchist-feminism, see "What is MIM?", a $1 pamphlet available from MIM). Your comrade likewise erred in treating MIM as an enemy equal to the imperialists. It is not as if MIM's distributors were holding guns to the masses' heads and making them take MIM literature. 5. Your comrade in fact went beyond equating us with the enemy. He treated us worse than the enemy. As we said above, we would not shut down any competing ideas. But if we did, the first to go would be the U.S. flags brought by a handful of liberals. Next to go would be the pro-Amerikan flier from the United Steelworkers of America, headlined, "Bridgestone/Firestone's Yoichiro Kaizaki: Running over American working families...Bringing dishonor upon Japan." Third to go would be the various images championing the UFW, which, while popular in the Chicano/Mexicano nation, is nonetheless a pro-imperialist union whose deadly strategic alliance with the reactionary Euro-Amerikan working class can only serve to obstruct the liberation of Aztlan. All of these pro-imperialist items remained visible throughout the event. 6. While we agree with your organization that the liberation of Aztlan is necessary, and that this will ultimately require a single-national vanguard party, we do not agree that single-national organizing should be treated as a cardinal question, certainly not above the question of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. As Marxist-Leninist-Maoists, and unlike phony "Marxist-Leninists" and phony "Maoists" in North America, we uphold the right of oppressed nations to self-determination. Our distributor told your comrade that Maoism is necessary for genuine national liberation. His response was that maybe what was necessary was for Chicanos/Mexicanos to adopt Maoism, just not in a multi-national form. MIM thinks that the formation of a Maoist Internationalist Party (MIP) of Aztlan would be an excellent development. If you wish to form one on your own, MIM will support it and will allow our own Raza members self-determination as to whether to stay with MIM or whether to join the new MIP. In the meantime, MIM considers a period of multi- national organizing to be necessary to consolidate and strengthen the Maoist forces in North America, which have not yet fully recovered from the state's destruction of the Maoist Black Panther Party in 1970. In the 1970s, a group called the Revolutionary Wing liquidated itself by splitting itself into single-national formations before these formations were theoretically prepared to stand on their own. We do want to see the formation of single-national parties (and in the case of the First Nations, possibly a pan-indigenous party), but we also do not wish to repeat the Revolutionary Wing's error. We see Notas Rojas (our quarterly Spanish-language newspaper) and our Spanish-language work generally as a tool for the development of first a pan-Raza Maoist party, then ultimately separate parties for the liberation of Aztlan, Puerto Rico, and possibly other territories such as Spanish Harlem. If the Raza masses or the masses of these individual nations beat us to it, great! Either way, this process can only be impeded when a Union del Barrio comrade works to keep MIM literature out of the hands of La Raza. 7. Finally, we agree that the settler-"left" has a sordid history of parasitic relations with the masses of Aztlan and other oppressed nations. Perhaps we should praise your instincts in treating organizations which allow settlers as members with some suspicion. Nonetheless, we think it is imperative that you recognize ideological and political line, not social composition, as decisive. In this regard, when your comrade learned that MIM supports the liberation of Aztlan through national liberation struggle, that should have been enough to get our literature "approved," and to end the accusation of "ideological imperialism." 8. The Maoist Internationalist Movement is not part of the "white left". We devote many of our resources to the task of exposing the settler- "left". You will see in our literature that we deem revisionist and white chauvinist those "Marxist" organizations that refuse to admit that oppressed Black, Raza and indigenous nations exist within the borders of the U.S. and those who refuse to admit that a white oppressor nation also exists. Strategically, MIM also works to split the white oppressor nation, Amerika. We think the biggest contradiction in that nation is between youth and the old, not class antagonism. On these grounds alone, MIM must never be equated with revisionists such as the SWP, the RCP, and other integrationist organizations. In struggle, MIM P.S. Enclosed is a copy of MIM Theory #7 on Revolutionary Nationalism. It explains in more detail why we say true national liberation requires Marxist-Leninist-Maoist leadership and why MIM is multi-national in this stage of struggle. This normally goes for $5. We hope you will pay for it, but either way, it is yours to study and criticize, because we think it is imperative for you to engage with these ideas and we do not want a price tag to prevent you from doing so. We hope to hear from you soon, and hope that we can continue to engage in criticism-unity-criticism without a repeat of your actions of August 26. * * * MEXICAN MILITARY RAPES WOMEN: ZAPATISTAS FIGHT BACK Cecilia Rodriguez, representative of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) within U.S. borders, was recently raped in Chiapas by masked men she believes were members of the Mexican military. Rodriguez was in Chiapas to attend peace talks between the EZLN and the Mexican government and was attacked the day before she was scheduled to meet with the EZLN's Subcomandante Marcos. This is not the first time women have been attacked by the military in Chiapas, nor is it the first time north Amerikan supporters of the people of Chiapas have been attacked. A local women's group recorded at least 50 rapes in the San Cristobal area since the military occupied the region eighteen months ago. Three Tzeltal indians were raped by Mexican soldiers at a checkpoint in June; the military refused to allow outside investigation of the rapes. In March, the military organized a terrorist attack on a caravan of people traveling with Pastors for Peace. Rodriguez said that during the assault on her one of the attackers shouted: "You already know how things are in Chiapas, right? Shut up, then, shut up, do you understand, or you know what will happen to you." In a press conference, Rodriguez responded: "I will not shut up. This has not traumatized me to the point of paralysis. I will follow the example of thousands of Mexican men and women who continue to work for a true democracy in spite of the dangers to themselves and their loved ones." The Zapatistas have vowed to fight back and investigate and punish these crimes against the people outside of the corrupt legal and military system in Mexico. The reactionary Amerikan government is directly involved in the war against the people of Chiapas. It has openly sold the Mexican military $250 million worth of military equipment in the last four years. Furthermore, the EZLN suspects that Amerikan military advisors are present in Chiapas along with the CIA intelligence gathering and covert operations forces. Amerikan imperialists have a history of sending in the CIA and other thugs whenever the peoples' struggles threaten Amerikan economic hegemony: from Iran to Guatemala, Vietnam, Chile, El Salvador, and now Peru and the Philippines. The attacks on Rodriguez and other women in Chiapas show that the Amerikan government is an enemy of the vast majority of the world's women. It turns a blind eye to the rapes its hired goons commit for sport, often encouraging these rapes as political terrorism, and supports an economic system that condemns Third World women to terrible poverty. But Amerikan imperialism exposes itself through its crimes, and the oppressed women and men of the world will overthrow it through united and resolute political struggle. NOTES: Los Angeles View, Nov. 17 1995. EXCERPTS FROM EZLN COMMUNIQUE The cowardly aggression against the Zapatista Cecilia Rodriguez makes up a part of a campaign of intimidation and threats against women who struggle for democracy in Mexico and which includes crimes against indigenous and non-indigenous women in Chiapas. The evil government is incapable of guaranteeing the safety of any person in Chiapas despite maintaining dozens of thousands of soldiers, whose only goal is to assure the impunity of the powerful. In view of the fact that the laws of the evil government do not do anything to address these situations, the EZLN has initiated the work of finding and taking prisoner those responsible for this and other similar aggression committed against the women of Chiapas in order to judge them according to Zapatista law. The EZLN adds its voice and action to that of the thousands of human beings who carry forward the demand for justice in all cases of aggression against women. We call upon the men and women who in Mexico and the world struggle for democracy, liberty, and justice in order that we mobilize with regard to this fundamental demand for all human beings: respect for women. EXCERPTS FROM CECILIA RODRIGUEZ' PUBLIC STATEMENT On Thursday October 26, in what was supposedly a simple excursion in broad daylight I was raped and sodomized by three armed men in what was supposedly a tourist attraction, the Lakes of Montebello in the State of Chiapas, Mexico... The United States likes to say it is a defender of democracy and justice. I am an American citizen, and I will be interested to see whether any American authority will see fit to challenge the state of impunity in Mexico since the only thing they seem to care about is a "stable" environment able to protect high-powered investors... Mine is not the first sexual crime committed in that area and unless the low-intensity war being conducted against the people of Chiapas ends, there is little hope that it will be the last. I know there were three Tzeltal women raped at a military checkpoint, and three nurses raped and almost killed at the site of the peace talks, San Andres Larrainzar. How many other women whose stories we do not know have suffered through this hell? Women who have never said anything publicly because they fear for their lives? ... I ask for justice, not from the governments of the United States and Mexico because they are complicit in this war, but from the people of Mexico and the United States. Look into my suffering and multiply that by the hundreds of women, men, and children whose voices you do not seem to hear, who suffer on a daily basis the humiliation and terror of a military presence which intends to suffocate the very human aspirations for democracy, liberty, and justice. I am a casualty of a low-intensity war sanctioned and more than likely facilitated by the government of the United States. I am a victim of a state of social deterioration in which journalists, opposition party members, and any unarmed civilian no longer enjoy safety and tranquillity, even in broad daylight and in which those in power have no recourse than to use assassination, terror, and conspiracy even in the settling of their own differences. As citizens of the United States, we cannot be complicit in this war. We cannot abandon the indigenous communities trapped behind a military barricade. I ask you always to remember the women of Mexico, to fight for their right to be safe and secure and to live in a country where the Zapatista demands for democracy, liberty, and justice are a reality... * * * IMPERIALISTS WIN WAR IN BOSNIA by MC17 & MC12 The people in Bosnia have already lost this chapter in World War III, and the Amerikan and other European imperialists are rushing their militaries in to take the spoils of victory. The new deal carving up Bosnia and parceling it out to imperialist powers completes the Amerikan and European imperialists' takeover of most of Yugoslavia, the former Soviet satellite. The imperialists (who profited off the sale of arms to all sides) will now go in and take control of the people, their political and economic systems. The division solidifies the dividing lines between European/Amerikan imperialists in the west, and Russian imperialists in the east. Russia comes out of the war with Serbia, while the western imperialists get Slovenia, Croatia, and most of Bosnia. At the same time, the U.S. military presence in the current stage represents the reassertion of Amerikan hegemony among western imperialist powers. That's what Clinton means when he says Europe is always important, and that's why Republicans will go along with it despite a show of opposition. The U.S. military move is meant as a check on German power in particular, which already has its hooks deep into Slovenia, the most developed area in the former Yugoslavia. The Amerikan military is sending 20,000 troops into Bosnia which will add to troops from other countries for a total force of 60,000 soldiers there to "keep the peace." The imperialist military forces have been there all along even though Amerikan troops were not actually on the ground for the most part. The NATO bombings are a good example of this constant threat of imperialist military fire power. The big difference now is that Amerika has a formal agreement that it can use force whenever it decides it is necessary. "Unlike the U.N. troops in Bosnia, the Amerikans will have broad authority to use whatever force is needed to protect themselves."(1). The United Snakes is learning from situations like the one in Somalia and from the former situation in Bosnia and admitting that Amerika needs to stop pretending to be neutral and go in with free reign to slaughter as they enforce their interests. This is not a question of keeping peace between foolish and backwards warring nations; Amerika is staking its claim in the newly imposed order. Amerikan and European imperialism have benefited from this war. When the oppressed people are divided and fighting one another they can not turn their energies on their real enemy: imperialism. In the division of the former Yugoslavia, everyone has ended up subordinated to imperialism. Only a revolutionary internationalist struggle that recognizes imperialism as its principal enemy can win true peace for the people of the former Yugoslavia. NOTES: New York Times 11/22/95 p.A11. * * * A FRENCH PROLETARIAT? NOT WITH THESE DEMANDS by MC17 December 12--For weeks a general strike and huge protests have disrupted business and shut down much of France. Workers and students are indignant and outraged at the potential loss of income and social welfare precipitated by proposed austerity measures to eliminate the $50 billion deficit in the social welfare system. Public transportation workers have been on strike for 19 days and other public sector workers have joined in the strike to protect their own interests. Students and university teachers have joined because they are threatened with the loss of funds for schooling. Private sector workers, whose direct material interests are not threatened by the proposed cuts, are not yet involved. This strike is not a revolutionary struggle of the exploited masses. MIM does not support the strike because these workers' wages and social services are already artificially inflated at the expense of the international proletariat. The French workers constitute a labor aristocracy and the University students are on their way to labor aristocrat or petit bourgeois class positions. (Order MIM Theory 1, available for $3, for more on the theory and calculations behind this analysis).(1) JUST BECAUSE IT'S MILITANT, DOESN'T MAKE IT A PROLETARIAT The workers and students of France cannot righteously protest unless they look beyond their own incomes and benefits to the conditions of the world's proletariat. Protests during the French war in Vietnam were righteous; citizens should protest murder and oppression, not just a cut in relatively high income or benefits. The workers and students of France are currently acting in their material interests and ignoring the exploitation and oppression of the world's people. If the workers and students of France got more money at the expense of the French bourgeoisie that would be okay, but it wouldn't be capitalism. The labor aristocracy is rewarded by taking some of the booty extracted from the proletariat. We must follow Lenin and avoid tailing the privileged workers' economism. Lenin said this about the English proletariat and it is true of imperialist country labor aristocracies today: note the "numerous references by Marx and Engels to the example of the British labour movement, showing how industrial 'prosperity' leads to attempts 'to buy the proletariat.' to divert them from the struggle; how this prosperity in general 'demoralises the workers;' how the British proletariat becomes 'bourgeoisified'--'this most bourgeois of all nations is apparently aiming ultimately at the possession of a bourgeois aristocracy and a bourgeois proletariat alongside the bourgeoisie'..."(2) Striking for ones own material interests does not make someone a revolutionary, and it certainly does not disprove Engels' observation about the bourgeoisification of the English proletariat. There were strikes in England when Engels made this observation, just as there are strikes in France now when MIM applies Engels' analysis to France. The French workers and students suffer from narrow nationalism purchased by their own bourgeoisie for the price of some superprofits. MIM calls on revolutionary internationalists to avoid the lures of economism and narrow nationalism, and to work against imperialism in the interests of the international proletariat. NOTES: 1. NYT Dec. 5, 1995 p. A3 2. Selected Works of V.I. Lenin, Volume 1, New World Paperbacks, 1967, p.30. * * * AMERIKA ADMITS TO CONTROLLING HAITIAN DICTATORS by MC12 Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide wants the U.S. government to hand over thousands of pages of documents the U.S. military seized in its invasion of Haiti last year. In an implicit admission of its role in the dictatorship that ousted Aristide, the U.S. government claims that the documents are Amerikan property and can only be released subject to U.S. government security concerns. The documents most likely implicate the U.S. government in the coup, refusing to turn them over weakens Amerikan denial.(1) The dispute over the documents reflects Haitian resistance to the Amerikan plan for domination. It comes on the heels of Aristide's refusal to carry out the privatization plan Amerika imposed in response Amerika is holding up financial aid. (1) AMERIKA SEEKS ASSURANCE OF COMPRADOR-MILITARIST DOMINANCE IN HAITI The U.S. government also complains that Aristide is not grateful enough for Amerikan intervention, saying that all of a sudden "we were faced with a different Haiti" after Aristide criticized Amerika for not doing enough to disarm former army troops.(2) The U.S. military presence in Haiti will not end with the scheduled February inauguration of a new president, which was supposed to represent the final step in the legitimization of Amerikan neocolonial domination. At the same time, U.S. intelligence agencies have been exposed maintaining their network among the supposedly-ousted dictatorship. On November 7, hours before Haitian police went to arrest Prosper Avril, one of the coup's dictators, a U.S. Embassy representative visited him, and he immediately sought asylum in the Colombian embassy. The U.S. Embassy says the timing of the visit was a coincidence, and part of its effort to maintain contact with a "broad spectrum" of Haiti.(2) That is the same euphemism the U.S. government used when it was worried that the dictators would not be represented in Aristide's government. Avril was the subject of a cable from U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher to the embassy in Haiti, warning that Avril might be plotting against Aristide supporters. The embassy did not give the information to Haitian officials, and 11 days later one of Aristide's top supporters and his cousin, Jean-Hubert Feuille, was assassinated; Haitian police suspect a connection with Avril. Haitian officials have good reason to suspect that the U.S. has many other covert ties to Aristide's enemies.(2) The "restoration of democracy" in Haiti means reassertion of Amerikan imperialist control, preferably under the guise of a legitimate government. This recent involvement with various militarists makes it clear that this preference for a legitimate facade is of secondary concern. NOTES: 1. New York Times Nov. 28, 1995, p. A1. 2. Washington Post Nov. 29, 1995, p. A1 * * * JAPANESE BANKS: THE FAILURE OF IMPERIALISM The New York Times is running occasional articles on the size and political realities of Japanese banks. Now we learn that the United States Government has plans to bail out the Japanese banks in the event of a crisis. Japanese banks are the largest in the world. However, they have some of the same problems as Amerikan banks. Currently they have $500 billion in bad real estate loans. While the imperialist banks make huge profits from their Third World loans, they are quick to subsidize real estate speculators in the imperialist countries. As MIM reported in MIM Theory 1 ("A White Proletariat?"), Amerikan taxpayers have subsidized banks to engage in real estate speculation. Now it is the Japanese labor aristocracy carrying a major burden of holding together the banking system that serves its interests. The Central Bank of Japan loans money to banks at 0.5 percent interest. That means Japanese taxpayers are subsidizing the Japanese banks, because inflation is never below 0.5 percent. The Japanese taxpayer allows the banks to pay them back in yen worth less than they loaned out. Another means of propping up the banks used in Japan is the practice of making government deposits in the banks. For banks strapped for cash to loan out or borrow, such is a helpful practice. How long can taxpayer-subsidized capitalism go on, one might wonder. It appears that there are no very short-term limits. The labor aristocracies of the imperialist countries are willing to turn a blind eye to government subsidies of their imperialists, while at the same time they complain about much smaller subsidies for welfare, social security and health insurance. In Japan the system has the added advantage that capitalists do not attempt the flashy, individualist style of inequality seen in the United Snakes, where the gap between capitalists and labor aristocrats is larger. One irony of the U.S. Government plan to bail out Japanese banks is that it is already Japanese banks that have bailed out the U.S. government on a daily basis by buying U.S. Treasury notes and loaning the U.S. Government money. The New York Times has already warned against Japanese banks' trying to solve their problems by selling off their Treasury notes. If all the Japanese banks did this to solve their problems, the U.S. Government would have to pay higher interest on the national debt. Despite rhetoric about capitalism and rugged individualism, for some time now, the imperialist system has survived only because of government subsidies to capitalists. These subsidies will make some people wonder why not just go to socialism if the capitalists can not make it on their own. On the other hand, the labor aristocracies of the imperialist countries are willing to tolerate the situation without a peep, because they know finance capital and the imperialist system generally is what enables them to appropriate the labor of Third World workers. * * * PRISON GROWTH DEMONSTRATES NATIONAL OPPRESSION "Nearly 7 percent of all black male adults nationwide were in jail or prison last year, compared with less than 1 percent of white male adults, the Justice Department said in a report released today. . . . "The report found that the incarceration rate for whites had remained little changed in the last 10 years while the level for blacks had climbed steadily." The total number of Blacks in prison and jail surpassed the number of whites in prison and jail for the first time in 1994. This is further confirmation of MIM's line that the supposed anti- crime movement led by the bourgeois politicians is not an anti-crime movement but a thinly disguised attack on oppressed nations. The politicians give the appearance of "doing something about crime," but the crime rate stays the same. They aren't addressing the cause of crime, just the politics of pleasing the imperialists and labor aristocracy. NOTES: New York Times Dec. 4, 1995. * * * PIGS PROFIT FROM PRISONS AT EVERY TURN Former Massachusetts commissioner of the Department of Corrections, Michael V. Fair, is profiting off his own legacy of employment in the state injustice system. Fair is making $175 an hour plus expenses as a consultant to solve the manufactured overcrowding problem in Massachusetts prisons.(1) Fair's income is generated from the spoils of national oppression. Prisons are a form of social control used against Blacks and other national minorities. The entire criminal justice system is designed to perpetuate inequality as it serves the interests of the white nation, while working to further terrorize the oppressed nations. Everything from how crime is defined, to who is stopped and arrested by the pigs, shows that national minorities are disproportionately victimized by the criminal justice system. Officials in Massachusetts like to cry overcrowding because it gives them a reason to build more prisons and incarcerate more national minorities. The House and Senate passed a measure in November granting between $400-500 million dollars for prison expansion. The exact amount will be decided when the legislative session reopens in January. The measure passed falls short of Governor Weld's request for $700 million to create 5,000 new prison beds.(2) Massachusetts has over 10,000 prisoners. Despite the fact the crime rate fell in 1991-92 the imprisonment rate increased during this period almost 7%.(3) High salaries are worth it for the prison industry and the state which need to justify prison expansion. We know building more prisons doesn't stop crime. The growth does generate a profit for individuals, private industry and the state. It also ensures increased oppression for national minorities. By locking down a huge percentage of the population with an interest in social change, the status quo is protected. NOTES: 1. Boston Globe Nov. 28, 1995, p. 35. 2. Boston Globe Nov. 11, 1995, p. 38. 3. Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1994 p. 199, 216. * * * AMERIKAN PRISONS: OPEN SLAVE LABOR CAMPS "Following the lead of Alabama and Arizona, the state Department of Corrections (DOC) sent chained inmates into fields surrounding prisons in north, central and south Florida to clean up roadways, clear brush and repair roads and fences. "The chain gangs--known officially in this state as 'restricted labor squads'--were made up of about 30 inmates each and were guarded by three-member teams of corrections officers armed with shotguns and pistols."(1) Chain gangs have been used or not according to contemporary social sensibilities, but their presence or absence says nothing about the state of the Amerikan criminal injustice system. This system predicated on the punishment of isolating people from society is a sick response from a society which rejects full participation from national minorities. MIM points to Maoist China for examples of a healthy prisons system at work. Prisoners in China were assisted in making self criticism and reforming whatever problems had led them to prison in the first place.(2) NO LONGER A THREAT TO BLOATED WHITE LABOR A throwback to the slave era, chain gangs fell out of favor in the 1940s. But in 1995, the middle- class is ready to see prisoners used to do the manual work it doesn't want to do. In the past, organized labor opposed prison labor because it undercut union wages. Now the white working class eliminates its competition by putting it in prison and making it do its manual labor. Particularly in the South, the so-called justice system has a history of throwing people in prison just to get free labor out of them on the chain gangs. Now prison construction companies and prison guard unions have an interest in throwing people in prison for arbitrary reasons, including national oppression. These lobbies are joined by politicians eager to please the increasingly parasitic workers who can't remember the days when they were manual laborers threatened by prison labor. Likewise the newspapers sell papers and ads by running sensational stories about the tiny minority of really sick people in this society, while running few stories about the majority of prisoners in prison for non-violent crimes. MAKING A SPECTACLE OF PUNISHMENT Hypocrite Clinton and the U.S. media criticize state-capitalist China for its use of forced labor when we have the same thing going on here. There is a prison industry making clothes in California and Oregon that competes with China.(3) There have been protests of Arizona's efforts to turn the oppression of prisoners into a media spectacle. In June, a prisoner rights activist took a bull horn to a chain-gang media spectacle and spent an hour speaking to the prisoners. When the police tried to arrest her, the prisoners sat down and refused to work. Arizona's governor has announced a plan to make the "state's 121 death row prisoners break rocks and dig holes." Also in June, a prisoner "work crew inside the prison ... sat down and refused to break rocks for the media contingent who arrived to collect footage of the spectacle."(4) MIM studies the Maoist path because we will someday lead in building a society in which people assist and improve each other. We will rejoice in the end of this murderous system which punishes the oppressed in the name of parasitism. NOTES: 1. Reuters, Nov. 21, 1995 2. Prisoners of Liberation, by Allyn and Adele Rickett is a memoir of two Amerikans' imprisonment in China in the early 1950s. Order a copy from MIM for $13. 3. Prison Legal News, citing a Seattle Times story of March 18, 1994. 4. PLN October 1995, p. 4 * * * WANT TO END RAPE? SEIZE PROLETARIAN POWER Amherst, MA, Nov. 15--Popular pseudo-feminist Katie Koestner spoke about her date rape to a packed room of several hundred. In 1990, after she had dated a man for a week and a half, he raped her in her college dorm room. The District Attorney wouldn't prosecute the man. Koestner then asked her college to take disciplinary action; the man was banned from Koestner's dorm for the semester. Now Koestner is on a tour of college campuses, lecturing about date rape: what it is, and how to avoid it. Her lectures are a confused but deliberate attempt to separate rape from sex. MIM believes that no meaningful distinction between the two is possible under patriarchy; women never consented to being born into a system in which men have more power than they do, so how can women ever give coercion-free consent to individual sex acts? While MIM acknowledges that under patriarchy, all sex is rape, we know that First World women do not need sexual relationships for survival. We require forever monogamy of our members and advocate it for the masses, because a commitment to working through problems in a relationship is the closest thing to a guarantee of increasing equality in a relationship. We work to abolish patriarchy which is the only way to end rape. Feminists need to focus on building independent institutions of the oppressed to overthrow patriarchy, not on how to distinguish between good sex and bad sex within the confines of patriarchy. UNDER PATRIARCHY, ALL SEX IS RAPE Koestner's approach to men is contradictory. She stresses that only a minority of men rape and should be punished severely by the government, yet she bends over backwards to get all men to hear her message. Her primary message is: "Women, be careful. Men be responsible." MIM asserts that care and responsibility are only serious demands when people can communicate honestly; this cannot happen in the context of coercion. In her discussion of consent, Catharine Mackinnon asks, "If you fear you might be raped if you say no, what is the value of a yes?" Koestner's story is an excellent illustration of the power dynamics that mask consent, even between two privileged college students. Koestner said "no" at least a dozen times during her rape, but her date had sex with her anyway. But in the period before the rape, verbal comments and demands that she drink wine with dinner bothered her. She drank wine that she didn't want to, tolerated comments she didn't like and chose not to kick him out of her room (or leave) when he took his clothes off. MIM agrees with Koestner that this is rape but we would also call it rape if Koestner never said "no", possibly out of fear, possibly out of socialization that a woman is not supposed to say no, and possibly because she found having a man dominate her sexy. DOWN WITH DATING ADVICE, UP WITH ACCOUNTABILITY Koestner stressed three factors in dating: communication, responsibility and respect. MIM supports these principles in romantic relationships, but challenges feminists to get serious about what these things mean under patriarchy. Women maintain dating relationships with coercive elements because they understand that power is part of sex. Sexual relationships will be coercive until power relations between groups of people cease to exist. This is why MIM advocates forever monogamy in which sexual partners are required to be honest with each other as the best sexual practice under patriarchy. There is no room in feminism for sexual games or dishonesty. Koestner exposed the murkiness of her distinction between good sex and rape when she said in reference to partners asking permission to touch: "if she doesn't answer, maybe you should ask again." But asking repeatedly fits Koestner's definition of emotional pressure leading to rape. PIGS CAN'T STOP RAPE Koestner is pro-pig, encouraging women to file rape charges in criminal courts, and to pressure college judicial systems to give stronger punishments. Campus judicial systems exist to hide crimes from the courts and media. Schools discourage criminal prosecution and empower on-campus judicial boards to sanction students for violating laws as well as campus codes of conduct. Most of these judicial boards operate on a guilty until proven innocent basis, and turn out more convictions than criminal courts. But the schools fear law suits and often give out very meek punishments. Even a harsh punishment handed down by a patriarchal institution is not going to end rape. People who are interested in abolishing patriarchy should be working on building independent power of the oppressed, not legitimizing patriarchy by asking its institutions to arbitrate rape cases. Also on this page, Cecilia Rodriguez, who was raped in Chiapas describes her commitment to the revolutionary feminist struggle against the patriarchy. This is an example of a real alternative to running to the pigs for protection from the patriarchy that they help to uphold. DOWN WITH PATERNALIST FEAR One woman in the audience criticized Koestner for focusing on fear. The critic argued that it would be better to focus on being "pissed off" and to struggle for change. The audience shouted this woman down, with cries that "It's reality." MIM supports this woman critic's stance. The supposed need for fear is only bourgeois reality, it is not a reality that anyone with a serious interest in feminism should accept. Women and men who want to end all forms of rape should be working to end the oppression of groups over groups of people, to eliminate the possibility of individuals wielding such power in intimate relationships. * * * AMERIKAN MILITARY STILL CONTROL THE NET MacHome Journal reported the following recently: "Do you know who's keeping watch over your Internet domain name (the basic address of a corporation or organization, such as MacHome.Com)? The national press reported recently that the National Science Foundation has turned over Internet domain name registration to Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) of Herndon, Virginia, but Web Review, a biweekly online magazine (http://gnn.com/wr/), noted that NSI is owned by Scientific Applications International Corp. (SAIC) of San Diego. SAIC's board members include Admiral Bobby Inman, former deputy director of the CIA; and retired General Max Thurman, commander of the Panama invasion. Recently board members include Robert Gates, former CIA director; William Perry, current secretary of defense; and John Deutch, the current CIA director."(1) The extent to which military personnel are in charge of corporations charged with managing important pieces of the Internet hierarchy is not surprising. The Internet of 1995 has its roots in the U.S. Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency experimental network (the ARPANET).It was only in 1988 when the DOD began to dismantle the ARPANET that the National Science Foundation built NSFNET as the new Internet backbone.(2) Activists should be conscious of the extent of military and government control over the Internet. This international network is a precious resource for organizing and agitating; we should be aware of the need to use caution now and to seize this resource for exclusive service of the needs of the people in the future. We can do much valuable work with tools developed by the pigs for imperialist use, and we can only look forward to making militarist use of the Internet obsolete. NOTES: 1. MacHome Journal December 1995, p. 17. 2. Paul Albinez & Cricket Liu, DNS and BIND in a Nutshell. (Sebastopol. CA: O'Reilly & Associates, 1992), p. 1-2 * * * NEW TREATY GRANTS U.S. MILITARY GREATER DOMINANCE IN THE PHILIPPINES On December 9 the United Snakes and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines will ratify the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA), which opens 22 commercial ports throughout the Philippines to the U.S. military. This effectively gives the U.S. military greater access to the Philippines than it had when it still occupied the Clark and Subic Bay bases. In 1991, a mass anti-base movement pressured the Philippine Senate to terminate the United Snakes' lease on Clark and Subic Bay bases. Almost immediately, the Ramos puppet regime began negotiations with the U.S. military on the ACSA. Since the United Snakes gave the GRP nominal independence in 1946, the so-called U.S.-R.P. Mutual Defense Treaty has given the U.S. military the right to use the Philippines as a base for its aggressive activities in Asia and the Pacific. U.S. military personnel are immune to prosecution for the crimes they have committed against Filipinos on Philippine soil. Prostitution is rampant around U.S. bases. The abandoned Clark and Subic Bay bases are toxic waste dumps which Amerika has refused to clean up. The U.S. military directly oppresses the people of the Philippines and props up the economic system which keeps the Philippines mired in poverty. This is why one of the principal goals of the national liberation movement led by the Communist Party of the Philippines is to eliminate the U.S. military presence in the Philippines and why the people continue to unite around this goal. MIM supports the Filipino people in their just demand for an end to U.S. occupation. Contact MIM for more information on the Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and their struggle against imperialism. NOTE: Solidaridad November 1995, p. 4. Solidaridad is a publication of the Philippine Peasant Support Network (PESANTE). * * * SHELL-BACKED NIGERIA EXECUTES OGONI ACTIVISTS by MCB52 On November 10, the government of Nigeria executed nine Ogoni activists. Those hanged after convictions on trumped-up murder charges included the popular leader of Ogoni opposition to Royal Dutch/Shell Corporation's operations, Ken Saro- Wiwa. Saro-Wiwa was a Nobel prize winner who wrote poetry indicting imperialism and organized the masses against European and Amerikan oil interests. Now the military regime is engaging in renewed repression of the mass movement against imperialist exploitation in Ogoniland. Unlike most mass murders of anti-imperialist leaders, the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists has seen much bourgeois press. This exposure is a good thing because it forces Amerikans to see the ideological contradictions of the so-called free market. Imperialism has not brought democracy when those who voice opposition are summarily slaughtered, with or without trial, in massacres in the streets or public hangings. MIM does not beg the imperialist multinationals or comprador regimes to play nice, we call for the self-determination of all peoples. SHELL BOOTED FROM OGONILAND Oppressed nations can achieve self-determination by being arbiters of who can and cannot do business on their land. As the Ogoni did, oppressed nations can decide whether their land will be a safe or unsafe place to do business. MIM reported last April that Ogoni activism was on the rise and getting results. The Ogoni forced Shell Oil out of their region of Nigeria, known as Ogoniland, two years ago. While the company maintains its operations elsewhere in the Niger delta, Saro-Wiwa's movement, known as Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), made Shell's operations in Ogoniland too much trouble. As one manager said: "We haven't had the same level of agitation against Shell and the government as in Ogoniland. The Ogonis' demands have gone far beyond those of other minorities...Our staff and equipment were facing so much danger that we decided to withdraw."(1) MOSOP's persistence is reported to have also made the government raise compensation rates for the oil-producing lands from 3 to 13 percent.(2) The gains of the struggle have been limited so far. Shell left a mess built up over three decades of exploitation behind it and the government maintains a policy of wanton neglect of the Ogoni people so that their schools, health centers and roads are in appalling disrepair. Electricity and telephones are hardly available at all.(1) The Ogoni must change this situation themselves. The comprador state will not serve their interests. MNCS DEMAND REPRESSION OF OPPRESSED NATIONS The New York Times was very disappointed that Shell did not tell the Nigerian government to behave itself. Since the executions, Shell has indeed been a vocal critic of the Nigerian government's actions. While ignoring the blatantly fabricated murder charge before it went to trial, Shell quietly suggested when the executions were imminent that the Nigerian government might be going too far in killing these activists. Of course, the New York Times stayed nicely in toe of the imperialist practice until after the mass execution was complete, and even now the general bourgeois media does not recognize the imperialists' culpability for the murders. The New York Times whines that "Summary executions, fraudulent trials and brutal suppression of dissent are not practices a responsible corporation can ignore."(3) The corporation does not ignore these practices, it enforces them. The New York Times accepted full- page ads from the Nigerian regime while it editorialized about that regime's brutality.(4) Saro-Wiwa's brother has noted that Shell's number one man in Nigeria, Brian Anderson, offered to use the company's influence to prevent the execution if Ogoni leaders would call off global protests of the company. Though Shell has acknowledged that secret meetings took place, it did not reveal the topic of conversation. "He said he would be able to help us to get Ken freed if we stopped the protest campaign abroad. Shell are involved in Nigerian politics up to their neck. If they had threatened to withdraw from Nigeria unless Ken was freed, he would have been alive today."(4) Shell decided to risk the intensification of the mass movement caused by the executions without this assurance. It used token press-releases to feign concern about the blatant human rights violations, but chose not to try to prevent them. These games between multinational corporations (MNCs) and their puppet regimes are not uncommon. Some times the multinationals or imperialist governments recognize that revolutionary pressure is building and it is time to let off some of the steam by granting concessions or disposing of particularly horrible CIA-trained dictators. The dictators, in the case of Nigeria General Sani Abacha, tend to be very nervous in maintaining their rule given their proximity to popular opposition. Therefore, the imperialists take it upon themselves to micro-manage the internal affairs to strike a balance between the crumbs of appeasement and the force of repression. Because there is no peace under imperialism, however sophisticated, that balance is usually brutal. Shell and the Nigerian government work in close alliance. For example, in January 1993, after hundreds of thousands in Ogoniland joined mass protests against Shell, the police razed 27 villages; 2,000 Ogonis were killed; 80,000 were displaced.(5) These are the most blatant of the mass-murders of the MNC-military government alliance. They are also responsible for deaths due to the gross environmental degradation and economic destruction of the region. MAKING THE LAND SAFE FOR SHELL; INCREASING REPRESSION OF OGONI MASSES At this point, Shell is letting Abacha continue his unabashed repression. The military government has executed MOSOP's leadership and is forcing it underground. According to one teacher in Ogoniland: "We are suffering a lot now. The Ogoni people are not free to express their views. MOSOP has been driven underground. There are soldiers and government agents all around. In the Gokana area alone there are now 3,000 soldiers. If you say you are a supporter of Ken Saro-Wiwa you will be arrested and jailed."(1) Another teacher at a school in Bera said, "Saro-Wiwa was fighting for the Ogoni people. He never demanded money or anything from anybody. The government people get their money from oil; they killed him because he was a threat to that."(6) Some of Ken Saro-Wiwa's last words in support of the Ogoni struggle were: "Whether I live or die is immaterial. It is enough to know that there are people who commit time, money and energy to fight this one evil among so many others predominating worldwide. If they do not succeed today they will succeed tomorrow. We must keep striving to make the world a better place for all of mankind--each one contributing his bit, in his or her own way."(7) NOTES: 1. The Independent Nov. 30, 1995, p. 15. 2. Washington City Paper Dec. 8, 1995 p. 19. 3. New York Times Dec. 3, 1995, p. 14. 4. AFX News Service (London) Nov. 30, 1995. 5. NYT Nov. 17, 1995, p. 31. 6. Washington Post Dec. 10, 1995, p. A29. 7. Letter from Saro-Wiwa, Mail & Guardian May 1995. * * * UPDATE ON DETROIT NEWSPAPER STRIKE: THE AMERIKAN "PROLETARIAT"? by a member of the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) The newspaper guild strike against the Detroit News and Free Press continues, and neither side seems ready to give in. The president of Local 22 of the newspaper guild has referred to unfairly low wages,(1) while Frank Vega, CEO of Detroit Newspapers which owns the News and Free Press claims that the newspaper guild local has "the best wages, the best benefits, the best work rules in the country." The argument is over how big a piece of superprofit pie these workers should have. Less than 200 jobs remain for the striking workers as many previous strikers have crossed the picket lines. Vega also said that he now knows that "we can do the work with 700 fewer people."(2) Before the strike, the company offered a wage increase of 10.3% over three years, and buyouts of 100 jobs at $70,000 per job. Since that time the buyout offer has been withdrawn.(3) It is not surprising that the company can operate with less employees; big businesses in Amerika make no profit from the white working class.(4) When these Amerikan workers strike for more wages, they are striking for their share of Third-World plunder. The Newspaper Guild has filed a lawsuit against Detroit Newspapers, claiming civil rights violations and Detroit Newspapers is filing a counter suit against. The unions are accused of racketeering,(5) in part because of vandalism of distributors' cars and trucks.(6) These random acts of unorganized violence do not represent a working class ready for revolution, but one that will take extreme measures to better its own conditions at the expense of the Third World. TROTS TAIL THE STRIKE; APPROVE WHITE WORKERS' ADVANCE OVER "MORE BACKWARD" WORKERS On the coat tails of this strike are many Trotskyist groups attempting to use this as an example of exploitation of the white working class. We contacted the Workers' League to hear the Trotskyist line on this strike. The Workers' League representative called these workers part of an international working class, whether they realize it or not, and that they need to be part of a rejuvenated international workers' movement. This person also said that the Workers League was attempting to educate these workers for that cause. This person also made the contradictory statement that it was acceptable for these strikers to fight for an improvement in living standards! How can the strikers be part of an international movement if they fight to improve a living standard that has been built-up on the backs of Third World workers? The Workers' League representative admitted that the Amerikan workers have a privileged status among workers internationally (quickly pointing out that they have fallen behind Germany and Japan), but said that they should not take pay cuts to satisfy "more backward" countries. MIM does not want pay cuts for Amerikan workers, MIM wants an end to the imperialist system that pays with blood money. MIM and RAIL do not work to support strikes like these over a pie that is baked by the exploited and starving people of the Third World. We fight to give that pie back to the masses who worked so hard to create it. The idea that imperialism can not be defeated without the Amerikan working class is built on Amerikan chauvinism. The Third World is 80% of the world population, and the day will come when U.S. imperialism will have to answer 100% to the truly exploited. NOTES: 1. The Michigan Daily Nov. 7, 1995, p.1. 2. The Michigan Daily Nov. 16, 1995. 3. The Detroit Free Press Oct. 31, 1995. 4. See MIM Theory 1: A White Proletariat? available from MIM for $3. 5. The Michigan Daily Nov. 15, 1995. 6. The Detroit Free Press Oct. 30, 1995, p. 1B. * * * ***Reprinted from Red Star, Platform for Communist Revolutionaries Vol. 4, No 11. Nov. 16, 1995 Thirssur, Kerala-680 322 INDIA*** PEOPLE'S WAR IN PERU A recent report on Reuters Wire Service said "...guerrillas in the Huallaga are on the move. Rebels also have stepped up propaganda, infiltrated some unions and community groups and are active along the Central Highway connecting Lima with the highlands." [10 July 1995] Following are reports on a few of the actions that have been covered in the press. GUERRILLAS AMBUSH POLICE According to a report released by the military, PCP guerrillas ''ambushed a police truck in the southwestern region of Huancavelica, killing eight policemen The police troop carrier was destroyed in the explosion.'' The report also revealed that the ambushed truck was engaged in a mission "pursuing guerrillas in the area'' when it was ambushed. [25 July Reuters] The bodies of the policemen killed in the ambush were found with signs on them saying: "Armed forces and police forces! You think that we have suffered a great blow. You are dreaming. We say go on dreaming. This is merely a bend in the road."[28 July EI Mundo-Spain] 200-STRONG PLA COLUMN CONFRONT MILITARY PATROL A day after Lima newspapers announced that the total number of active guerrillas was now less than 170 individuals their claim became the object of ridicule when the military announced that a PCP Column "made up of between 180-200 rebels" attacked a military patrol in Fujimori's 'Little Vietnam' in the Huallaga. [Reuters 21 July] According to military communiqués the attack was just one of a series of confrontations between PCP guerrillas and military patrols in the jungle between the villages of Montero (where the military massacred many peasants in April 1994) and Alto Pacae. The military report said: "The insurgents attacked with automatic weapons and at the same time threw grenades and charges of dynamite against a military column that patrolled this vast jungle region of the Alto Huallaga." 21 military personnel were killed and 6 wounded. [La Vanguardia 23 July] PCP REBELS DESTROY POLICE GARRISON According to a report in Reuters [July 10] "a column of 150 Shining Path rebels seized the town of Nuevo Progreso [Huanuco Province] late on Saturday and then pulled out before the army arrived early on Sunday to restore order." The target of the attack was the police garrison. The police installation was completely destroyed following what military reports described as "5 hours of intense fire." Four police agents died. [La Vanguardia, 23 July] CAR-BOMB TARGETS PROPONENT OF AMNESTY LAW: On 1 July 1995, 40 kilograms of dynamite exploded outside the residence of Congressman Victor Joy Way of Fujimori's Cambio 90-New majority coalition. Joy Way has been an unapologetic advocate of Fujimori's most repressive laws, and the press has attributed the car-bombing to his sponsorship of a bill in Congress which puts the Congressional stamp of approval on Fujimori's Amnesty Law. In its report on the attack Reuters said: "Joy Way last week introduced a bill approved by Congress reaffirming a recent controversial amnesty for soldiers and police accused of violating human rights in l5 years of war against leftist guerrillas. The amnesty, which had been facing a legal challenge, is opposed by more than 80 percent of Peruvians, according to polls "[2 July] PLA ACTIONS REPORTED IN 11 PROVINCES: Peru's Ideele Magazine (May-June 1995) noted that the Peruvian government reported 63 actions in 11 of Peru's 23 provinces during the months of April and May 1995. Military bases in the provinces of Huanuco and San Martin were attacked. PCP columns ambushed military patrols in Huanuco, Junin, Huancavelica and there were numerous battles between the Armed Forces and guerrilla columns in Huanuco and Junin provinces. Police posts were attacked in La Libertad and Ayacucho provinces. High tension pylons were downed, causing black-outs in the Ayacucho and Lima provinces There were also reports of actions to disseminate PCP propaganda in Lima. ** * * * UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS FEDERAL PRISONERS FACE LOCKDOWN Dear Comrades, In my last two letters, I forgot to mention that I have been receiving your MIM Notes unhindered. Please be aware that I will never lose interest in your work, but as you say, policy is policy. What do you think about the national shutdown of nearly all federal prisons? Within this state, they have moved all inmates into a security system called "control movement". Instead of allowing us to go to the recreation field, which was probably an area of one square mile, they have placed us in an area of maybe 250 square yards behind our dormitories. One dorm alone houses about 300 inmates. We are not allowed to go from the A-side to the B- side of the dorm any longer. Whatever side you are on, that's the side you stay on. They are really making it a cattle stall now....Until next time, may we all struggle as one against the beast! --a South Carolina prisoner, 10/30/95 DEATH PENALTY CRISIS IN AMERIKKKA Legalized lynching, commonly referred to as the "death penalty", is out of control in the United States of America. Only Allah (God) knows how many poor people will have to be murdered by the states before this genocidal machinery of death stops. There is a bloodbath taking place in the U.S. today with the southern "death belt" states carrying out executions at a frenzied pace. In Texas, sometimes as frequently as two legalized lynchings per week, with no end in sight. What is happening at this bloody site is an international disgrace. It is appalling, outrageous, horrific and it is getting worse! No longer can socially conscious people of good will and progressive forces throughout the world remain silent in the face of the enormity of these human rights violations and this racial injustice. For history is a fit testimony of the fact that if a government is not strongly resisted when it does wrong, it will continue to do wrong. Silence in the face of injustice and inhumanity only invites greater barbarity. This human massacre is horrifying and tragic. Poor people, human beings, are being silently killed in the middle of the night and little is known or being said about it. This is the time to break the silence--by any means necessary! We must all come together and stop this bloody massacre! Only hours ago, the people of the United States murdered yet another African-American male, Carl Hammond. He was the 12th person murdered by the political serial killers of Texas this year. The 97th person I have known and befriended who has fallen victim to this bloody madness since my unjust arrival on Texas' death row as a child in 1981. Today, June 21, 1995, as the blood of victims of legalized lynchings continues to flow in Texas and throughout the country, I have initiated an indefinite hunger strike to protest against this racial injustice. I will only discontinue the hunger strike in the event that there is serious and immediate action taken to impose a moratorium on all executions throughout the U.S. Pending the outcome of an in-depth inquiry of the racist use of the death penalty and the civil and human rights abuses arising from its use. I believe strongly that such an inquiry will provide us with concrete and solid evidence on the social impact, constitutionality and desirability of the death penalty and ultimately lead to and support abolition of the death penalty in this country once and for all before the executioners kill all of us.... Sadly and outrageously, there have already been over 18,777 executions in this country since the first documented one in 1608. Racism has accompanied this shameful march for nearly 400 years... Today, there are more that 3,000 men, women and children trapped on America's death rows. A disproportionate number of them are poor minorities. Former slave-holding states have carried out over 80% of all U.S. executions. The death penalty is used almost exclusively to vindicate the death of a white person and is seldom sought when the victim of the crime is a person of color. Why in all of modern history have there been only three white persons executed for taking the life of a Black person? This is yet another example of the double standard of justice in Amerikkka, which places value on the life of a white person but totally devalues the lives of people of color... We must take immediate action to abolish the death penalty in this country, just as those great and courageous spirits before us rose to the challenge and met the demands of history and abolished slavery. For as the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall once declared: "The scandalous state of our present system of capital punishment will cast a pall of shame over our society for years to come. We cannot let it continue.".... --A Texas prisoner, 6/21/95 A WORLD OF DESPAIR We are the oppressed; We are the forgotten; We are the ones that Suffer day after day. What is to become of Ourselves in this world of ours? The bricks we count Just to wind down our long days, to hope to be free again, Shall we always be forgotten to the days of our death? And then do we have to oppress our peoples that are behind those walls that show despair with No concern because "It's not our problem?" But do beware you may be next, to find the pain that lurks in there. --an Iowa prisoner, 10/16/95 AFFLICTION Troubled by thoughts of loneliness on short running roads back by circular wire high above the sky Might not make the difference for all the rage within bundle up in-tie for the otherside. --an Iowa prisoner, 10/16/95 SOUTH CAROLINA SANCTIONS LETHAL INJECTIONS Since I last wrote I have been placed on lock-up for standing up for myself, which one has to do a lot around here. It has gotten to the point now where these people (prison officials) just do anything. They have just passed a law for the lethal injection, and the first person they killed was a handicapped African-American. All that the prisoners did here was say how fucked up it was. Which is right, but what is really fucked up was that there was nothing they (other prisoners) wanted to do about it. The ones that did try to protest or have a sit-in, or boycott the canteen were locked up or ignored. The real sadness of it all is that next time it might be one of these brothers getting that needle. Wake up, my brother! Sleep no more in the belly of the beast. Don't take your life for granted. Remember it could be you, me or your neighbor next time. Let's not let there be a next time. No matter what, the blood of brother Sylvester Adams is on the South Carolina Department of Corrections' hands. Well, until next time, I'll leave you with one final thought. Want for your brother man that which you would want for yourself. Sylvester Adams (1959-1995) Peace be Upon Him. The first to die in South Carolina of lethal injection and hopefully the last. --a South Carolina prisoner, 9/27/95 OHIO-7 MISREPRESENTED On Oct. 1, NBC's Sunday Night Movie was titled, "In the Line of Duty: The Hunt for Justice." It was billed as the "true story" of the decade-long government hunt for a group of anti-imperialist political fugitives who, when finally captured in 1984 and '85, were called the Ohio-7. This was a pro-FBI/police/government movie that contained many misrepresentations and one very dangerous outright lie. It had no input or collaboration from any of the Ohio-7. In fact, we weren't even aware that this movie existed until it was aired. Besides casting the revolutionary fugitives in a negative light in which the government was portrayed heroically, a totally fabricated element was included. Richard Williams, one of the Ohio-7, was shown as cooperating and providing information to the FBI. This is absolutely false. In one scene, as Richard is being transported by the FBI and NJ State Police, they threaten to kill him and as the scene ends, he is seen agreeing to talk. This never happened. No defendant in any of the Ohio-7 state and federal trials, including Richard Williams, ever was a government witness or in any way worked with the government against the Ohio-7. Richard Williams was convicted in Brooklyn federal court for conspiracy and bombing and later in NJ State court for shooting a New Jersey state trooper. He received double life from NJ and 45 years from the federal case. Richard, like three other Ohio-7 political prisoners, has been in prison for about 11 years. He has no release date. Richard is and for years has been a committed left activist, a political prisoner, a stand-up convict and my friend. This slanderous lie has the stink of the FBI COINTELPRO on it. It is designed to cause mental anguish as well as physical attack. This is a very serious move against our brother. Because of the nature of this government lie, I am releasing this statement immediately and ask that it be disseminated as widely as possible. I am one of the Ohio-7 and I feel confident that I speak for all the Ohio-7 when I denounce this government lie against Richard Williams. --an Ohio-7 prisoner, 10/12/95 MEDIA COVERAGE OF CORRUPT POLICE: THE MUMIA CONNECTION NBC's program 'Dateline' which was aired on October 20, 1995, spoke of a corrupt police department in Philadelphia. Corruption that covered up for five Philadelphia pig cops mentioned in the program (but we know there are more). It was reported that 55 people who've been "set up" and brought in by these corrupt pig cops, have had their cases thrown out or overturned by the courts. These corrupt cops had planted drugs on people, lied on people, and robbed people for their money. It would be safe to say that they even murdered people. According to the report there are about 1,000 cases that the Department of Justice is looking at in connection to these cops. They are (possibly) going to release those who are sitting in prisons because of these foul cops. Philadelphia is the same state where they are holding brother Mumia for an alleged murder of a cop (which he did not commit) and have him sitting/rotting on death row. Now these truths are coming to light. Now the news media is reporting this reality. But I still do not trust the news media. There is some hidden agenda they have in wanting to expose these truths. For the news media has known for years of trumped-up charges being lodged against innocent people and never said a word. The news media knows of the secrets this government conducts against the people and they go along with the cover-ups by not reporting these truths unless it is good for them to do so, not what is good for the people. ...Still monitoring and still observing. --A Michigan prisoner, 10/21/95 TWO WASHINGTON STATE PRISONS CENSOR MIM NOTES MIM received letters from two Washington state prisons rejecting MIM Notes. On October 10, 1995, the Special Offender's Center (SOC) in Monroe, WA returned the September 1995 issue of MIM Notes with a rejection notice. Official Renschler at SOC claims that, "The mail contains information which, if communicated, would create a risk of violence and/or physical hard to any person." On October 24, 1995, the McNeil Island Correction Center (MICC) in Steilacoom, WA sent MIM a rejection notice for a copy of MIM Notes. Official Hollowell at MICC claims that, "The mail or publication is a threat to legitimate penological objectives." Complaints and protests can be sent directly to: Tom Rolfs, Director, Division of Prisons or Community Correction, P.O. Box 41100, Olympia, WA 98504-1100. MAIL APPEAL FOR MIM NOTES This letter was written to, Tom Rolfs, Director, Division of Prisons, PO Box 41100, Olympia, WA 98504-1100, in response to MIM Notes being censored. This is an appeal to the censorship of the October 1995 issue of MIM Notes. The reason given for the censorship was that in each issue on page two it states: "MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups over other groups, classes, gender, nations. MIM knows this is only possible by building public opinion to seize power through armed struggle." The claim is that the reference to armed struggle violates DOC Policy 450.100 E.3.b. Am I correct in understanding that each and every copy of MIM Notes will be censored solely because of this statement on page two? Please tell me if there is anything else in this issue of the MIM Notes which you find objectionable and a basis for censorship. DOC Policy 450.1000 E.3.b states material can be censored by the DOC if "It may be reasonably be thought that the material would incite, aid, or abet the performance of physical violence or criminal activity upon an individual or group, or the material is deemed to be a threat to legitimate penological objectives." What "legitimate penological objectives" do you claim are threatened by this issue of MIM Notes? More importantly, how are such objectives threatened? If you claim it will incite violence please identify whom you think would be the object and the perpetrators of such violence. I have subscribed to and received MIM Notes for approximately six years now. No issue has been rejected prior to this and most importantly, no illegal and criminal activity can be traced to any issue of MIM Notes I have received. It is apparent that you and your staff are seeking to impose your political views and beliefs upon me. Being part of the machinery that actively oppresses others and helps maintain the political status quo, your decision to censor is not surprising. Please note that in Wright v. Van Boening, I successfully litigated the censorship of political materials similar to those in MIM Notes. In addition to a monetary settlement and the return of the materials, your predecessor, Larry Kincheloe, sent all institutions a directive to the effect that political materials of this type were not to be censored. I can provide you with a copy if you need one. More recently in Wright v. Blodgett, I was also successful in litigating the confiscation of political materials of a similar nature and received a monetary settlement. I am requesting that this and all future issues of MIM Notes be delivered to me in a prompt manner. In the event you deny this appeal please inform me if the decision to ban MIM Notes applies to all future issues that will be sent. Thank you for your time and attention in this matter. --A Washington state prisoner, 10/29/95 SUNDIATA ACOLI REQUESTS EMERGENCY RESPONSE Sundiata has requested people contact their local news media and demand coverage of the nationwide prison uprisings that have been erupting as of late as well as the total lock-down of all U.S. Federal Prisons (including USP Allenwood where Sundiata is imprisoned). He also asks people to contact their Congressional representatives and state that if they do not change their position on the sentencing of crack offenders, they will not receive your vote. The following is a sample letter by a New Jersey activist. Please feel free to use/modify this example in writing your local media. Dear Editor, Your coverage on the issue of Congress voting to maintain the disparities in sentencing between crack cocaine and powder cocaine was unfortunately minimal. The short story on October 31st "Clinton Draws Flak on Crack" didn't nearly capture the inherent racism in the Congressional decision to ignore the recommendation of the Sentencing Commission, which was that penalties for crack be equalized with those of cocaine. As a prisoner advocate, I am aware of thousands of young males of color all over the country who have been waiting for the Congress to vote to make the minimum sentences equal. They feel, as do most of us in the field of criminal "justice" that the disparity in sentencing is based on the race and economics of the law breaker--folks of color are those most frequently using and being charged with possession of crack cocaine, getting the mandatory minimum of five years, as opposed to the mostly white folks who get charged with use of the more expensive cocaine getting a minimum of ten months probation for possession of the exact same amount! Can we really ignore the racism inherent in the congressional decision? I am also suspecting racism in the lack of coverage on the issue. How many people know that young men of color protested and rebelled in Federal prison after prison all across the country? Where was the media coverage this past couple of weeks on that? These young prisoners are full of justifiable rage and frustration at the differential treatment that whites get from police, the courts and while in prison. They understand that racism isn't an emotion, but is an intentional political construct backed by the government and its institutions. Racism is not some mental quirk or psychological flaw. I can think of no clearer example of this than the refusal of Congress to heed the equalization recommendation of the Sentencing Commission--and the astounding lack of coverage of these nation-wide rebellions. These young men of color have been doomed to years of imprisonment, while seeing their white counterparts walk.... President Clinton's statement that "crack carries with it so many devastating social ills" is shallow. It isn't crack that carries with it social ills. It is the social ills of poverty, horrendous schools and high unemployment that create the need for pain-numbing crack. Neither racially based sentencing nor prejudicial coverage do justice to any of us. Sincerely, --A New Jersey activist MONEY MISUSED: PRISONS INSTEAD OF PEOPLE Sorry for not writing, but there are so many altercations going on in the system today that I had to do an in depth study on the American Justice System. First of all roughly 877,000 Black men between the ages of 20 and 29, an astonishing one in every three, are in prison, jail, on probation or parole. Incarceration rates for Black men have soared since 1990, when one in four were under the criminal justice system. Discrimination explains part of it. So does the Sentencing Project, a research organization that seeks alternatives to incarceration. Also the nation's failed "War on Drugs". Police drug sweeps in poor communities and mandatory sentencing laws have had a disproportionate impact on young Black men. But discrimination and drug policy don't explain it all. Poverty, unemployment, drugs, family disintegration, and gangs in the poor communities all play a part in the downward direction of our Black men. So far the country is moving precisely in the wrong direction, wasting increasing funds in the construction and operation of prisons while doing less to change the conditions that breed crime in the first place. (The focus should be on relieving poverty in the Black communities.)... --a California prisoner, 10/11/95 PRISON BRIEFS 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 thousands of cows and pigs a week. Obviously being sold for private profit. --a Texas prisoner, 6/2/95 We've been facing down attacks from various plantation "administrators" because of our political activities. Our press has been withheld from captives at different camps. One brother was put in the "hole" for a piece that he wrote on the Oklahoma City bombing by the right-wing reactionaries. Another brother was placed on "phone restriction" for calling the media. So these are some of the things that we must contend with. And this isolation isn't helping one bit. Nevertheless, just thought I'd "plug in". Press on and keep up the good work. Stand Firm, --a Michigan prisoner 9/17/95 A MASSACHUSETTS PRISON CONTINUES TO CENSOR MIM NOTES One Massachusetts prison has been censoring MIM Notes since May 1995. In September 1995, Under Lock & Key printed "Massachusetts prisoner fights censorship," which documents one prisoner's struggle to receive MIM Notes. This prisoner is continuing his legal battle to receive this paper, as the prison continues to censor MIM Notes. The following is the most recent censorship letter from the prison officials. Dear Sir/Madam: Please be advised in accordance with the Department of Corrections policy, 103 CMR 481, Inmate Mail Regulations, your publication, MIM Notes, shall be disapproved for receipt by an inmate at Old Colony Correctional Center for the following reasons: poses a threat to security and good order of the institution. 481.15 (1) (e) Depicts, describes or encourages activities that may lead to the use of physical violence or group disruption. 481.15 (1) (f) Encourages, facilitates or instructs in the commission of criminal activity. You may appeal this decision to the Superintendent, Paul B. Murphy, should you opt to do so. Respectfully, Edward Ficco, Deputy Superintendent of Operations, 10/12/95 Letters of Protest can be addressed to: Edward Ficco, Deputy Superintendent of Operations, or Paul B. Murphy, Superintendent Executive Office of Public Safety, Department of Correction Old Colony Correctional Center, One Administration Rd., Bridgewater, MA 02324 Calls can be made to: Massachusetts Department of Correction (617) 727-3400 or Old Colony Correctional Center (508) 697-3360. How many times do you have to break a man's body before you break his soul? Shaka Shakur is back in a lockdown situation - he was recently put into the Hospital Restraint Unit (HRU) of the Indiana Reformatory until he learns to walk without crutches again. After much pressure was put on to get him taken to outside doctor, Shaka was finally sent to a hospital and diagnosed with a herniated disc in his back. He has been on medication for the pain for a year and has been on crutches since June - recently his crutches were taken away from him arbitrarily. He was scheduled for surgery under the recommendation of Dr. Kevin Kaufman at Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. Shaka has not been allowed this surgery and has been further isolated by being put into the HRU. Indiana Reformatory "doctor" Dr. Chavez has further escalated the situation by harassing Shaka--calling him a "fucking shithead" and accusing him of faking his injury. The HRU is in total isolation from the rest of the prison. According to Shaka it is much like the Maximum Control Complex prison in Westville, Indiana with boxcar doors and forced air and no contact with anyone. The one other prisoner in the HRU is being "treated" (i.e., experimented upon) with psychotropic drugs. Please write letters and send faxes to: Ed Cohn Indiana Department of Corrections Indiana Government Center South 302 W. Washington Street Indianapolis, IN 46204 FAX: 317-232-6798 Demand that Shaka Shakur 28443 be removed from the HRU and taken back to the AS unit where he was and further demand that he be sent to Wishard Hospital for the Surgery recommended by Dr. Kaufman, and finally that he be given back his crutches. Write letters of support to Shaka at: Shaka Shakur 28443 Indiana Reformatory P.O. Box 30 Pendleton, IN 46064 --Posted to the Internet by BCAC, P.O. Box 93312, Milwaukee, WI 53203, October 7, 1995 * * * SAGE/UAW DEMANDS SHARE OF BLOOD MONEY November 30--The UCLA's Student Association of Graduate Workers/United Auto Workers (SAGE/UAW) marched on UCLA's campus to demand "better health care through collective bargaining" for student employees of the University. As MIM Notes has stated before, "SAGE wants to position itself to get a larger share of UCLA's pie. But UCLA's pie is stolen--its wages, library collection, manicured lawns and seismic renovation construction [as well as the health care it does provide] all rest on the backs of the toiling peasants and workers of the world's oppressed nations."(1) MIM would like to see a world in which all people have full access to health care, education, housing and food. Principally the Third World proletariat and peasantry lack these necessities, and MIM speaks from their class viewpoint MIM. The people of the neocolonies suffer under pro-landlord dictatorships which are propped up by the U.S. military and CIA. The University of California (U.C.) plays no small part in this imperialist process. U.C. manages the only labs in the United Snakes which are authorized to design and test nuclear warheads.(2) U.C. got $72,304,000 in total contracts and grants from the Department of "Defense" in Fiscal Year 1989 alone.(3) UCLA received $18.7 million in Pentagon research funding in Fiscal Year 1993.(4) MIM leads the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL). RAIL is currently campaigning to smash U.C.'s ties to the U.S. war machine, particularly U.C.'s management of war labs. SAGE/UAW student employees, on the other hand, are campaigning to get a share of U.C.'s bloody war money. Some in SAGE/UAW are merely acting in accordance with their material interest, illustrating MIM's thesis that the material interests of the privileged majority of First World residents are in contradiction with the material interests of the world's majority, the Third World proletariat and peasantry. We call on these petit-bourgeois students to break with their misanthropic material interest, commit class suicide and join humanity. Others in SAGE/UAW are acting under the mistaken impression that SAGE's demands are progressive. We call on these subjectively progressive activists to join RAIL's campaign against U.C.'s ties to the U.S. war machine. By so doing, these activists will strike a blow against the imperialist system which forcibly denies basic needs like health care to the world's majority. This would be much more progressive than demanding more resources for an already over-privileged group. NOTES: 1. MIM Notes June 1995, p. 8. 2. Z Magazine April 1992, pp. 47-48. 3. The Pentagon: Directorate for Information, Operations and Reports, 1987-1990, as cited in Z Magazine, September 1991, p. 26. 4. West L.A. Independent July 28, 1994, p. 2 * * * INTERVIEW WITH SCOTTISH COMRADE ***MIM interviewed a comrade from a party in Scotland with some Maoist leanings called the Workers Party. MIM sought an update on the anti- poll tax struggle which this party had initiated. See an upcoming issue of MIM Theory for a deeper theoretical interview.*** MIM: What is happening now with the taxes that replaced the poll tax? WORKERS PARTY: There is no systematic attempt to refuse to pay them. There is a campaign in which I am to some degree involved to use the same mass payment tactics to prevent water privatisation. MIM: Did the anti-poll tax movement leave behind any permanent organizations? In what sense does it carry over into today's political movements? WP: The Maoists were too few and ideologically incoherent to make anything much of it. The Militant labour has capitalised on it by getting representatives elected. The anti-water privatisation campaign draws on much of the experience and some of the activists of the previous campaign. There is still a struggle against attempts to recover tax debts from then, with Militant continuing to work hard at it. MIM: Here in Florida for instance, we have a movement of reactionary whites to remove education, health and other services from undocumented workers; even though Florida has no income tax and just a sales tax. What portion of labor in Scotland and England is done by undocumented and legal immigrants? What is their tax situation? WP: There is no popular movement for this here, but the government is going to do it none the less. I would think that the number of illegal immigrants in Scotland would be relatively small, and indeed relatively small in the country as a whole. I don't know the details of whether illegal residents in general pay income tax. I would think that in most cases they would, since income tax is deducted here by employers at source, not doing that would be to openly admit that they were employing people illegally. * * * FILM DOCUMENTS INDONESIAN BRUTALITY IN EAST TIMOR The film East Timor: Death of a Nation premiered in Boston on December 7th, exactly 20 years after Indonesia's invasion of East Timor. More than 200,000 Timorese, approximately one third of the 1975 population, have been killed by the Indonesian military since the invasion. Independent English film makers John Pilger and Max Stahl produced this film covertly, without the knowledge of the Indonesian government. Pilger and Stahl's caution is justified as journalists attempting to document the brutal repression in East Timor have been killed by the Indonesian military in the past. This documentary intertwines interviews with East Timorese guerrillas still fighting in the mountains, Timorese in exile, people in the villages and English and Australian government officials. It paints a depressing picture of the torture and massacre carried out by Indonesia, the suffering and resistance of the East Timor people, and the complicity of the imperialist governments. Although this film does not focus on the U.S. role, Amerika played a big part in both condoning the 1975 invasion and funding the subsequent massacre and current repression. NOVEMBER 12TH MASSACRE NOT AN ABERRATION; MASSES RESIST INTEGRATION Showing rare footage of the November 12, 1991 massacre of peaceful demonstrations, Pilger tells the audience that a second unreported massacre took place that same day and the following day. Then he cuts to interviews of English and Australian officials who say that this one massacre was an aberration. The interviews, mass graves, destruction, relocation and on-going military occupation make it clear that the imperialists' lies are necessary to defend their support for the regime in Indonesia. Interviewing Alan Clark. English defense minister during the Indonesian invasion, about the massacres in East Timor Pilger says "I read that you are a vegetarian and are concerned with the way that animals are killed. Does that concern extend to the way humans are killed?" Clark's answer: "Curiously not, no." The resistance continues in spite of severe repression in East Timor. On the third anniversary of the November 12th massacre last year, over 1,000 East Timorese youth demonstrated in Dili. The Indonesian authorities responded with tear gas, beatings and mass detentions. This year riots and other protests have broken out frequently throughout the country. Most recently on October 1st in Dili groups of youth blocked off parts of the town following clashes with pro-integration Timorese. Police then fired indiscriminately into crowds and broke into homes to break up the protests. House to house searches for participants in the unrest continued through November and probably continue today. Amnesty International reports that the military provoked the clashes that led to the rioting in October "through the use of agents provocateurs."(2) In the Indonesian effort to force assimilation of the East Timor population use of the Timorese language is banned, cultural displays are not allowed, massacres are a regular occurrence and many people have been forcibly relocated to camps where they can be more easily controlled and monitored. Forced sterilization is becoming common practice as the Indonesian government realizes that the Timorese are not quietly submitting to integration even after 20 years of repression. School girls are being injected with the contraceptive Depo Provera and told it is anti- tetanus medicine. The doctor in one clinic boasted of having sterilized 500 women. And while all this is going on, Indonesian dictator Suharto won the United Nations prize for support of family planning recently. AMERIKA FEEDS THE OCCUPATION According to the U.S. state department, about 90% of the weapons used during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor were U.S.-supplied.(1) Indonesia and the East Timorese resources it controls are considered an important economic and strategic prize. Amerika has provided Indonesia with hundreds of millions of dollars in military and economic assistance since 1975. The Clinton administration alone has provided almost $300 million in economic assistance and tens of millions of dollars in weaponry in the past 3 years.(1) Amerika's complicity in this brutal and hidden massacre should force all who live within U.S. borders to speak out and take action to support the Timorese resistance. The courage and strength of the Timorese resistance deserves the support of all anti-imperialists. To order a copy of the video Death of a Nation write to ETAN at P.O. Box 1182, White Plains, New York 10602. $40 for home use, $150 for full public performance rights. NOTES: 1. Los Angeles Times Dec. 7, 1995. 2. Network News, East Timor Action Network/US, P.O. Box 1182, White Plains, New York 10602. Issue no. 12, November 1995.