= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

     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 113                 MAY 1, 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.


INJUSTICE SYSTEM CONVICTS ANOTHER LATINO YOUTH



Ypsilanti, MI--On March 15 Salomon Vasquez, an 
Ypsilanti youth, was sentenced to 45-80 years for 
second degree murder. His conviction for the 
accidental shooting death of 16-year-old Tamara 
Stewart illustrates again how oppressed nationals 
are victimized by the Amerikan criminal injustice 
system. MIM knows this is a reality which cannot be 
reformed. National liberation is necessary if there 
is to be any justice for the oppressed. Amerika 
will continue to find new ways to carry out white-
nation economic and political hegemony. Prisons are 
one way Amerika imposes this reality on the 
oppressed within U.S. borders.

Vasquez's sentence is much harsher than the average 
sentence for murder. His charge; aiding and 
abetting a murder. Evidence shows that Vasquez did 
not kill Tamara Stewart, though he was at the 
shoot-out and fired a gun. As a result, in 
bourgeois courts, he can be held legally 
responsible for Stewart's death. This law 
conveniently allows for multiple convictions for 
murder and can put someone in jail, even if they 
weren't the person who killed the victim. Vasquez 
testified during the trial that he grabbed a gun 
and shot in self-defense after being shot in the 
knee and having a bullet graze his ear. Twenty-one-
year-old Vasquez will be eligible for parole in 15 
years. 

Vasquez's case was publicized in the local press 
accompanied by accusations of "gang" activity. MIM 
does not care if Salomon was in a gang or not. 
Bourgeois media portrays gangs as violent, but MIM 
knows the state is scared of and wants to destroy 
any organization of the oppressed. MIM would also 
argue that violence on the street is much less than 
violence perpetrated by the government daily. 
However, the publicity which decried gang activity 
makes a conviction more likely to appease public 
opinion. During the trial, the jury was instructed 
that no evidence directly linked Salomon to a gang. 
That does not, however, erase the reality that many 
settlers assume any Latino youth wearing baggy 
pants is a gang member.

According to friends of the family, the initial 
public defender for Vasquez was inadequate. One key 
pre-trial witness who testified against Vasquez 
made inaccurate statements about Vasquez's height 
(off by a couple feet) and about Vasquez shooting 
with his right hand, when he is left-handed. The 
witness was not adequately cross examined during 
the pre-trial and was not brought back to testify 
during the trial--thus his former statements were 
accepted as true. This key witness was also placed 
out of state at the time of the murder by the 
witness' father. During the trial, this witness was 
missing, but no effort was made to find him.

At the time of the shooting, Vasquez was on 
lifetime probation for selling crack cocaine. He 
pleaded guilty to selling crack in exchange for 
lifetime probation to avoid a possible 4 year 
prison term if convicted by a jury. A 20-year-old 
on lifetime probation! The criminal injustice 
system couldn't make a clearer statement about who 
it considers criminal by their very existence.

Vasquez's family and friends are organizing to 
raise money for legal costs and emotional support. 
They are currently working on an appeal. Anyone 
interested in supporting their struggle--to raise 
money for legal fees or build public opinion around 
the case--should write to MIM. We can pass on 
contributions and/or letters to Salomon or his 
family. The Vasquez family is also asking that 
letters of support be sent to Salomon in prison 
(send letters either care of Vasquez, P.O. Box 
970511, Ypsilanti, MI, 48197 or to MIM at the 
address on page 2).

MIM knows that cases like Salomon's happen all the 
time. This case highlights the importance of MIM's 
position that all prisoners are political 
prisoners. Salomon was not incarcerated for a crime 
associated with any particular political act. But 
his case is political. The criminal injustice 
system targets oppressed nationals, arresting them 
at a higher rate and giving them much harsher 
sentences than their white-youth counterparts. For 
example, prosecution for crack cocaine offenses 
falls almost exclusively on Blacks and Latinos, 
regardless of the fact that whites comprise 65% of 
all people who have used crack in their lifetime. 
In 1993, 88% of crack cocaine offenders were 
Black.(1)  No oppressed national can be given a 
fair trial in the United Snakes' court system. 
Every facet of law enforcement, from the pigs to 
the definition of crime to sentencing guidelines, 
is about protecting white-nation domination. Judges 
and politicians have no qualms about disposing with 
the lives of many oppressed nation youth in order 
to win votes for appearing "tough on crime."

MIM says to those interested in justice for the 
oppressed, get tough with your analysis of the 
Amerikan government and its institutions. There can 
be no justice in an economically and politically 
oppressive society which lives off the exploitation 
of peoples around the world. MIM calls on all 
progressive people to work with MIM to end the 
imperialist system responsible for national 
oppression both internationally and continentally.



NOTES: 1. FAMM-gram (published by Families Against 
Mandatory Minimums) Vol. 5, no. 2, 1995.



* * *


NISGA'A LAND DEAL PRODUCT OF FIRST NATION 
RADICALISM



The Nisga'a, a Canadian indigenous nation, first 
went to the settler government making a land claim 
over a century ago, in 1860. On February 12, they 
got as far as an "Agreement-in-Principle" (AIP) for 
land allotments and some limited self-rule. This 
compromise has come in the wake of radicalism on 
the part of other First Nations, especially the 
standoff at Gustafsen Lake (see MIM Notes 105, 
October 1995), also in British Columbia. Even as it 
fails to give real autonomy to the Nisga'a, the AIP 
faces a turbulent political battle as reactionary 
British Columbian masses are poised to elect a more 
short- sightedly racist government.

One Nisga'a negotiator said that the concessions on 
taxes and other issues were made for 
assimilationist reasons: "We are making that 
compromise in order to become full and active 
participants in the social, political and economic 
life of this country."(1) Under the AIP, the 
Nisga'a will pay taxes and their laws will be 
subject to Canadian and B.C. approval. MIM does not 
oppose ostensibly assimilationist public statements 
such as this out- of-hand. Rather, such 
proclamations can be effective if they are a 
strategy to win some benefits in a winnable battle 
against the state. In this case, however, it 
appears that the Nisga'a leadership may believe 
this rhetoric of justice under imperialism. That is 
a dangerous notion capable of misdirecting the 
progressive energies of the people.

The deal, while not allowing for autonomy, does 
provide the Nisga'a with real benefits. The biggest 
gain for the Nisga'a is land. Under the AIP, they 
are given collective ownership of approximately 
2000 square kilometers (770 square miles) in 
northwestern B.C.--or roughly ten percent of what 
the Nisga'a sought.(2) In addition, the Nisga'a 
gain mineral and timber rights and control over a 
third of the commercial fishing in the area.(2).

British Columbia only began to consider any 
concessions to native land claims in 1991.(2) The 
province has had little choice in the rising tide 
of activism, exemplified most dramatically at the 
standoff at Gustafsen Lake. However, concessions 
are not capitulation.

Some observers are skeptical that Canada has 
conceded enough to avert further crises. "The 
$64,000 question is the still-unknown details 
surrounding self-government. The B.C. government is 
willing to let these Indians keep some land. But 
it's not willing to talk about restructuring 
government. There are Indians out east who won't 
like that."(2)

Other First Nations are also skeptical. One senior 
advisor of the Union of Nova Scotia Indians said 
"Our goal is to become more self-reliant and less 
marginalized politically and economically. We don't 
want to be stuck in our own municipality. We want 
cooperative government where we have a voice and 
power over taxation. It's the opposite of the 
Nisga'a agreement."(2)

The most reactionary of the forces in B.C. are the 
white commercial fishers. One complained that the 
Canadian government does not care enough about 
those in his union. "They simply have not listened. 
I am very bitter about what the Canadian government 
with the provincial government's help has done to 
commercial fishermen in this country."(3) The 
national chauvinism here is clear: the government 
is making concessions to other commercial fishers, 
just not the ones in this man's union.

Canada wants to uphold the Nisga'a as an example: 
look how much just talking can get you. The press 
fawned over the Nisga'a as "patient"(4) B.C. is 
terrified by the radicalism displayed by "rogue 
Indians" who have been engaging in standoffs and 
civil disobedience, and so they want to give the 
moderates something to encourage that path.

It will not be easy for the long-sighted 
imperialists to convince the forces of more overt 
reaction to swallow the bitter pill of less open 
hegemony. On the airwaves, the right wing is 
moaning of the decline of Western civilization. One 
hot-line radio host has written a book entitled 
***Our Home or Native Land***. Its introduction 
includes: "The government of B.C. is determined to 
change us from a peace- loving democratic province, 
under the rule of law being equally applied to all 
to a state where in large areas race counts for 
everything. If the government has its way, sad as 
it is to say, it is hard to believe we will be a 
peaceful people for very long."(4) His people have 
of course never been peace- loving, and have always 
brutally repressed the indigenous people. "Race" 
(or, more accurately, nation) has counted for 
everything since the settler's arrival in Western 
Canada. 

The reactionaries have short memories, however. One 
Globe and Mail editorial complained about the 
secrecy of the negotiation process, the "lack of 
symmetry" perceived by the Nisga'a having access to 
the talks while the "general public" (read white 
folks) has not, the funding of a government for so 
few people (about 3000 Nisga'a live on the land 
they would have under the AIP). But he said that 
the biggest problem was "racism." "It is wrong to 
single out people by race and confer political 
rights and wrongs on that basis. There have been 
too many wrongs in the past; we must pay for that. 
But that does not justify building a racially based 
government for the future."(5) Canadians will 
indeed pay. If the reactionaries have their way and 
refuse to encourage sell-outs among the first 
nations, they will pay an even higher price. It is 
not because they are an oppressed race, but because 
they are an oppressor nation that will be under the 
dictatorship of those that they have held down.

The AIP deal was approved by a vote of the Nisga'a 
on February 25, but still has to pass the 
provincial government, and they may be 
challenging.(6) The ruling New Democratic Party has 
two opposition parties, Liberal and Reform, who 
have both said that they would reject in principle 
any agreement that included Nisga'a commercial 
fishing rights or other distinct status.(4) The 
Liberal leader also said that the protection of 
private property would be a dividing line, even 
though only fewer than a hundred non-natives live 
on the land in question. The Reform leader said 
that "There has to be broad public debate 
and...support for the deal with non-aboriginal 
British Columbians." MIM does not support the white 
people's right to debate whether a nation deserves 
self- determination.



NOTES:
1. Canada NewsWire, Feb. 15, 1996. 
2. Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 16, 1996, p. 7. 
3. UPI Feb. 15, 1996. 
4. Globe and Mail, Feb. 15, 1996, p. A4. 
5. Globe and Mail, Feb. 20, 1996. 
6. Canada NewsWire March 12, 1996.



* * *


LETTERS TO MIM

***This issue of the MIM Notes letters page 
features some of MIM's e-mail correspondence in the 
past month. To read more about MIM's work on the 
Internet, see this month's issue of M-L-M Online on 
page 10, or write to our Internet address: 
mim@nyxfer.blythe.org***


FRIEND OF AMERIKA; FOE OF PRISONERS WRITES MIM


MIM, 

So you hate America. I guess we should change our 
society to model such thriving societies as 
communist China. Or maybe a wonderful democracy 
like the Soviet Union. Since Maoism worked so well 
in China I bet they must have no poverty and a 
wonderful prison system.

You are right about this capitalism crap. There is 
no way you can advance without having to work a 
job. Thank goodness that there is crack cocaine to 
sell. When I hear about all those poor young 
Americans in jail for selling drugs I feel so bad 
for them. I at least hope they enjoy sucking each 
others cocks.

Have a nice day you whining, leftist pieces of 
shit!

--A reader in the Midwest


MIM RESPONDS: Thanks for writing, you've provided 
us with an excellent example of what Amerika 
teaches about Communism, and Amerikan culture 
generally. While China gave up on Communism in 1976 
and the former Soviet Union fell to state 
capitalism in 1956, before their respective 
capitalist restorations those two countries 
experienced tremendous sociological and 
technological advances never matched in any 
capitalist country. MIM does not seek to emulate 
state-capitalist China or the budding capitalist 
regimes in the former Soviet Union, but we do work 
to build on the successes in both those countries 
pre-capitalist restoration.

On your question about China's prison system, we 
recommend reading *** Prisoners of Liberation *** 
by Allyn and Adele Rickett. The book is about the 
Ricketts' experiences during four years they spent 
in a Chinese prison for spying on behalf of Amerika 
and England during the Korean war. After returning 
to Amerika, the Ricketts wrote this tremendously 
positive account of their experiences in prison, 
and have since put out newer additions of the book 
with introductions explaining why they still 
support the Maoist prison system which sought to 
educate people through analysis of their own 
errors, rather than punish them for crimes like 
being poor, as Amerika does. (Send $10 to get the 
Ricketts' book. Also see MIM Notes 112 for coverage 
of a lecture by Allyn Rickett sponsored by MIM as 
part of Prisons Awareness Week.)

Among other interesting figures, Ruth Sidel in her 
book *** Women and Child Care in China ***, 
compares infant mortality in Shanghai in 1971 with 
the rate in New York City for the same year. She 
finds that Shanghai had a lower rate. Surely a 
country with more than 90% of its population in the 
countryside, late industrialization, etc., that 
beats out the highly industrialized and medically 
advanced New York City for taking care of its 
people's health is worth investigating as having a 
positive system of government.

The Under Lock & Key section of MIM Notes (pages 6 
and 7 of this issue) serve many purposes: they are 
a forum for prisoners' political work and exposure 
of gross injustices in Amerika's gulags, they are a 
place for prisoners to organize politically, and 
they are a resource for people outside the walls 
who are interested in decimating prisons as part of 
the Amerikan criminal injustice system and want to 
find out more about why this is a worthwhile 
effort. Finally, Under Lock & Key is a place for 
prisoners to respond to people like this reader 
from the Midwest who talk about prisoners as 
objects of ridicule simply because Amerika has 
locked them up. We should also point out that this 
Midwestern writer's use of gay-baiting to insult 
prisoners demonstrates that not only is the writer 
an imperialist pig, but a patriarchal one as well.

MIM works to end the oppression of all groups of 
people over other groups, and this letter is an 
excellent example of why we need to carry this 
struggle on all fronts at once. While you argue the 
standard Amerikan line that the oppressed deserve 
their oppression, we hope to work with people who 
understand that state oppression, steady 
unemployment, discrimination and military 
occupation of oppressed nations conspire to enforce 
an unequal standard of living. We will continue to 
combat oppression so that all human beings will 
eventually have the opportunity to realize their 
potentials, and the privileged will cease telling 
the oppressed that shitty living conditions are 
their own damn fault.



PROGRESSIVE STUDENT CONTACTS MIM


Greetings to all comrades, ...I am a Black 
journalism student at [a Midwestern College]. I am 
also the only Black columnist who works for our 
student newspaper. The plight here on campus is 
sad. The organizations on our campus are pretty 
much non-productive and none speak from a 
revolutionary perspective. I am much perplexed by 
the entire situation. I want true liberation and 
freedom for all oppressed people. My mind has been 
going in circles trying to find an outlet for 
productive activism. I am also interested in 
finding out how to support other political comrades 
locked up in death camps (prisons).There must be a 
way to participate in revolutionary actions. The 
plight in Amerika for Blacks is under attack and 
will continue, unless armed struggle takes place. 
Black Amerikans have no idea what it means to be 
truly free, because most of us are still controlled 
and en-slaved by new slave masters. Black Amerikans 
continue to have black bodies, with white minds. I 
too once had a white imprisoned mental, but my own 
inner strength and determination would not allow me 
to remain in a hope-less state.

Also, I would like more info. on how to become a 
part of MIM. How can I serve as an inspiration and 
Leader? Hope to get a response soon.

Peace and love to all living and fallen comrades. 

--a friend in the Midwest



MIM RESPONDS: Thanks for writing, it's good to know 
our materials at [a Midwestern college] reached 
someone progressive. If you are interested in doing 
work with us we should be able to help you bring 
more revolutionary politics to your campus.

We print several newspapers per month, put up 
posters exposing the conditions inside Amerika's 
gulags, run a Free Books for Prisoners Program (we 
send our newspapers free to prisoners and send 
revolutionary books as there is a demand for them 
and as we have them available).

MIM considers Blacks, Latinos and Indigenous people 
in Amerika to be oppressed nations. Rather than 
simply seeing these groups as "racial" minorities, 
we recognize that the Black nation, and the various 
Latino and Indigenous nations have had historical 
experiences; territory, language, economy and 
culture sufficiently different from (and in 
opposition to) the white Amerikan nation to have 
developed into distinct nations within U.S. 
borders. We work to end oppression from this 
perspective, and so we advocate and work towards 
self-determination for all internal colonies within 
U.S. borders.

MIM also sees national oppression as the principal 
contradiction in the world at this time--the 
contradictions between the oppressed nations and 
the oppressor nations are the priority for people 
working to end oppression because unleashing these 
revolutionary nationalist struggles will do the 
most to advance the fight for socialism and 
proletarian feminism. To advance our work on the 
international front, MIM and the Revolutionary 
Anti- Imperialist League (RAIL), are printing 
literature and putting on educational events 
surrounding the revolution in the Philippines.

If you want to get involved in working with MIM, 
the best thing for you to do is to join RAIL. You 
should also get a subscription to MIM Notes, which 
has just gone bi-weekly. Our newspaper comes out 24 
times per year now and subscriptions cost $20/year. 
With MIM Notes, you get RAIL Notes, which is the 
bi-monthly publication of RAIL. Under Lock & Key 
which is news from prisons and prisoners (2 pages 
twice a month), plus news and Maoist analysis from 
all over the world.

Finally, you should help us out by asking for extra 
copies of MIM Notes and RAIL Notes to distribute on 
your campus, and by putting up posters for 
political agitation. By doing this, you can get 
other people in your area interested in 
revolutionary politics, start a study group, put on 
anti-imperialist events on campus, help MIM out 
with prisoner correspondence, collect revolutionary 
books for Michigan prisoners, obviously, the list 
goes on.

Again, thanks for writing, it's good to know you're 
out there and we hope to hear from you again soon.

Power to the people! 



* * *



HOUSE VOTES TO SCREW IMMIGRANT WORKERS



On March 6 the U.S. House of Representatives 
Agriculture Committee trumpeted its support for 
perpetuating the exploitation of the international 
proletariat. The Committee approved an amendment to 
the House immigration bill granting temporary work 
visas to 250,000 immigrant farm workers. The 
amendment would ensure that these visas are truly 
only temporary by withholding 25% of the workers' 
wages until they return home.

The bill proposes strict limitations on legal 
immigration, yet the amendment was supported by 
many of the overall bill's proponents. Tightening 
immigration restrictions while allowing workers to 
enter U.S. borders on a temporary basis represents 
the height of imperialist abuse of Third World 
peoples: the proletariat is allowed to work for 
Amerikan enrichment but excluded from the products 
of its labor. MIM says throw out the entire 
reactionary bill and open the borders so that the 
proletariat on whose backs the wealth of this 
country was built can claim what is theirs.

Supporters of the temporary work visa amendment 
argue that it is necessary to ensure enough labor 
for Amerikan farms, particularly in the border 
states which rely heavily on undocumented immigrant 
labor. The Labor Department estimates that at least 
12 percent (190,000) of domestic farm workers are 
unemployed, and this is probably an underestimate 
since many farm workers are undocumented and don't 
want to be counted by any Amerikan agency. With 
unemployment already high by Amerikan standards, 
growers (who want to employ the cheap labor of the 
international proletariat) and their 
representatives in the House are pushing to 
maintain the flow of temporary immigrant laborers 
so that undocumented agricultural workers will 
continue to be forced to work cheaply for fear of 
losing their job or being deported. 

As MIM Notes reported in November, some farms 
prefer to employ welfare mothers, Mexicans, or 
Puerto Ricans already within U.S. borders, while 
other growers and segments of the government prefer 
to import temporary laborers. Either way the only 
competition for these jobs comes from the exploited 
proletariat and not from the well off white working 
class. This bill will make it easier for the farms 
to hire temporary laborers who can then be shipped 
back home when their labor is no longer needed. 
This method of exploitation also avoids the 
controversial issue of providing services for 
undocumented workers and their families, which the 
labor aristocracy gets all riled up about. Amerikan 
growers and the internationalist bourgeoisie know 
they cannot produce cheap food without the 
exploitation of the international proletariat. This 
bill provides a convenient way to continue to 
exploit proletarian labor while avoiding possible 
anti-immigrant uprisings from the labor 
aristocracy, who don't want the proletariat getting 
any crumbs from the imperialist pie.

The products of most imperialist industries embody 
both the dead labor of the international 
proletariat and resources stolen from many 
countries. This is how Amerikan industries employ 
the Amerikan labor aristocracy at high wages and 
still make a large profit.

The internationalist bourgeoisie is passing laws to 
make a larger proletarian labor pool available to 
the farms. Amerika cannot export farm production as 
long as some farms exist within U.S. borders. 
Instead the government will ensure the easy 
importation of proletarians. Farm owners are not 
willing to give up their profits by paying the 
Amerikan labor aristocracy to do farm work since 
most of the profits come from the exploitation of 
the farm laborer.

The contradiction between colonial farm workers and 
the Amerikan labor aristocracy is evident here. If 
the Amerikan workers were a proletariat, they too 
would be a part of the labor pool that fights for 
these lousy jobs. These farm jobs are too harsh for 
Amerikan workers who have grown accustomed to being 
paid the full value of their labor or more and 
enjoying the benefits of a tight alliance with 
imperialism. Regardless of the number of work visas 
issued, the agricultural labor will be done by 
exploited proletarians.



NOTE: New York Times March 6, 1996, p. A14.


* * *


MASSES ENGAGE REVOLUTIONARY POLITICS AT PROGRESSIVE 
FILIPINA PERFORMANCE



Amherst, MA--At the University of Massachusetts MIM 
and RAIL distributed copies of the RAIL Philippines 
pamphlet and raised funds for the RAIL Philippines 
campaign at a play about Filipina woman on March 29 
and 30. The play was called Pinaytok, or Filipina 
woman talk, and was sponsored by New World Theatre.

The play was made up of several short sketches of 
Filipina women and their stories. The first was a 
beauty pageant, where 3 "contestants" explained why 
they wanted to win and what they would do with 
their crown. This was the only superficial scene in 
the play, and it seemed intended to prove the 
superficial nature of these elitist women and their 
dreams to "end violence" and "help the poor". One 
of the contestants drew many laughs from the 
audience--although she wouldn't have at a real 
beauty pageant--when she explained her relationship 
to the poor people she wants to help. The poor, she 
explained, were those people you drive by on the 
way to the beauty parlor.

One scene was the story of a migrant worker, 
cleaning house in England and making a cassette 
tape to send to a friend in the Philippines. She 
lies to her friend on the tape and says that she is 
a teacher--for which she was formally trained in 
the Philippines. Every few minutes, the migrant 
worker stops the tape to editorialize and make fun 
of her employers. She also describes her conditions 
and explains how in England there are stricter laws 
to protect the family's dog than the migrant 
workers. She also contrasts her relatively improved 
circumstances in England with her previous 
conditions in Saudi Arabia, where a mutual friend 
was killed by her employer.

Another scene included a porn star making a movie, 
flashing back to being told that she has HIV. The 
last scene was about the struggles of battered 
women in a poor barrio trying to stop the abuse of 
their husband. This was by far the most engaging 
scene, as different neighbors argued with the woman 
over what to do. One woman argued that she should 
just tolerate her husband, because all men will 
beat their wives. The woman being beaten wanted to 
call the police. One neighbor argued against this 
strategy, as the police will not help her, as the 
police see a common interest with the men. This was 
proven in fact when a policeman arrived, discovered 
that the woman hadn't been killed, and then 
promptly left. The same actor played the abusive 
husband and the police officer, further 
underscoring this point.

Part of this scene portrayed the woman refusing sex 
because childbearing is so difficult. The battered 
woman has a dream in which the man is shown for a 
short period as being pregnant and miserable.

While MIM sees the gender oppression going far 
beyond the mere physical restrictions of being nine 
months pregnant and into the political 
superstructure, our main criticism of this is that 
it advocates idealism. "If only men knew what it 
was like...." Men understanding gender oppression 
and giving up their patriarchal power will be a 
considerable part of getting to communism, but the 
principal thing to emphasize should be making 
structural and cultural changes, not relying on 
"magical" individual transformations.

The larger message of this scene was put forward by 
the critic of calling the police. She encouraged 
the woman to bang her pots and pans to alert the 
neighbors when her husband beat her. Other women 
could then notify other women with their pots and 
pans, and the mobilize to physically confront the 
abuser. This was criticized by the first woman as 
"bringing too much attention". But this is a 
correct approach as it builds an independent power 
of women that is not dependent upon the patriarchal 
state. The scene, and the play as a whole, ended 
with several neighbor women confronting the abusive 
husband in such a manner.

These vignettes of Filipina women and their lives 
were a good expose of the conditions these women 
live under patriarchal imperialism. While they did 
not advocate revolution per se, the play brought 
together an audience of Filipino/as, feminists and 
supporters of the Filipino/a people. This gave RAIL 
and MIM an excellent opportunity to talk to people 
about our work to build support for the revolution 
in the Philippines.

MIM and RAIL comrades approached people at the 
event to ask if they wanted to read about the 
revolution in the Philippines, offering them copies 
of the RAIL Philippines pamphlet. We asked for a 
donation to cover costs as well as to fund some 
expensive speaking engagements we are working on as 
a part of our campaign. A number of people were 
quite generous and contributed several dollars. We 
encourage all progressives to support the 
revolution in the Philippines: read the RAIL 
Philippines pamphlet and contact MIM or RAIL for 
information on how to get more involved. 


* * *



FIGHTING PRISONS, POLICE BRUTALITY
AND POLITICAL REPRESSION:
PRISONS AWARENESS WEEK IN SE MICHIGAN



During Prisons Awareness Week in April, MIM hosted 
a speaker from Eastern Michigan University (EMU) to 
speak on the University of Michigan Ann Arbor 
campus about a case of police brutality at EMU and 
about police brutality and intimidation of Black 
students on campuses in general.

MIM has written about this case of police brutality 
in MIM Notes in issues 108 and 110. One student, 
Aaron Johnson, was beaten by an EMU pig while 
attempting to break up a fight among some other 
students. Johnson is now awaiting trial for trumped 
up charges of aggravated assault and obstruction of 
justice. Other students who protested Johnson's 
treatment by the campus pig were suspended from 
school or had to face hearings to defend themselves 
against suspension. According to the speaker, Black 
EMU faculty and administration members who stood up 
for the students were fired on technicalities.

Johnson's trial was initially set for February 12 
in Ypsilanti, but it has since been moved to May 20 
and will take place in Ann Arbor, approximately 15 
miles away. It is possible that the trial was moved 
and postponed to avoid demonstrations by EMU 
students, because school will be out for the 
summmer by the trial date. But community leaders 
will be bringing junior high and high school 
students to watch the trial as they will still be 
in school. MIM will also continue to publicize 
Johnson's case and the political repression on the 
EMU campus generally. MIM works to organize people 
around individual cases of repression like this one 
because it is very important to develop 
understanding of the injustice system overall and 
to oppose it on all fronts.

The speaker defined police brutality and terrorism 
as being based in instilling fear in Black people, 
so that the natural response when a Black person 
sees a pig or a police car is fear. The speaker 
agrees with MIM that there is no way within the 
current system to eliminate police brutality. In a 
system in which the cops are the prime drug 
dealers, a choice between the major political 
parties is a choice between "the devil and his 
brother."

Johnson's case is a classic example of how the pigs 
are not there to "protect and serve" the Black 
community--these swine are not even answerable to 
the Black community: 

* Officer Hardesty, who beat and arrested Aaron 
Johnson also pulled his gun on a woman during the 
incident in which he arrested Johnson. 

* EMU Department of Public Safety (DPS) procedures 
on when an officer can draw her or his gun are 
public information, yet students who requested to 
see these procedures were refused. 

* Students were denied access to Hardesty's 
individual record

The speaker outlined the way he thinks the Black 
community should go about rectifying this type of 
treatment by the pigs: the Black community needs to 
police itself. MIM agrees with this completely, 
although we do disagree with some of the speaker's 
surrounding theory. The speaker and MIM agree that 
Black people need sovereignty in their own 
communities, but the speaker disagrees with MIM on 
the need to seize power through armed struggle. 
While MIM does not relish the thought of violence, 
the violence which was the subject of this 
evening's discussion is clear evidence that the 
pigs and their masters are not going to give up 
without a fight. At this time, MIM is building 
public opinion and a vanguard party to the stage 
when armed struggle will be appropriate, but we do 
not have any illusions that the imperialists will 
turn over power peacefully.

In a discussion following the speaker's 
presentation, MIM and the speaker agreed that all 
prisoners are political prisoners, but got some 
disagreement from some audience members on this 
point. One audience member agreed that many 
prisoners are locked up for the wrong reasons but 
suggested that people who steal cars ought to be in 
prison. The speaker pointed out that the reason 
people steal cars in the first place is inseparable 
from the determination of whether they belong in 
prison or not. MIM agrees: it's not good enough to 
say that some crimes are just pointless when the 
government imposes poverty on people and deprives 
them of national self-determination.

Another audience member asked if there are any 
current examples of decent prison systems that MIM 
upholds. There are none, as there are no states 
that MIM currently upholds as socialist. But MIM 
did point out that China under Mao had a good 
prison system which promoted and carried out 
genuine reform of individuals and rehabilitated 
them. At an earlier event during Prisons Awareness 
Week, Allyn Rickett spoke about his own positive 
experiences inside a Maoist prison from 1950-54. 
See MIM Notes 112 for more on Rickett's talk.

Films MIM and RAIL showed later on during Prisons 
Awareness Week addressed prisons more directly as 
tools of political repression. We showed both *** 
The FBI's War on Black America *** and *** Attica 
***.

Both of these films document the reaction of the 
state to organization and struggles of the 
oppressed. MIM recommends these films to those who 
believe there is "free speech" in Amerika. For the 
oppressed, speech is silenced when it advocates 
self-determination or improvement in one's living 
conditions. For more information on state 
repression of the Black Panther Party and the 
American Indian Movement, see Agents of Repression, 
available from MIM for $18. Also, see the Under 
Lock and Key section of MIM Notes for current news 
written by prisoners about the inhumane conditions 
in Amerika's gulags.



* * *



STUDENTS PROTEST NEWSPAPER'S REFLECTION OF NATIONAL 
OPPRESSION



On April 2, 250 students and community members 
protested on the University of Michigan Ann Arbor 
Campus against the student newspaper the Michigan 
Daily. Protesters opposed "racism" at the Daily. In 
response, MIM emphasizes the need for independent 
media. This is the only way to get news printed 
from the view of the oppressed (who do not control 
the media, a University or its newspaper). MIM 
attacks national oppression at the root, calling 
for national liberation and an end to economic and 
political domination by the white nation, which 
makes manifestations of "racism" at the University 
level inevitable. 

The crowd gathered in front of the graduate library 
and then marched to the Student Publications 
Building. Protesters marched loudly through two 
main campus buildings on the way. Students yelled 
"RAZA SI, DAILY NO" and shook tin cans as they 
marched. The crowd then listened to a series of 
speakers outside the Student Publications building.

Spirits at the rally were high and people cheered 
as they listened to the speakers slam the Daily for 
its perpetual practice of silencing oppressed 
nationals and its most recent slander against the 
Latino/a student organization Alianza. On March 
27th 8,700 Daily's were taken from their 
distribution points and replaced with a cartoon 
which read, "The Daily has been canceled today due 
to Racism." On March 28th, the Daily printed a 
front page article which accused Alianza of 
stealing the copies of the Daily. The Daily had no 
evidence backing this charge, but printed the quote 
by an anonymous source anyway. 

Protesters brought up past incidents such as the 
Daily's coverage of the United People's Coalition 
candidacy for Michigan Student Assembly, coverage 
of an incident involving Trotskyist-led NWROC's 
campaign dealing with the "the Dental School Three" 
in January, and several other editorials and 
cartoons. The rally was sponsored by about 18 
different campus organizations.

MIM was happy to see a nationalist flavor to the 
rally, with people waving Salvadoran and Mexican 
flags. Others held signs which read "Who's the 
illegal immigrant pilgrim?" MIM is more interested 
in such nationalist organizing because we see the 
oppression of nation over nation as the principal 
contradiction in the world today. In order to get 
rid of "racism" there must be economic, political, 
and military power gained by the oppressed nations. 
Overlooking the material base for oppression while 
attacking only ideology will never bring about 
liberation for oppressed nations people.

Some speakers spoke of unity among oppressed 
nationals and progressive students as a way to 
change conditions for "students of color". However, 
speakers primarily targeted the Daily. One student 
linked the Ann Arbor campus incidents to police 
brutality on the Eastern Michigan University Campus 
(see stories in MIM Notes 108 and 110). They 
pointed out that oppressed nationals are targeted 
in numerous ways by campus affiliates such as the 
campus pigs.

Demands made at the rally included a public apology 
by the Daily and the implementation of an 
affirmative action program for hiring Daily staff 
members. As far as MIM knows, no action along these 
lines has been taken.

A unified line was the biggest thing lacking at the 
rally. Many of the speakers spoke of unity among 
the organizations and individuals involved. Yet the 
only unity MIM could find was in denouncing the 
Daily--even the college Republicans were part of 
the rally with a sign which said "Down with the 
Daily." The rally was organized by a number of 
student organizations, many of them oppressed 
national organizations. Other organizations 
included the Trotskyist-led Free Mumia Coalition 
and the Student Labor Action Coalition.

MIM makes it a point to have a clear line on all 
issues and to make sure people at our events know 
how a particular issue relates to our larger 
political analysis. For example, when MIM targets 
specific issues such as prisons, we know we can't 
reform away prison repression. But we will work for 
some small material gains for prisoners within a 
revolutionary context. This way we work for a 
specific goal within the context of recognizing the 
need to overthrow the entire system in order to 
bring about real change. MIM calls on the rally 
participants to recognize the need for national 
liberation and the need for a change in economic 
and political power.

MIM sees the Daily as a very limited target in the 
larger struggle to end national oppression. While 
changes in the paper might have a positive result, 
such a limited focus still ignores the larger 
oppressive social structure. MIM hopes that the 
rally against the Daily will inspire some students 
and organizations on campus to attack political 
issues on a more regular basis. 

The best way to beat bourgeois journalism is to 
publish an independent newspaper. MIM obviously 
cannot trust the bourgeois media to cover issues 
from the viewpoint of the oppressed. That is why we 
have our own newspaper. We invite other people to 
write to us with stories about national oppression, 
censorship, or other struggles. 


* * *


RAPE, SEX AND PATRIARCHY: MIM PRESENTATION



April 1, East Coast college--MIM and RAIL gave a 
presentation entitled "Rape, Sex and Patriarchy: 
The Feminist Struggle on College Campuses". The 
purpose of the presentation was to explain MIM's 
analysis of gender oppression and the best way 
forward for the struggle against patriarchy. 
College campuses are an especially important place 
to interject MIM's revolutionary feminist 
perspective, because on college campuses the 
struggle between feminism and pseudo-feminism for 
the political allegiances of many well-meaning 
people is quite fierce.

At the outset of the presentation, MIM and RAIL 
laid out our dialectical materialist approach and 
method. Principally, we recognize all politics, and 
specifically feminism and the movement to end 
patriarchy as a science requiring, a scientific 
approach that recognizes right from wrong, and the 
difference between bad approaches and better ones. 
Just as you can't call the theory that the Sun 
orbits around the Earth "physics" you can't call 
theories and practices that in practice--regardless 
of their stated intentions--work against the 
interests of the majority of the world's women 
"feminism."

The largest portion of the presentation was spent 
explaining how MIM calls all sex rape. While some 
sex is more coercive than others, it is essential 
to recognize the fundamental power differences that 
exist between men and women. These conditions of 
inequality make all relationships coercive. 
Actually ending patriarchy requires us to work to 
eliminate the basis for these power differences, 
and not merely organize to control, or contain, the 
"excessive" relations commonly called rape.

In addition, rape is often viewed subjectively, 
where it is a rape only if a woman says it is. Or 
statistics are sometimes gathered about the 
prevalence of "rape", where the women are not 
saying that they were raped, but are merely saying 
that certain things happened to them. It is then 
the researcher who decides what is rape and what is 
not. This is a perfectly valid way to conduct 
research, as long as one is honest about how the 
study was done, and how the researcher defines what 
is rape. But this can be misleading if we only look 
at the final number, and the not the definition--
and the politics behind that definition--that is 
being used.

To make MIM's point and produce a more interactive 
environment to explore what coercion is, we tried 
an exercise where various relationships were 
described. Earlier MIM had explained that we 
defined rape as coerced sex/sex that is not 
consented to. We handed out color coded cards, each 
person getting a Y for "Yes" and a N for "No" card, 
and the audience raised their cards to "vote" their 
opinions.

We first asked if people thought they knew what 
rape was, and almost everyone did. We asked if 
people thought that most people present agreed with 
what they thought rape was, and most people did. 
Our exercise shattered this second idea, and built 
considerable public opinion for a more scientific 
analysis of rape and relations between people in 
general.

The examples were things like slave women on 
plantations being told to sleep with the master; or 
slave women wanting to sleep with the master to get 
out of the fields and into the big house. The 
examples also included things like white couples 
where the man makes more money, or where the 
woman's relatively high standard of living is 
dependent on the man, or where the woman has been 
culturally trained to be submissive to her husband 
and not question his desires. Particularly 
controversial examples were those more intertwining 
with the eroticization of dominance and submission 
more familiar to college students: a college 
student with failing grades who is approached for 
sex from a professor, and a college student who 
finds her professor attractive.

Finally, we tried two non-gender related examples. 
Almost everyone agreed that a worker in a fish-
processing plant in a Third World country is 
exploited and oppressed. But when MIM described the 
scenario as the worker saying that she or he likes 
their job, about half people said the worker was 
not exploited or oppressed.

These last two gets to MIM's point most clearly: 
Oppression and exploitation are scientific terms 
describing things being taken because those with 
power are able to do so. The Third World worker 
says they like their job. It very well might be 
better to stand in cold water skinning fish 10 
hours a day or more; compared to what they used to 
do. What else has this worker known? Have they ever 
had the power to do what they want without fear of 
hunger, as the capitalists do? Is starvation much 
of a choice? Can the worker by her or himself 
"choose" at will one day to be the owner of the 
fish plant? Having to choose between two bad 
options isn't a lot of "freedom" to choose at all. 
Likewise, we can't say that just because some 
relationships are less coercive than others, that 
doesn't negate the coercive content of the "better" 
relationship.

The same can be said about the gender examples. In 
fact, the oppression of gender is even more 
concealed, as the patriarchy tries much harder than 
capitalism to get the oppressed to glorify and 
enjoy their own submission. People have come to 
eroticize and find sexy the power differences 
between genders. This varies from person to person 
and time to time, but in general too little power 
difference isn't considered erotic, and too much is 
called traumatic and "rape."

The point that we didn't get across as well as we 
would have liked is our position on reactionary 
politics vs. reformist politics vs. revolutionary 
politics. During the lecture MIM criticized many 
pseudo-feminist lines and actions, but we didn't do 
a good enough job of explaining the revolutionary 
alternative. We also failed to adequately explain 
to as many people as we would have liked how 
pseudo-feminism (especially the pro-police 
paternalist variety) is not merely a "reformist 
band-aid" as one woman incorrectly summed up MIM's 
position. Rather, we attempted to argue that such 
approaches set back the feminist struggle. At the 
next lecture on this topic, we will more carefully 
explain how reforms within the system are good, but 
that appealing to the cops to protect women doesn't 
do squat today, and sets back the day that 
patriarchy can be defeated.

Overall the presentation that we made on April 1 
was much better than the one made several months 
prior. Differences in audience as well as approach 
on the part of MIM and RAIL made the event a great 
success, interesting a number of people to study 
with MIM or take up work with RAIL, as well as 
earning us an invitation to expand the talk and 
bring it to a different campus. While we wouldn't 
call the presentation "perfect", the people 
involved learned a number of lessons on how to 
implement and explain MIM's gender line.


* * *


PSEUDO-FEMINISM RUNS RAMPANT ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES



Williamstown, MA--Williams College has retained a 
relatively active political profile. Student groups 
there are fighting for peace and justice and show 
some vague interest in feminism. But the university 
administration is co-opting student movements there 
with a veneer of political concern and a slick 
underlying conservatism. 

Like many colleges, Williams promotes so-called 
diversity and such social concerns with a seeming 
leftist bent, which politically astute students 
will recognize as tokenism. David Hilliard--a 
former Black Panther leader and stout admirer of 
Lenin, Stalin and Mao--is scheduled to speak at 
Williams.

Most so-called feminism on campuses like Williams 
is based in reactionary psychology and anti-crime-
police-supporting hysteria, encouraged and 
frequently funded by the campus administrations.


PSYCHOLOGY ATTACKS WOMEN; MIM ATTACKS PATRIARCHY


Posters from the university administration's Health 
Center and Psychological Counseling Services 
attempt to address women's concerns. One poster 
reads "don't weigh your self-esteem" and shows a 
foot on a scale. Another more oblique reference to 
anorexia is a larger poster that says, "So you're 
not perfect?" and goes on to ask who is perfect. 
This poster shows a woman standing with a crooked 
image of herself in a pool of water or a mirror 
below.

The Williams College administration is telling 
women that their problems are connected to their 
"self-esteem." Hence, as students bubble up in 
their social concerns, they are quickly told--by 
medical authorities no less--that it is 
inappropriate to be unhappy and instead they should 
adjust their psyches to oppressive social 
pressures. By contrast, MIM targets the patriarchy 
for anorexia and similar problems that pseudo-
feminist psychologists label as disorders of "self-
esteem."

MIM finds it especially problematic that in 
college--the one place in this society where people 
are expected to challenge their own thinking--young 
women are told to reject anything that would 
threaten their "self-esteem." This is the 
conservative agenda of the Williams College 
administration and college administrations in many 
places that would like to co-opt a potential 
revolutionary feminist movement. Instead of 
developing their thinking in the furnace of 
struggle, women are told to reject anything that 
damages their self-esteem. MIM believes that 
revolutionary feminists must toss "self-esteem" out 
the window. Given a choice between feeling good 
about ourselves and educating ourselves to become 
improved in every way, we say chuck the self-esteem 
every time. It's a bogus, smug and self-satisfied 
concept holding back the feminist movement.


BOURGEOIS POLITICS DOMINATE CAMPUS FEMINISM


MIM could find no evidence of a radical or 
revolutionary feminist perspective on Williams 
College campus; even though it is more political 
than most. In this sense, politics at Williams are 
typical--government-sponsored or administration-
sponsored co-optation substitutes for independent 
political action.

According to the Williams Record, Katie Koestner 
addressed "a near-capacity crowd" at Williams 
College on the subject of date rape. In the last 
two years, Koestner has spoken at over 200 colleges 
and high schools, appeared on "Oprah," "Larry King 
Live" and "Entertainment Tonight." Koestner is on 
the lecture circuit criticizing men and women in a 
way guaranteed to attract speaking invitations and 
not challenge the system.

The interest in Katie Koestner's case is on the 
level of a human-interest story and not at the 
level necessary to generate a movement. As human-
interest stories concerning sex generally go in 
this culture, the public becomes interested for 
much the same reasons it is interested in more 
straight-forward commercial pornography.

Most of the interview and article material in the 
Williams Record focuses on the details of 
Koestner's case and the credibility of her story or 
that of her ex-boyfriend. This is not surprising, 
because Koestner measures success based on the 
reaction of the criminal justice system. When asked 
what she has accomplished, she points with pride to 
a case of a woman who went to court after hearing 
her story in order to obtain a plea-bargained 
conviction. None of Koestner's accomplishments have 
anything to do with opposing patriarchy.

Devoid of a coherent political approach that could 
actually solve the problem, pseudo-feminism is part 
of the anti-crime hysteria in this country that has 
landed seven percent of Black men in prison. It is 
vague and irrational the same way fascism is always 
irrational, because it has no consistent tenets and 
cannot stand the light of day.


PSEUDO-FEMINISTS TRY TO DRAW LINE BETWEEN SEX AND 
RAPE


Clarkson University in New York is an excellent 
example of vagueness and irrationality of the 
fascist anti-crime movement. The Clarkson 
administration currently distributes its propaganda 
about sexual assault right along with its pamphlet 
titled "Working Together for a Safe Campus." In 
this pamphlet we learn that a large if not 100 
percent fraction of the sexually active population 
is eligible for conviction for a rape felony as 
quoting from New York State law: "A person is 
guilty of rape in the third degree when: 1. He or 
she engages in sexual intercourse with another 
person to whom the actor is not married who is 
incapable of consent by reason of some factor other 
than being less than seventeen years old." 
(Misdemeanor charges include spouses. More severe 
charges apply to rape of younger people.) 

According to the New York law and most others, it 
boils down to consent in connection to "some 
factor." The law is left open to include anything 
as a matter of consent. Most people agree it is 
impossible to "consent" to sex with a gun to one's 
head. However, the law also leaves open that any 
conditions (not just weapons) which one did not 
consent to in sexual interaction constitute rape. 
An example of non-consensual sex that any survey of 
social behavior will point to is when people lie to 
each other about the conditions under which they 
are having sex.

By definition, it is not possible to consent to a 
lie, so the people who tell each other they've been 
tested when they haven't, that they aren't seeing 
anyone else, etc. are guilty of rape.


THE FINE LINE IS NOT A LINE


The State University of New York at Plattsburgh is 
having a panel discussion called, "The Fine Line 
Between Sex and Rape." MIM likes this title because 
it probably offends old-fashioned thinkers who 
think rape is always as clear-cut as 1950s 
Hollywood movies would make it out. The same people 
are probably offended that the New York law is 
gender neutral and specifically mentions that women 
have the possibility of committing rape too.

But MIM also disagrees with the University of 
Plattsburgh. It's not a fine line; there is no line 
either in the law as quoted above in New York or in 
moral reality. The only reason that people attempt 
to draw this line is to oppress certain groups of 
people with their own narrow conceptions of sex and 
rape. For this reason, rape convicts come from 
poor, lower education and minority backgrounds. The 
laws and morals are written and propagated vaguely 
so as to allow the maximum discretionary power of 
the oppressive system to decide who should be 
labeled rapist and who should not. 



NOTE: Williams Record February 13, 1996. To find 
out more about MIM's line on gender and women's 
revolutionary potential, send $5 for a copy of the 
MIM Theory double issue on *** Gender and 
Revolutionary Feminism ***. MIM Theory issue 2/3 
addresses the myth of the Black rapist, date rape, 
consensual sex under patriarchy, and includes 
reviews of major feminist authors.



* * *


UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS


MIM NOTES CENSORED IN COLORADO


Dear MIM,

I thought you might like to know that your paper is 
being censored here at the Fremont Facility. They 
are censoring many types of materials, and are 
clamping down in several other areas. You can keep 
sending me the paper if you like as it takes a lot 
of their time up meeting about materials they feel 
are not in good taste or to their liking. Hopefully 
one will get in once in a while. Keep up the good 
work of bringing the message to the oppressed, we 
need alternatives in the struggle to survive.

--A Colorado prisoner, Jan. 26, 1996



DEPORTED MASSACHUSETTS PRISONER DIES IN TEXAS



Dear Comrades,

It makes my heart truly heavy to have to bring you 
the news of another of our brothers who was claimed 
by our injustice system.

This morning I received word that a fellow inmate 
who was forced to go to Texas died. Mr. Al Sullivan 
died in Parkland Memorial Hospital this morning 
from pneumonia, which was caused by the temperature 
inside our tanks. Mr. Sullivan had both AIDS and 
tuberculosis. He wasn't even supposed to be shipped 
to Dallas as all likely candidates were supposed 
not to have other outstanding medical or legal 
issues.

It could be surmised that had Mr. Sullivan remained 
in Massachusetts or been given access to his 
medication (AZT) which he received in 
Massachusetts, he would most likely be with us 
today.

My only solace in this is that he will suffer no 
more.

I did not know him well and therefore don't know if 
he had a family to mourn his passing. he will be 
missed by all he touched.

Brothers in struggle, 

--a Massachusetts prisoner in Texas, Feb. 18, 1996



America is a country behind bars



America is a country behind bars. 
Trying to number inmates is like trying to count 
stars. 
America the land of the free and the home of the 
brave. 
Or is it the land of the greed and home of the 
slave?



Whoever said that nothing is free, 
it's a cliche and it don't sit well with me, 
Just visit city hall, on any given day, 
you shall witness judges just giving time away.



Innocent until proven guilty is a game called lets 
make a deal. 
The District Attorneys lie, cheat and steal. 
The truth is no real factor. 
It's whose attorney is the greatest actor.



Legislators should fight poverty as it instigates 
crime.



There exists no freedom of speech, 
my mail is censored and my phone calls are 
screened, 
these guard dogs are downright mean.



Capital punishment stands for 'those without the 
capital receive the punishment'.



Politicians manipulating pawns for economic gains, 
the media programming children's brains. 
America has prison plantations across the land, 
Slave labor camp built to exploit any poor man.



I am the voice of the future, 
writing with the voices of the past, 
whatever we are going to do it must be done fast.



You have a responsibility to our nation, 
You have a duty to yourself. 
Women in prison, children in chains, 

The way I see it, only revolution remains.



Public Defenders or public pretenders. 
I wasn't arrested I was resurrected.



Can't you hear and see, 
It sounds like people are waking up to me. 
Just take a look around, 
You'll see the signs of a country falling down. 

...Now is the time to break your chains. 

Just one final option, armed resistance remains.



Respect yourself! Protect yourself! 
They only sell you things that destroy your health! 
Drugs are nothing but a handicap, 
just like prison, the perfect trap.



When teachers go on strike only the students 
suffer, 
So each one, teach one another. 
...Hear what I say, 
Four hundred years looking like yesterday.

--A Pennsylvania prisoner, Nov. 21, 1995



NO JUSTICE FROM THE "JUSTICE SYSTEM"



Dear Editor,

Today's mantra is, "get tough on crime." I read of 
it in the press and hear it on the radio. I would 
be amused by such a sweeping display of ignorance 
were it not for the massive toll in the quality of 
human life..., this easy answer to a complex 
problem will take on society. The fear and hate 
mongers of the politically correct right preach of 
a utopia which will flow from the implementation of 
stringent laws, harsher penalties, no parole and 
more and swifter capital punishment.

Does a child learn more from being beaten by a 
baseball bat than can be learned from a simple 
hickory switching? And is this truly a lesson that 
society wishes to impart?

I came to prison in 1981, mainly for the alleged 
robbery of $14.20 worth of Exxon unleaded gasoline. 
This being the most severe crime of which I was 
accused. In the course of the ensuing 13 years I 
have been stabbed 8 times, slightly disfigured by a 
calamitous application of a steel bar to the side 
of my head, lost an eye and my father all while, as 
the political expedient would have it, being 
coddled by a too benevolent prison system.

I have never done any human being physical harm, 
except in defense of my person. I have not 
murdered, raped, assaulted, nor maimed anyone and 
have only struck those who struck me. I am not a 
malicious person, nor the personification of evil 
that demagogic politicians portray me, the 
prisoner, to be. I am a brother, a son, an uncle 
and a nephew. I was a rambunctious, adventurous and 
undisciplined youth when tossed into Virginia's 
penal system. Today I am an embittered, scarred 
cynic.

What lesson has the bat wielder imparted? That 
there is no Justice to be had from the "justice 
system." That the good citizens of Virginia prefer 
to pounce on easy answers for fear of having to 
face hard truths in finding true answers to the 
complex problem of crime. That the life of a poor 
man in the state of Virginia has no more value than 
the amount of money politicians and bureaucrats can 
squeeze from the taxpayer and pocket for keeping 
that man in a cage. The lesson taught is reflected 
in the 70% recidivism rate which Virginia's prisons 
boast.

--a Virginia prisoner, Dec. 11,1995



WE WILL BE EQUAL ONE DAY



I am in the Texas prison system. I get shipped 
around a lot because I always try to get inmates 
together to see the fact that they're getting 
abused here in the Texas prison. We get good time 
for working, but if we get a disciplinary case they 
can take away our good time and it cannot be 
returned. There are a number of other injustices, 
but I don't know how to prove it all yet.

I am an African American. I am deeply into my race 
and I like to teach these young brothers who are 
hunting each other in here. Most don't know nothing 
about their race and they seem to hate themselves. 
We have these Crips (blue) and Bloods (red) and 
they are hunting and killing each other. There are 
a small number of us that are trying to get them to 
make a peace in prison.

We need all the information, that...we can use to 
help these young brothers before they get out and 
become nothing but brother-killers and drug 
dealers. I will appreciate any help that you can 
provide.

I also wish to become involved in a big movement 
that is dedicated to helping the Black struggle by 
any means necessary. Not the turn the other cheek 
way, because nobody ever turned the other cheek for 
us, they just keep slapping the cheek we offer. I 
am due to get out of prison in 1997, but that will 
only make me go harder and longer in my mission of 
teaching these young brothers about ways to help 
themselves. We will be equal one day!...

Sincerely, 

--a Texas prisoner, Dec. 6, 1995.



NOT GUILTY



I read the "Guilty: Black Amerika's verdict on the 
LAPD" in the MIM Notes

106, November 1995 issue. I was glad that O.J. 
Simpson was found "not guilty". I really don't 
think he committed these murders.

He's very lucky he's a rich man because if he 
didn't have the money to get a real good defense 
team, he probably would have went to prison. [O.J. 
was] unlike most of American people, black, white, 
green, or whatever color they are, who don't have 
the money for a good defense.

To find a good and honest attorney that will fight 
for you is like finding a needle in a giant 
haystack.

It doesn't matter if you're guilty of innocent, 
they are supposed to defend you. But they don't 
care, all they want to do is take your money and 
run. If you don't have any money, you're beat! 
These court-appointed attorneys are a joke. Most of 
them aren't even criminal attorneys and are lucky 
if they can put their pants on right in the 
morning.

If you are innocent of the crime(s) that you are 
convicted of and have no money, then you are SOL 
(Shit out of Luck) because nobody wants to get 
involved, especially if you don't have any green 
(money). Society doesn't want to get involved, but 
one day it might happen to them.

I am convicted of a crime that I didn't commit. 
I've been trying to find any groups or people that 
help falsely convicted prisoners. I sure hear about 
all these groups or people but everyone I write 
doesn't seem to know anything.

What it comes down to is, that nobody wants to get 
involved because 90 percent are guilty but the 
other 10 percent that are innocent will have to 
suffer.

 The people on the outside need to open their eyes 
before they become one of the 10 percent like me 
and a few others.

--a Kansas prisoner, Dec. 17, 1995.



MC49 responds:

The question of whether Amerika's prisoners and 
defendants are or are not guilty as charged is 
relatively unimportant, whether we are talking 
about Amerika's prisoners as a whole, or about 
individual defendants like O.J. Simpson. We find it 
worthwhile to publicize cases like Geronimo Ji-Jaga 
(Pratt)'s and Mumia Abu-Jamal's--cases in which it 
is abundantly clear that the accused are innocent. 
However, the first question which needs to be 
addressed is Amerika's fitness to judge. We say 
Amerika is the real criminal, the real mass 
murderer, the real mass rapist, the real thief, and 
the real number one enemy of the people. When we 
focus on the question of the guilt or innocence of 
those who commit relatively petty crimes, we play 
into the enemy's hands.


REPRESSION IS THE PRISON OFFICIALS' RESPONSE TO 
RISING AWARENESS



Revolutionary Greetings,

I am a politically conscious New Afrikan prisoner 
being held captive in one of Indiana's most racist 
and repressive concentration camps known as the 
"Indiana Youth Center." Don't be taken in by the 
name of this racist institution because it is truly 
not reflective of the degrading existence which is 
a never-ending reality for those being held captive 
there.

Currently I am being held isolated from prisoners 
in regular population and made a target of state 
repression because of my revolutionary ideals and 
my selective efforts to raise awareness and expose 
the atrocities to which we are being subjected on a 
daily basis at the hands of the administrative 
officials.

The cycle of violence, brutality, and degradation 
aimed at prisoners is not a new issue. However, 
what is changing is the administrative officials' 
justifications for these harsh and brutal tactics 
and the consequences we now have to suffer for 
exposing their injustices. As an organizer, I have 
worked with many revolutionary elements while I was 
held captive in several other repressive prisons in 
Indiana. We have been successful in establishing 
structures designed to generate a revolutionary 
consciousness and inspire progressive activity.

Now, because of the growing receptivity amongst the 
victims of this whole oppressive process, I have 
been targeted by administrative officials and these 
have been the results:

On November 1, 1995 after leaving a visit with a 
progressive advocate who works with prisoners to 
expose the harshness of prison existence and who 
also monitors and works to abolish control units, I 
was escorted by two prison guards to see 
investigators Collins and Novak where they soon 
questioned me about my prison activity and accused 
me of being a leader.

After refusing to answer their questions, I was 
handcuffed by the two prison guards present and 
informed that I was being locked up on 
administrative hold pending transfer to a more 
secure prison because I was a threat to the safety 
and security of their institution and that there 
exists a possible threat to my safety. However, 
when I challenged this and demanded that they 
produce some evidence of me being a threat to the 
safety and security of their institution and 
further demanded to see evidence of an alleged 
threat to my safety, the administration refused to 
respond and has not produced anything to support 
either claim.

Then on November 2, 1995 while on lock-up pending 
this transfer, the two investigators Collins and 
Novak went through my personal property and 
confiscated approximately 40-50 books dealing with 
Afrikan history, politics, and the establishment of 
New Afrikan revolutionary movements. No initial 
justification was given for seizing this property 
and when I requested to send it home, I was told 
that it was sent to their Central Office for 
careful review. Since then, investigators Collins 
and Novak have stopped my incoming and outgoing 
mail and have confiscated several books sent in to 
me through the mail as subversive material. And 
this cycle of harassment continues today. I am 
seeking the support of all who read this article 
and am requesting that you write letters of protest 
to the below-listed people and demand an end to 
this blatant harassment and demand that I be given 
back my books and returned to population. Write to:

Christopher Meloy, Superintendent of I.Y.C., 727 
Moon Road, Plainfield, IN 46168

Christian DeBruyn, Commissioners Office, 302 W. 
Washington, Room E334, Indianapolis, IN 46204

If we are going to be successful in overcoming a 
lot of the obstacles which we are constantly 
confronted with, we are going to have to start 
forming united fronts and establish bases of 
support through which we can collectively support 
each other and combat enemy aggression.

Moving forward!

--an Indiana prisoner, Dec. 7, 1995



PENNSYLVANIA PRISON DECLARES WAR ON LITERACY



Greetings to all my comrades in the struggle for 
change....I was kidnapped eight years ago. I am 
currently being held hostage in Camp Hill Prison. 
This prison has declared war on literacy. They want 
their slaves deaf, dumb and blind.

All inmates who receive a misconduct report and go 
into disciplinary custody are compelled to send all 
of their books home with the exception of ten. If 
they refuse, then [the books] are destroyed. They 
make you send home religious books and legal books 
alike.

If this don't beat it all, you can't take a book of 
any kind or a newspaper into the yard at any time.

Before getting into any kind of vocation program 
you must be staffed and then rejected. You must be 
staffed for any jobs that you apply for, and Blacks 
are given only menial employment....

--a Pennsylvania prisoner, Dec. 24, 1995



FLORIDA PRISONER SHARES VICTORIES AND DEFEATS



Dear Comrades,

...The struggle continues here, and although the 
victories are few and far between we do 
occasionally triumph over the fascist 
administration.

Our latest victory is being able to have two 
blankets. This may not seem like much, especially 
in Florida. But when the outside temperature dips 
down into the 20's and 30's, and with no heat in 
the building where we are housed, it does get a bit 
chilly. Can't say how and why it was done exactly, 
but after last year's one blanket policy it was a 
welcomed relief when they came around and passed 
out extra blankets.

Another bit of news happened early this month (Dec. 
1995). Several Muslim brothers living on the same 
wing would express their faith outside when they 
went to the exercise yard. This was done in the 
form of group prayer, after which they would affirm 
their brotherhood by hugging each other.

This went on for about a month, at which time the 
fascist administration promptly put an end to it. 
They moved several of them to other wings and put 
them on yard restriction. The reason for this? 
Unauthorized contact. The hugging was deemed as 
unauthorized contact between prisoners.

At first the administration tried to reason with 
the Muslims, well more like using fascist logic, 
"Stop doing it or else." Of course some actually 
did, but the majority refused and that led to their 
being moved and the yard restriction.

There are a number who are fighting it, so the 
struggle goes on.

We finally received some actual law books in our 
law library, they were donated by some attorney, 
won't tell me who though. Of course we can't use 
them, can't even touch them, so it's all just for 
show. This unit has been opened for years, and 
still we haven't an adequate law library. They 
claim it's due to our special security needs, being 
death row and all. Any excuse to oppress us even 
more.

That's it for now, finally got some stamps in so I 
can catch up on correspondence. The Florida DOC 
only allows one free letter a month for us without 
funds. I'll write again when I can. Keep the faith.

--a Florida prisoner on death row, Dec. 28, 1995



"UNDER INVESTIGATION" MEANS UNLIMITED TIME IN AD-
SEG



Dear MIM,

...I am a new subscriber to your organization, and 
I'm well aware of the responsibility to keep a 
monthly commentary to insure that we are receiving 
your paper. But before I could respond back, the 
opposition jumped reactionary, after several 
measures and incidents had taken place on these 
campgrounds. After being questioned about the 
incidents, I was among a few soldiers who were 
eventually placed in ad-segregation.

Since everything has erupted, no violations have 
been written on me. According to their practicing 
policy, I'm under "investigation", which is a 
tactic which allows them to keep one detained. I've 
recently been informed that the "investigation" 
comes from my refusal to participate in their 
mocked up scheme to take a lie detector or PSE 
test.

But just as Comrade George Jackson once said, "If 
my enemies prove stronger than I, they'll never 
count me among the broken men." The institution has 
just recently come off a temporary seven-day 
lockdown.

Be in fact to know, that I would like to remain on 
your mailing list for MIM newspapers. For us the 
struggle continues!

--a Maryland prisoner, Jan. 11, 1995



VICTIM OF PHONY WAR ON DRUGS



MIM,

Hello, I recently read one of your newspapers and I 
was really impressed. Now I'd like to know if you 
could please add me to your mailing list?

I'd also like to know what type of articles do you 
print? I am doing two 45-year sentences on a drug 
charge. I am a victim of the phony war on drugs. I 
sold nothing and possessed nothing.

Only one informant or snitch who got busted selling 
an ounce of cocaine on two separate incidents and 
in return for his charge to be "dropped", he told 
the police that he got his drugs from me. So here I 
am in prison doing 90 years, two 45 year sentences, 
all on a lying snitch's word to save his own ass 
from going "back" to prison.

My case involves a lot of racism also. I am a 
Native American Apache Indian, tan skin, waist long 
hair,...and my woman "was" a...white woman. I got 
my charge in a "very" small, short haired farmer 
town, mostly all white folks.

The prosecutor called me a Nigger, so did my own 
court appointed local racist lawyer. They told my 
woman she was white trash and would stay in "their 
jail" as long as she was my woman. She abandoned me 
and cut off all contact and they dropped her 
charges. She was charged with the same as I was, 
"dealing in cocaine", because the snitch said he 
got his drugs from me and my woman.

...I need legal help. I have two babies and I got 7 
years down. They are back in Florida with their 
mother. I haven't seen or heard from her since 
1990....Thank you for your time.

--an Indiana prisoner, Jan. 12, 1996



* * *


OCCUPIED IRELAND: ANALYSIS



Dublin, IRELAND--In the aftermath of the Irish 
Republican Army (IRA) cease-fire on the 31st of 
August, 1994, Ulster television was awash with 
propaganda advertising peace on British terms, but 
now the tone of pro-British television propaganda 
has become even more patronizing if that is 
possible. [This written before the latest bomb 
blasts attributed to the IRA in London. --ed.]

In 1994, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was 
using television to ask for help finding lost 
children and to call on the population of the six 
counties to "help the police keep the peace." There 
is no mention of the fact that the colony's police 
force continues to be unacceptable in Nationalist 
areas.

In recent months, the message has become more 
patronizing. Under the slogan, "wouldn't it be 
great if it was like this all the time," children 
from the Protestant and Catholic communities come 
together, untainted by sectarianism. The message is 
simple and cliched: children untainted by the 
illogical antipathy between the Protestant and 
Catholic communities can interact like human 
beings. No mention is made of social conditions, 
the fact that one community is victimized and 
oppressed by British Imperialism, while the other 
is tied to and maintained by it.

The language of "new times," is familiar in the era 
of the "New World Order," holding out few prospects 
for genuine change or the removal of the material 
roots of conflict in the occupied six counties. 
Counter- revolutionary pacifism has continually 
claimed that the IRA and the smaller Irish National 
Liberation Army (INLA) are obstacles to peace in 
Ireland. This effectively denies the right of the 
oppressed to rise up in rebellion.(3)


STATE PEACENIKS ATTEMPT TO LIQUIDATE NATIONALISM


The anti-imperialist struggle in Ireland, like many 
such conflicts, has experienced much in the way of 
state-backed peace movements. Most notable of these 
are the Peace People, the Peace Train and the 
Associated Families against Intimidation and Terror 
(FAIT) organizations. These Britain-funded 
organizations have for years put pressure on the 
Republican movement, creating considerable 
propaganda for the imperialists and their cohorts.

First on the scene were the "Peace People." This 
organization was established in 1976. Its founder 
members Mairead Corrigan and Betty Williams 
launched the group when three children were run 
down and killed in West Belfast by a gunman's 
getaway car, a traffic accident blamed on the Anti-
Imperialist War. Corrigan, the children's aunty, 
later married the children's father when their 
mother (her sister) committed suicide in 1981. Her 
suicide was blamed on the loss of her children and 
the "continuing violence." Carried by an emotional 
tide, the Peace People gained huge support with 
rallies in Belfast and Dublin. Both Corrigan and 
Williams jointly received the 1976 Nobel Peace 
Prize.

Gradually the Peace People changed their focus from 
mass rallies to peace related projects within the 
six-counties communities. In spite of their non-
controversial approach to politics, their funding 
dwindled and eventually the movement broke up in 
1982. Corrigan continued to oppose all war, whether 
just or unjust, becoming active in the campaign 
against the Gulf War in 1991. Betty Williams moved 
to the united states, using her share of the Nobel 
to have her teeth straightened among other things, 
eventually becoming a born-again Christian. They 
were typical of the discredited and corrupt Peace 
People organization.


PEACE TRAIN DECLARES PEACE, BUT WHAT ABOUT JUSTICE?


On the 14th of October, 1995, the so-called Peace 
Train pulled out of Dublin's Connolly station on 
its last trip to Belfast. Its organizers declared 
its work, effectively organizing rallies in Belfast 
against Republicanism, to be complete. The Peace 
Train arose in 1987 to counter the IRA bombings and 
bomb threats aimed at disrupting the Dublin to 
Belfast Railway line. The Peace Train was founded 
by Chris Hudson, a trade union official and former 
member of the Democratic Socialist Party, a pro-
unionist 26 County organization that merged with 
the Labour Party in 1990. As MIM has pointed out, 
the labor bureaucracy and labor aristocracy plays a 
treacherous role in backing imperialism and so we 
should not be surprised that anti-Republican forces 
fronting for British imperialism come from the 
better-paid anti-Republican workers and their 
political and trade union representatives.

With its support coming largely from the Workers 
Party/Democratic Left, the Peace Train was an anti-
Republican pseudo-pacifist movement. It claimed 
impartiality but ignored injustices carried out by 
the forces of the British Imperialist state. The 
arrests, harassment, torture and brutality of the 
RUC, the British army and the activities of the 
Loyalist death squads were not of prime concern. 
The IRA cease-fire removed the reasons for the 
Peace Train's existence, and unwilling to tackle 
the issue of Imperialist Aggression, the 
organization folded. Sinn Fein was to remark: "Now 
that these false peace campaigners are basking in 
their success, perhaps it is time for people 
interested in building a real peace to consider 
forming a 'justice' train, supported by those 
people interested in securing real democracy and 
civil rights, an end to repressive legislation, 
demilitarization, disbandment of the RUC and 
release of prisoners.(1)


FAIT--BEATING THE IMPERIALIST DRUM


The FAIT organization shares the Peace Train's 
agenda. The unacceptability of the RUC in the 
Republican areas ensured a policing vacuum to be 
filled by either the IRA or the INLA. The 
Republican guerrillas dealt with anti-social 
activity. In the case of serious crimes, offenders 
would be beaten, exiled, kneecapped, etc. Informers 
were most often executed.

It became FAIT's function to discredit this form of 
community policing. Allegations of gangster justice 
and "mob-rule" were among the slanders in FAIT's 
propaganda machine. FAIT has become a regular 
fixture, standing outside public meetings attended 
by Sinn Fein and providing a side-show for the 
British and 26 Counties media. Among their venues 
to date were the Sinn Fein Red-Fheis (Party 
Conference) and Dublin Airport to greet Gerry Adams 
on his return from the united states, all in front 
of the cameras. 

FAIT specializes in producing supposed IRA 
punishment beatings victims and informers' 
relatives to add spectacle to their reactionary 
demonstrations. In recent months, they have added 
to their campaign the demand that the Republican 
movement should allow the return to Ireland of 
exiled criminals and traitors. Furthermore, FAIT 
has demanded the return to their families of the 
corpses of executed informers for "decent burial." 
From a Republican point of view, such respect is 
not deserved. A pale blue ribbon, similar to the 
red AIDS ribbon, pinned to the lapel, has become 
the symbol of this latest reactionary campaign. A 
writer in "Red Action" tells us of "The old Irish 
adage that if you walk down the street banging your 
drum loud enough, a bunch of fools is bound to fall 
in behind you." With British funding and a few 
shrewd people to lead them, then these fools can 
become a dangerous addition to the equation, as 
FAIT's masters know.(2)


NOTES:

1. An Phoblacht/Republican News October 19, 1995. 
2. Red Action, Issue 71 Summer, 1995. 
3. For more history of the Irish Republican 
movement, send $5 to MIM for a copy of MIM Theory 
issue no. 7, "Proletarian feminist revolutionary 
nationalism: on the Communist road".


* * *


D.C. PIGS UNLEASH HELL ON INMATES


Guards at the Washington, D.C. jail, who have long 
wanted to bring a "supermax" unit to the jail, 
imposed a low-budget version in February, locking 
some 50 prisoners in a dungeon with no heat, 
lights, or reliable water supply, according to a 
court-appointed monitor who saw the unit. Prisoners 
in the unit were denied showers, toothbrushes, and 
proper clothing, and they were forced to eat with 
their hands in cells that were deliberately 
contaminated with feces.

One juvenile inmate in the unit was allowed to 
clean the feces of the bars and walls of the cell 
with a piece of steel wool--and then denied a 
shower or change of clothes. Another was "tied 
naked to his bunk for 12 hours." Several inmates 
have serious injuries apparently inflicted by 
guards, including broken ribs. Although the jail 
was well stocked, none of the inmates had tooth 
paste or soap.

The dungeon unit was supposedly imposed in response 
to an attack on guards by prisoners in February, 
although officials denied it was being used 
punitively. The unit was used for at least a month. 
MIM has a hard time imagining any purpose other 
than a "punitive" one for such treatment. 

This torture is consistent with control units in 
better-funded prisons, just less sophisticated. 
Prison officials are upset because the torture 
units they prefer are brightly lit (or completely 
dark) and squeaky-clean (or at least cleanable when 
necessary). The methods here were different and 
dramatically inhumane in a way that--even if it 
thrills the fascist anti-crime mob--creates 
consciousness and resistance among the oppressed 
and progressives.

This incident is the low-budget version of the 
fascist police state that results from the bankrupt 
D.C. government's attempt to keep up with the 
latest in repressive techniques.

The Corrections director, Margaret Moore, claimed 
not to know about the dungeon unit, which was so 
bad that the court monitor has urged a face-saving 
investigation. MIM doesn't care if the Director 
knew about it or not. Amerikan jails and prisons 
repress the poor in the name of making the world 
safe for bourgeois democracy. In this case, it 
doesn't matter if Moore acted deliberately or 
negligently. Moore's leadership style is 
unimportant in the eyes of the people, who find her 
guilty of running a fascist system based on 
repression and oppression.



NOTE: Washington Post March 28, 1996. p. A1.


* * *


PRISON CONDITIONS DRIVE PEOPLE CRAZY



Arrogant patriots in the united states think 
everything is so great that it's virtually the easy 
life to be put in prison, and they wish prison 
conditions were harder. Yet prisoners keep 
volunteering for execution. MIM sees this as tragic 
evidence of the gross degeneracy of Amerikan 
society. We all know Amerika treats life cheaply; 
now we also know that Amerika's best-accepted 
solution to social problems is driving people to 
suicide.

In New Hampshire, a prisoner who has served 7 years 
of a 22-year term has "repeatedly petitioned 
Hillsborough County Superior Court to be put to 
death by lethal injection." He cannot get his wish 
because he did not commit a capital crime.



NOTE: Boston Globe April 8, 1996, p. 20.


* * *


M-L-M ONLINE



SUPPORT FOR THE REVOLUTION IN THE PHILIPPINES


MIM and the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League 
are organizing an educational campaign across the 
continent in support of the revolution in the 
Philippines. The following exchange from Usenet 
underscores the importance of this campaign, as 
self-proclaimed ex-progressives see fit to abandon 
internationalism for cynicism. In response to a 
call for solidarity with the Filipino people posted 
to the Internet by a progressive ally of the 
struggle, a reactionary critic wrote (ellipses were 
in the original message):

"The hell with that ... yours is an old propaganda 
during the '60s. I was there and were involved. I 
was young ... I conducted teach-ins in small 
barrios, paraded along Avenida Rizal, etc ... but 
as I look back ... it was stupid.

"And now you guys are doing the same shit again. I 
bet you guys are [a] bunch of punks who've been 
reading some old doctrines of yester-years. This is 
the 20th century and there are better ways to 
accomplish things than embracing 'anti-imperialist' 
crap.

"The current regime as what you people are saying 
is doing the same shit like the Marcos' did ... 
then why are you people doing the same chaotic and 
unappealing strategies of the same era?"


"Peace!"


Since the Internet is an international forum with 
many readers who are potential supporters of the 
Filipino people, MIM responded to this attack. We 
wrote:

"It is typical of the old, the lazy, and the 
conservative, to brush off the progressive actions 
of youth (though we have no idea if you were ever 
really a progressive, so this is taking your word 
for it) with such dismissive comments. Fortunately 
for the world, young revolutionaries (and any 
revolutionaries who make it out of youth intact) 
can see through this and know it is making 
justifications for inaction or active support for 
the oppressive status quo.

"Perhaps you would suggest embracing imperialist 
"crap"? If you've got a way to end imperialist 
oppression without using the word "anti- 
imperialist," please enlighten us! But people who 
are truly concerned with ending oppression know 
that national liberation struggles led by communist 
parties, such as we see in the Philippines, are the 
best way yet found!

"Sorry to inject anything 'chaotic' or 
'unappealing' here. If these are the worst things 
about revolutionary war, we need only compare it to 
imperialist oppression -- which is genocidal -- and 
see that the choice is an easy one.

"You say 'Peace!' but you mean to leave the current 
World War III unjoined. The oppressed have no such 
luxury!


"People's War!"


And indeed, an anti-capitalist friend then wrote to 
us in response to this Usenet post, asking if 
violence was the best or only way to end 
oppression.

"I think capitalism is a cruel and bloody beast," 
s/he wrote, "and all the oppressions have to end, 
but are you sure that violent fight is the right 
answer? The shortest path, the right one? I see 
endless wars all around the world, started thinking 
to a 'blitzkrieg.' Where oppressed have been more 
and more oppressed, no liberation and no more hope 
of liberation. And I know of won revolutions where 
revolution forces have became the oppressors of 
those same oppressed they previously wanted to 
liberate (and I think China revolution is one of 
those). So are you really sure that war is the only 
path you can walk?"

MIM replied by explaining the violent conditions to 
which Filipinos are subjected by imperialism, and 
the unparalleled historic successes of Peoples War 
as a strategy for ending oppression. In addition to 
vicious repression by combined imperialist and 
comprador-backed armed forces for participating in 
anti-imperialist, anti-feudal organizations such as 
the New People's Army (NPA) of the National 
Democratic Front (NDF), Filipino workers and 
peasants toil under severe economic oppression. A 
largely landless population works for 
superexploitation wages for export crops owned by 
absentee landlords and multinational corporations. 
"Seventy-five percent of the population lives below 
the (government-determined) poverty line; 40% 
cannot afford to eat three meals a day, and 78% of 
children below school age suffer from 
malnutrition."(1)

Given this already very violent situation, Maoists 
are looking for the best way to achieve liberation. 
As the NDF explained in its resolution regarding 
peace talks, "The Filipino people's just response 
and solution to this extreme exploitation and 
oppression is the people's democratic revolution. 
Counterrevolutionary violence is justly answered 
with the people's revolutionary violence."(2)

What is the people's revolutionary violence? The 
violence of the imperialists destroys the people in 
the service of a dying economic order. A Peoples 
War, such as the one being fought in the 
Philippines, incorporates the building of new 
institutions of the oppressed in its struggle for a 
new society. By carrying out land reform and 
defending peasants against retaliation from 
landlords, by providing desperately needed health 
care in rural areas, the NDF incorporates the broad 
masses of oppressed into the struggle for political 
power, and as such provides the best chance of 
liberation, after which the people will not simply 
face a new (neo-colonial) oppressor.

The Chinese revolution remains the best model we 
have for this. MIM maintains that China was 
socialist until Mao's death in 1976, and the 
overthrow of the so-called Gang of Four, when a new 
bourgeoisie within the communist party itself took 
power. Under the state capitalist regime in China, 
the writer is quite right that the people are 
oppressed by people claiming to be their 
liberators. But MIM believes that the gains of 
Liberation in China (1949-1976) remain unmatched in 
terms of health care, life expectancy, literacy, 
the liberation of women, and the participation of 
the broad masses of people in genuine political 
power. That Maoism was eventually overthrown in 
China makes the revolutionary forces more, not 
less, resolute in our support for the People's War 
in the Philippines. And unlike the first Usenet 
writer we responded to, the fact that the Ramos 
regime is as murderous as Marcos' and Aquino's does 
not make us cynical about the people's struggle. 
Thanks for writing.



NOTES: 

1. MIM, "New People's Army Fights U.S. 
Imperialism." in Support the National Democratic 
Front of the Philippines, a pamphlet by the 
Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League, p. 3. Order 
a bundle of these papers to distribute in your 
area. 
2. "NDF on Peace Talks" Ibid, p. 2.



PHONY MAOISTS ON INTERNET FIND THEIR TRUE HOME


The strike by the imperialist mouthpieces working 
on Detroit newspapers continues. As MIM has 
reported previously, they now have phony Maoist 
defenders on the Internet.

Fortunately for all involved, they have settled 
onto a list called "The Marxism List." 
(gopher://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/pub/ 
pubs/listservs/spoons) On that list are many former 
communists, Trotskyists, social-democrats and 
ordinary anti-communists. The conference is 
organized by some anarchists and libertarians, who 
for more than six months have advertised the 
"Marxism List" as a place to talk about Ayn Rand 
and libertarianism.

On September 22, 1995, a participant of the 
"Marxism List" who had been echoed in his attacks 
on MIM said, "They do raise a question for MIM, I 
would think. Since most of the strikers battling 
the cops and capitalists seem to be white, does 
that mean their strike is not to be supported? 
Especially since (as I read elsewhere) that the 
owners have brought in Mexicans as scabs."

It was only MIM that pointed out on the list that 
that is where the line on white workers as 
exploited leads--to attacks on foreign workers. So 
lacking in basic internationalism are the 
participants on the "Marxism List" that only MIM 
rebutted this trash about Mexican scabs. Three days 
later the person making the comment retracted it as 
factually inaccurate. The Mexican scab rumor was 
not only politically wrong: it was not based in any 
factual reality. It was simply based in the reflex 
reaction of the white working class to jump up and 
attack workers who are genuine proletarians.

As MIM pointed out, some conflicts within the 
capitalist class are much more severe than anything 
that happened in Detroit or elsewhere in recent 
years. The reason for that is that the bought-off 
white workers share a common interest with the 
imperialists in dividing up the surplus-value 
extracted from the oppressed nation workers. Hence, 
these bought-off workers rarely attack the 
imperialists very hard.

The phony Maoists are attacking MIM as "scum" and 
other cursewords revealing of their bankruptcy in 
the realm of actual political argument. They 
denounce MIM at the top of their lungs so they can 
recruit the labor bureaucrats and other 
spokespeople for the labor aristocracy seeking to 
bash the Mexican workers. Such a movement has no 
long-run future, because nothing can survive being 
on the wrong side of history and against the march 
of progress of the Third World proletariat. 



* * *


PHILIPPINES FILM SHOWING SPARKS DISCUSSION OF CPP 
RECTIFICATION, PEOPLE'S WAR



Following MIM and RAIL's showing of the documentary 
film *** A Rustling of Leaves: Inside the 
Philippine Revolution *** on the University of 
Michigan Ann Arbor campus during the first week of 
April, half the audience stayed for a lively 
discussion of the theoretical issues behind 
guerrilla war. *** A Rustling of Leaves *** has 
some serious flaws in that it fails to directly 
address communism. Even while the film focuses on 
the New People's Army (NPA), which is led by the 
Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), a fascist 
radio commentator tells the audience that the CPP 
is Marxist-Leninist while the film maker is silent 
on this question.

The film's opportunism is compounded by the 
ideological confusion within the CPP at the time. 
Some party members began to espouse a 
capitulationist line similar to that of Dante 
Buscayno, a People's Party candidate for Senate who 
says in the film that "armed struggle must be 
secondary to the legal struggle." Other party 
members advocated that the armed struggle move from 
the countryside into the cities before the time was 
ripe. Because of this "left"-opportunist line, 
political work among the masses was neglected and 
the NPA suffered many military defeats.

MIM shows *** A Rustling of Leaves *** as a good 
overview of the political situation in the 
Philippines. The film includes interviews with 
activists from the fascist paramilitaries to the 
legal left to the Communists, and explains the 
connection between the Filipino and Amerikan 
governments and the dangers of organizing above 
ground for social change in the Philippines because 
of government and government-sponsored terrorism. 
This film is also a good starting point for talking 
about changes made in the CPP's and NPA's work 
since the rectification campaign.


THE PARTY AND THE MASSES


One audience member opened the discussion asking 
about the level of support for the New People's 
Army and Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) 
among the Filipino people. The CPP leads a large 
United Front called the National Democratic Front 
(NDF), which includes many organizations. In 1992 
the CPP successfully launched a rectification 
movement which has emphasized the need for strong 
ideological foundations in the Party. This campaign 
to sum up past mistakes and correct them has helped 
the revolution to recover in 1993-94 from its 
retreat during 1988 through 1991. 

According to Liberation International, the news 
magazine of the NDF, since 1993 the NPA 'has made 
advances in almost all areas of work and in every 
province in the region. The advances have been 
achieved through consolidating the mass base of the 
armed revolution. "One particular achievement we 
gained was the consolidation of the NPA as a force 
that can be depended upon to do direct mass work. 
This is an important development in regard to the 
rectification of the pass error of 'freeing the 
army from mass work.'"

One example of the success of the rectification 
campaign is in the area of Mindanao. In this 
province, the NPA made military adventurist 
mistakes. Now the CPP emphasizes the need to 
support indigenous people of the Philippines and 
has won the support of the people in the area. *** 
A Rustling of Leaves *** shows an example of 
military adventurism in the Sparrows, an urban 
military group which the Armed Forces of the 
Philippines (AFP) destroyed by rounding up all the 
young men in Manila. Today in urban areas, the 
legal democratic mass movement is progressing and 
mass protests are intensifying. "These take up the 
basic issues against imperialism, feudalism and 
bureaucratic capitalism and the specific policies 
that aggravate the oppression and exploitation of 
the people." These legal democratic actions are 
helping to build the base from which revolutionary 
offensives can be launched, because the emphasis is 
on strong revolutionary foundations in study and 
rectification.


REVOLUTIONARY SUCCESS DEPENDS ON THE WILL OF THE 
PEOPLE


One audience member said that guerrilla war could 
not be successful because it will be squashed; this 
person argued that Amerika might intervene if the 
revolution is successful and that would prevent it 
from advancing forward. MIM pointed out that 
Amerika is already heavily involved in the 
Philippines. But this intervention does not 
sentence the People's War to failure. As the 
Filipino guerrillas develop the foundations of the 
mass base and create a new society to replace the 
old, MIM is working within U.S. borders to oppose 
U.S. military intervention.

In the film *** Kasamas ***, which MIM showed the 
following week, one NDF comrade is quoted as saying 
that she is not afraid of Amerikan military 
intervention because she knows the revolution has 
the force of the people behind it. This comrade 
pointed out that the only way the imperialists can 
surmount the force of the people would be to use 
nuclear weapons, which could annihilate the entire 
Filipino people. But short of killing all the 
people, there is no way the imperialists can win.

Another member of the audience maintained that the 
only way that the war would be successful is if 
there were other revolutionary movements developing 
as well. So that they can work with the 
revolutionaries in the Philippines to sustain a 
victory. While MIM agrees that it is every 
revolutionary's responsibility to do Maoist work in 
their own area, we also believe in revolutionary 
self-reliance. From history we know that a 
revolution can be successful in one country if it 
correctly applies the principles of Marxism-
Leninism-Maoism.

The CPP and NDF rectification campaign teaches us 
that it is possible for a party to conduct thorough 
criticism during the course of revolution, rectify 
its mistakes and rededicate itself to the 
principles of revolution on that basis. 



NOTE: Liberation International Nov- Dec 1995.



* * *


POT-SMOKING DECADENCE IN MICHIGAN



On April 6th, the 25th annual Hash Bash took place 
in Ann Arbor, MI. An estimated 5,000 people got 
together on the University of Michigan campus to 
smoke pot and hang out outside. There were a few 
speakers in the early afternoon who spoke on behalf 
of legalizing marijuana, but MIM couldn't hear them 
over the thousands of people milling around. MIM 
does not oppose the legalization of marijuana but 
holds that focusing on such an inconsequential 
piece of law when there are masses in the Third 
World dying at the hands of U.S. imperialism is the 
height of decadent bourgeois society.

The one positive thing MIM can say is that many 
people at the rally were interested in reading MIM 
Notes. Most were not interested in hearing about 
our politics in depth. But that's O.K. when they 
are willing to pay for the paper. We don't mind 
accepting donations from people who are only 
vaguely interested in our politics, as this gives 
us more resources with which to reach people who 
are genuinely and enthusiastically interested. MIM 
was told by the campus pigs that they would 
confiscate our stuff if they saw us selling T-
shirts (apparently this is illegal on campus 
grounds). The newspapers we could get away with 
though because they are marked "Free." MIM needs 
financial support for its work and an event like 
this helps us in that realm. And if some people 
read the paper and want to learn more and get 
involved, even better!

There were a few people MIM met who were genuinely 
interested and wanted to hear what MIM had to say, 
including one person who was familiar with MIM and 
liked our coverage of First Nations issues. It is 
great to get positive feedback on MIM Notes, but 
feedback of any sort is useful. So write MIM and 
tell us what you think of our work! 

CORRECTION:

MIM Notes 111, April 1, 1996 ran an article 
explaining that MIM is discontinuing work on the 
revolution in Peru for now out of respect for 
possible differences between MIM and the Communist 
Party of Peru. In this article we stated that "we 
have to answer to someone in our work on Peru, 
because we oppose the line that comrades outside 
Peru can be coming up with definitive lines on 
conditions in Peru that Maoists there have already 
analyzed with the science of Marxism-Leninism-
Maoism." In the following issue of MIM Notes, Notas 
del MIM ran an article about the Communist Party of 
Peru. We apologize to our comrades in Peru and to 
Peruvian revolutionaries abroad for running this 
article. It was a technical error and by no means a 
change in our line to not attempt to lead the 
Peruvian revolution from abroad.