I N T E R N E T ' S M A O I S T BI-M O N T H L Y = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = XX XX XXX XX XX X X XXX XXX XXX XXX X X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X V X X X V X X X X X X X XX XXX X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X XXX X X X V XXX X XXX XXX = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT MIM Notes 127 DECEMBER 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. IN THIS ISSUE: 1. CELEBRATE THANKSGIVING: EXPOSE THE GENOCIDE 2. FASCIST U.S.-RAMOS REGIME PREPARES FOR APEC SUMMIT'S ARRIVAL 3. LETTERS 4. JURY OF HIS PEERS ACQUITS WHITE MURDERER 5. STATE GIVES IMMUNITY TO POLICE BATTERERS 6. MEXICO STEPS UP ATTACKS AGAINST THE PEOPLE 7. MLM ONLINE: MIM LEAVES NY TRANSFER NEWS COLLECTIVE 8. AMERIKAN ELECTIONS PROVE THEMSELVES A WASTE 9. MIM AND RAIL ANTI-ELECTIONS EVENTS BUILD ANTI- IMPERIALIST MOVEMENT 10. ELECTIONS DEBATE AT A OBERLIN COLLEGE 11. INDIAN FEMINISTS SHOCK "MISS WORLD" ORGANIZERS WITH THEIR PROTEST 12. AMERIKAN ARMY = GLOBAL PATRIARCH 13. TEXACO'S DISCRIMINATION EXPOSED: IMPERIALIST BOURGEOISIE CONDONES RACISM 14. MASSACHUSETTS PRISONERS STILL STUCK IN TEXAS 15. FIRST NATION IN "PANAMA" DEMANDS TERRITORIAL AUTONOMY 16. SPORTS PLAYERS ARE BOURGEOISIE 17. POST-MODERNIST NEUTOPIA OPPOSES TURKISH REVOLUTION 18. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS * * * WHAT IS MIM? The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a revolutionary communist party that upholds Marxism- Leninism-Maoism, comprising the collection of existing or emerging Maoist internationalist parties in the English-speaking imperialist countries and their English-speaking internal semi- colonies, as well as the existing or emerging Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish- speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM. MIM is an internationalist organization that works from the vantage point of the Third World proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans, but world citizens. MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM knows this is only possible by building public opinion to seize power through armed struggle. Revolution is a reality for North America as the military becomes over-extended in the government's attempts to maintain world hegemony. MIM differs from other communist parties on three main questions: (1) MIM holds that after the proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution, the potential exists for capitalist restoration under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within the communist party itself. In the case of the USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in 1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural Revolution as the farthest advance of communism in human history. (3) MIM believes the North American white-working-class is primarily a non- revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in this country. MIM accepts people as members who agree on these basic principles and accept democratic centralism, the system of majority rule, on other questions of party line. "The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is universally applicable. We should regard it not as dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not merely a matter of learning terms and phrases, but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of revolution." -- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208 * * * CELEBRATE THANKSGIVING: EXPOSE THE GENOCIDE On Thanksgiving Day, MIM recalls the genocide of First Nation peoples by the white settlers of North America. We also look to the thousands of teachers who have the job of presenting history to young children and adult students. These teachers have the responsibility of deciding whether to convey Amerika's history with the First Nations positively or negatively. To go through grade-school and have at least one teacher who explains the real history of the genocide is important. The people of the oppressor nation already have at least a vague sense of that genocide, given that teachers have a limited license to discuss oppression that happened hundreds of years ago, even though they are required to hide the present oppressive reality. Too often intellectuals are too flexible-minded and they advise teaching compromise and complexity where none is appropriate. The history of First Nation and white settler relations is a story which should be taught in black and white terms. It is a task that demands much of what the bourgeoisie calls the "integrity" of teachers in the imperialist u.s.a. In mythology, Thanksgiving is a story of cooperation between the settlers and the First Nations. The dominators and exploiters perpetuate this myth to obtain cooperation from the oppressed today and prolong the collapse of the oppressive system. Progressive intellectuals must expose these imperialist fairy-tales for the snow job they are, rather than encourage the eternal cooperation of the murdered with their murderers. The vanguard party plays an important role in stiffening the backbone of the intellectuals, who are under pressure for both monetary and career reasons. The fact that many graduate students, teachers and contract working faculty are in the bottom 20 percent of income in the United Snakes is a two-edged sword. Only those most dedicated to teaching will teach, which is good. But at the same time, the children of the rich are the ones able to afford to become teachers. MIM cannot change the social organization of teaching at this moment, but we can do our best to influence already-progressive intellectuals. Progressive intellectuals in Euro-Amerikan imperialism spontaneously exude pragmatism. They believe in lesser evils and compromise. They constantly tell MIM that they agree with MIM's goals, but they choose different methods. But these different methods boil down to persuading people of the need for change, rather than exerting leadership over the form this change will take. The intellectuals often forget that there are already many proletarians and lumpenproletarians very angry with the system. People who are already angry take to armed struggle of the individualist sort-- fighting amongst themselves and missing the target of their anger, the oppressors. So while proletarians and lumpenproletarians are ready for big change, the intellectuals are busy using pleasant tones to persuade the most armchair conservative of the middle-classes. The intellectuals' job is not to persuade the oppressed that they want change. The oppressed already want change. The intellectuals' job is to inject the "how to get change" thoughts into the minds of the oppressed. This means teaching the science of revolution. Understanding settler history from the point of view of oppressed peoples and classes is a key part of understanding how to get change. On Thanksgiving Day and throughout the year, MIM calls on progressive intellectuals to teach Amerikan history responsibly. Brutal honesty about the Amerikan genocide against the First Nations is the minimum of respect to the oppressed. * * * FASCIST U.S.-RAMOS REGIME PREPARES FOR APEC SUMMIT'S ARRIVAL THE PHILIPPINES, 12 November--The Fourth Ministerial Conference and Leader's Summit of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) will be held here on the 25th of this month.(1) This event is an important step in further strengthening U.S. and Japanese economic dominance in the Asia Pacific region--which now accounts for half of world output and 41% of world trade.(2) This event is also an occasion for U.S. imperialism to showcase its continuing political supremacy in the region. For the fascist U.S.-Ramos regime, the upcoming summit is an opportunity to convince the imperialists, and their press entourage of 2,500, that the Filipino economy is ripe for foreign investment and superexploitation.(3) The Ramos regime is working overtime to entice foreign investment. From a "beautification" campaign which displaces thousands of squatters to increased militarization intended to thwart protests, Ramos is using his power to convince the imperialists that the Philippines is prepared for further integration into the capitalist world order. SUPPRESSING MASS PROTEST The U.S.-Ramos regime has prepared for the APEC summit by forming and reactivating "paramilitary units" (death squads) in at least six Central Luzon provinces, according to human rights groups KARAPATAN and BAYAN. The groups' report said the regime's military has formed the Community-Based Special Action Force (COBSAF) in Zambales, Pampanga, Tarlac and Nueva Ecija. In Pampanga alone, COBSAF has been formed with 2,000 recruits. Additionally, the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Units (CAFGUs) and Community Volunteer Organizations (CVOs) have been reactivated in Bulacan, Bataan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga and Tarlac. Many civilian members of these groups are being armed as backup for the fascist regime's military forces.(4) KARAPATAN's spokesperson said that students and civilians were being recruited to spy on activist organizations including BAYAN, of which 16 members have repeatedly been listed in the military's "order of battle." On 6 November, members of the Criminal Investigation Service raided the house of a member of the League of Filipino Students (LFS). The student was not at home, but the police took his father to an undisclosed location. They had no warrants to search the house or to arrest anyone. According to the LFS-Central Luzon, men in military uniform are also going room to room in Aura College in Olongapo City, warning students that they will "salvage" anyone who participates in the anti-APEC activities. "Salvaging" is a popular euphemism from the years of martial law for summarily executing people.(5) The Ramos regime has also attempted to thwart international participation in the Anti-APEC summits. Two Azanians were scheduled to be deported from the Philippines upon their arrival because they were classified as "troublemakers."(6) The U.S.-Ramos regime reversed course and allowed them entry in the face of public outcry and work of human rights advocates.(7) The Azanians were greeted with cheers of solidarity at the Anti- Imperialist World Peasant Summit (AIWPS). Though Ramos' thugs allowed them to enter, on 10 November, the regime temporarily banned three more AIWPS delegates from South Africa and two from Vietnam from attending the conference as Ramos attempted to undermine the gathering of peasant organizations from around the world.(8) In addition to cracking down on local and international anti-imperialist activists, the U.S.- Ramos regime is spewing propaganda to create the image that the APEC protesters are terrorists. A key objective of this propaganda is to justify increased militarization. The government has emphasized that "not even a fly" will be able to touch the 18 heads of state attending the APEC conference, --which includes U.S. President Bill Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. The fascist regime has said it is prepared for "Atlanta type" bombing attacks and has alluded to fantasies of grenade attacks as a possible scenario the military is prepared for. This fantasy notion only serves Ramos's interest in bolstering legitimacy for militarization and repression. The activists of the People's Conference Against Imperialist Globalization are united against imperialism and plan to stage a peaceful protest against the APEC Summit.(9) U.S.-RAMOS REGIME EVICTS SQUATTERS AND DEMOLISHES HOMES Another aspect of Ramos' preparation to impress imperialist leaders is to "clean up" the streets. Hoping to hide the effects of neocolonialism from visiting delegates and media, the U.S.-Ramos regime has demolished thousands of squatters' homes. First, Ramos' thugs attempt to entice squatters to leave through relocation programs. But only 230 bunkhouses have been built--housing for 1,840 families. Second, the police force the families to leave using high-powered weapons, truncheons, handguns, tear gas, water cannons and goon squads.(11) Ramos ordered Metro Manila mayors to clear the area of "eyesores" before the APEC summit. This directive will affect close to half a million residents of Metro Manila.(11) By March 1996, 350,000 homes in Metro Manila had been demolished.(12) Demolition is ongoing in all provinces of the region, including Olongapo. Olongapo is the site of the APEC conference and the city passed an ordinance which will clear 10% of all of the barangay community lots.(11) Additionally, in Olongapo, 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfews have been imposed on everyone over 18 years old in order to slow down organizing attempts. Checkpoints and spot-checking of vehicles on strategic highways in the region have also been put in place. Ramos' wife Amelit has also started the pseudo- environmentalist "clean and green" campaign. So far three people have been killed and hundreds of children have been injured by this fascist "beautification" campaign.(11) Another aspect of the "clean and green" preparation is cleaning bars and nightspots. Prostitutes and nightclubs along the highways where imperialists will parade project the image of a developing country. Ramos is turning the old military bases into tourist spots and encouraging the development of the Philippines as an international recreation capital. In the past, it was a recreation capital for U.S. soldiers and Japanese businessmen to buy and abuse prostitutes. Since tourism has been emphasized, there has been an even greater number of Filipinas working as commercial sex workers. The beautification campaign is a temporary disguise thrown over the sex industry, which the U.S.-Ramos regime thrives on.(12) Additionally, as the U.S.-Ramos regime opens up the economy to further imperialist plundering and exploitation of cheap labor, workers in the Subic Bay Economic Zone were served notice of forced leave without pay. Many factories and shops were closed because the regime thinks they would present an image problem if left open.(4) Also, "tricycle" operators-- --have bee ordered to stop work and have been replaced by special buses in the areas where APEC imperialists will travel. Tricycles are usually a major form of transportation in the urban areas.(4) APEC --RIPENING THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION FOR IMPERIALIST PLUNDER The APEC leadership is contested. U.S. imperialism has strengthened its hand in directing APEC, parrying the Japanese challenge. Both imperialist groupings are united in using APEC as a forum for the advancement of trade liberalization in the Asia Pacific region by brandishing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). GATT's implementing arm, the World Trade Organization (WTO), requires participating countries to remove barriers to free trade. The U.S. and Japanese imperialists exacted commitment from other APEC members to full liberalization by 2010 for countries with industrial economies and 2020 for others. In this month's meeting, each APEC member country is expected to come up with a specific plan to meet this goal.(2) PHILIPPINES 2000: RIPENING THE PHILIPPINES FOR IMPERIALIST PLUNDER This drive by the imperialists for trade liberalization and increasing dominance in both the world generally and the Asia Pacific region specifically is the background for the Medium-Term Philippine Development Program (MTPDP), the Philippines' U.S.-Ramos regime's economic plan which is better known as Philippines 2000. The regime promotes this plan as a nationalist plan for making the Philippines a Newly Industrialized Country (NIC) like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia by the year 2000. Its three main goals are liberalization, privatization and deregulation of trade and industry. The regime has hyped the plan in various ways, including having "Philippines 2000" engraved on all new license plates. Philippines 2000 has various components, all of which aim to remove obstacles to increased plunder of the natural and human resources of the Philippines by foreign multi-national Corporations (MNCs), principally U.S.-based MNCs. One such component is the 1995 National Mining Act which allows mutual agreements between foreign investors and the U.S.-Ramos regime. The foreign investors under these agreements get 81,000 hectares of land for $50 million, are given exploration rights to the land for 25 years and rights to mine the land for another 25 years. This is land which small miners are forced off of and are limited only to mining in peripheral areas. The imperialist mining corporations then get rights to water and timber, further depleting natural resources, on which local peoples depend. The company is guaranteed profit and is subsidized for mining losses. The foreign mining companies are enticed to invest with additional benefits such as the right to unhampered operations. In other words, no group can bring criminal suits against the corporation for damaging the area. Local communities have fought against imperialist plundering, but have been met at the gates of the mines by Philippines police and army thugs. In late August of this year, the people of Loacan in the Cordillera region of Northern Luzon barricaded the operations of the Benguet Corporation and 240 people were arrested. Local protests against multi-national mining corporations aim to stop the bulk mining practice which destroys the region's natural resources, depletes the local water table, destroys rice production and makes competition by small miners impossible. In Bontac, mountain province, the Newcrest Exploration and Newmont mining corporations were forced to stop exploration and bulk mining because of opposition from local tribes.(13) This is a victory for indigenous people over the 1995 Act which legally supersedes the ancestral rights of people to land as well as the rights of small-scale miners. Another aspect of Philippines 2000 which subverts the rights of indigenous peoples is the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS). NIPAS, started by then-President Corazon Aquino in 1991, divides indigenous people's land up into seven zones. One zone is a "strictly protected zone" in which there can be no human activity. The indigenous peoples are dispossessed of their land in order to have environmental restoration and endangered species zones. Another area taken from the indigenous peoples is slated as a cultural zone for tourism. The indigenous people are given the "buffer zone" which creates a fence between the protected and cultural zones and the rest of society. The indigenous peoples are then given the role of park rangers or tribal entertainers or servants in the tourist areas. The environment is thereby "protected" and tourism brings in money for the comprador-bourgeoisie, but the indigenous peoples are forced off their land, stripped of ownership and relegated to small areas and demeaning jobs to eke out a living. Philippines 2000 has enabled the privatization of universities, hospitals, the airlines and other industries. This privatization paves the path for foreign investment and domination of the national economy. In their struggle, many sectors of the Filipino people, including wimmin, students, workers, youth, religious peasants, are united against bureaucratic capitalism, feudalism and imperialism. We support these struggles and specifically oppose imperialist plundering through the mechanisms of Philippines 2000, APEC and globalization. Long live the Filipino people's struggle for national democracy! NOTES: 1. Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) 5 November, 1996, p. 5. 2. Tentative Programme for the November 1996 People's Conference Against Imperialist Globalization (PCAIG) by the Philippine Organizing Committee of the PCAIG. 3. PDI 4 November 1996, p. 10. 4. Ibid. 3 November 1996, p. 3. 5. Ibid. 8 November, 1996, p. 6. 6. Ibid. 6 November 1996, p. 1. 7. Ibid. 7 November 1996, p. 1. 8. Ibid. 10 November 1996, p. 1, 7. 9. Ibid. 9 November 1996, p. 1. 10. Ibid. 3 November 1996, p. 22, 24. 11. APEC Watch Dispatch 24 October, 1996, p. 2. 12. Anti-Imperialist World Peasant Summit, Press Release 5 November 1996. 13. PDI 3 November 1996, p. 18. * * * LETTERS TO MIM SO WHAT'S WITH THE REVOLUTIONARY FEMINISM SYMBOL? Dear MIM, I recently picked up a copy of MIM Notes 123. I thought it was very well put together and thought provoking. I have a good grasp on communist philosophy and I think I understand the position(s) of your movement. I just have one question: Why do you use the symbol with the two female symbols with raised fists in them? I take this to mean militant lesbianism. I'm not anti-lesbian but I don't understand it's significance to the Maoist International[ist-ed] Movement. What does women having sex with each other have to do with class struggle? Thanks for your time, --Internet Reader MIM RESPONDS:We appreciate your letter and are glad to respond to your question. Gender appears to be a missing part of your understanding of MIM's positions. We do not think wimmin having sex with each other has more to do with class struggle than any other aspect of social life. But there are two problems with the question. First, the revolutionary feminism symbol that you ask about does not represent just lesbian liberation, or wimmin having sex with each other per se. Rather, it is an original symbol developed by MIM to represent revolutionary feminism in all respects: this is why we put the fists inside the wimmin symbols. MIM's gender line is original to Maoism in that we argue for gender to be considered as a "separate strand" of oppression, which, along with class, is fundamental to oppression in the world today. Class and gender together form the basis for national oppression, the latter of which today is the principal contradiction in the world under imperialism and patriarchy. There can be no national liberation, and no communist revolution, without revolutionary feminism, and there can be no communism without the abolition of gender oppression -- which is not simply a form of class oppression, or a "special case" of class oppression. Gender oppression exists alongside of class oppression, and both need to be challenged and eradicated together. National liberation struggles, which are first on the agenda for communist revolutionaries today, require leadership that is both proletarian and feminist in character. Neither one of these political lines alone can successfully lead national liberation struggles to overthrow the rule of imperialism and commence socialist revolution. Eradicating gender oppression means abolishing sex hierarchies and enforced sexual orientations, as part of the process of eliminating the appropriation of some people's sexuality by others. To understand MIM's gender line, we recommend beginning with MIM Theory 2/3, our original in- depth statement of revolutionary feminism. Subsequent issues of MIM Theory advance this line, in particular MIM Theory 7, "Proletarian Feminist Revolutionary Nationalism on the Communist Road," and MIM Theory 9, "Psychology and Imperialism." Any one of these is yours for $6 postpaid, and well worth it. We hope that answers your question, and we urge you to struggle with us over these issues in practice by either working with MIM to advance revolution because you don't have a better alternative, or trying to convince us that you do have a better alternative. NEW REVOLUTIONARY WANTS TO FIGHT IMPERIALISM Dear Comrades, I have decided to become a revolutionary and fight against imperialism everywhere. You are right the Democrats is a party of pigs too. Do you have a party that I can join? I have made some pictures that I had cut out from old magazines and I had made some changes in the pictures and added some writing to them. Could you put some in the MIM Notes paper? There are more pigs than ever running for government offices all over the country this year. The kind of welfare I don't like is welfare for the rich. Big companies and corporations. More and more Amerikan companies are closing down factories in cities all over the country U.S.A. and putting more and more Amerikan people out of work and force to go on welfare because they can't find any work. Most people on welfare want to work. But they are trap on welfare because they can't find any work because their factories had been closed down and moved to the Third World countries. The pigs who own the companies are moving the factories to Mexico and other Third World countries because they can pay the workers less money than Amerikan workers. They import the things that they made back in Amerika to sell to Amerikan people along lots Amerikan people unemployed and on welfare! The Amerikan companies make big profits by exploiting the Third World countries. Even the revisionist government of China is letting Amerikan companies do business there exploiting the Chinese people. I see lots of things in stores that is made in China. I called it U.S. imperialism and exploitation of the Third World countries. The worse exploitation is child labor and child slavery in Third World countries. I had heard on the news about child labor and child slavery in carpet factories in Pakistan and in India. Exploitation of children how low you can go! We must have a revolution right here in Amerika to stop this exploitation. I am looking forward to the day when the United States will become a People's Republic of Amerika. I want to see the White House painted black so it will be called the Black House. I want to see the U.S. Capital building painted red with a big red star on top. Paint the Washington Monument red and rename it the Lenin's Monument. Change the name of Washington D.C. to Karl Marx's city. You had said in your letter you can send me thirty copies of MIM Notes papers each month. My city has a University and several colleges. I can distribute the MIM Notes to several libraries and bookstores around town. Sincerely, A friend in the east P.S. You may print my letter and pictures in a future MIM Notes paper. Please leave out my name and address. Because I don't want the FBI pigs to come knocking on my door some night. MIM RESPONDS: Thanks for the letter. You should now be receiving 30 copies of MIM Notes each month. If you can get to the university and colleges in your town, you could probably distribute more than this. The university in your city is big enough that in the student center and in other places where newspapers are left, at least 25 copies in each place would be appropriate. If you are willing to do this, let us know and we will start sending you more papers. We do ask that people who are distributing MIM Notes help us out with the cost of printing. For a bundle of 200 we ask for $20. Alternatively you could just buy a year subscription for $20 and we will be happy to continue sending 30 papers. Basically, any money you can send to help out with the cost of printing MIM Notes will be appreciated as it is entirely paid for by donations from comrades and paper sales. We have a lot of unity with what you say in your letter. But MIM does make a distinction between the majority of people who are on welfare, those from oppressed nations, and the white working class. While it is true that some manufacturing jobs are being shifted to the Third World because the companies can pay lower wages there, we do not see a trend towards overall impoverishment of the white workers in this country. Instead, these jobs have overall shifted to the expanding white collar jobs maintaining the labor aristocracy in this country that is comprised of the majority of the Amerikan workers. In 1994, the percentage of Black families in the under $10,000 income bracket increased almost 6% while the percentage of white families in all income brackets under $50,000 decreased and whites in the brackets over $50,000 increased.(1) You say "The Amerikan companies make big profits by exploiting the Third World countries" and we agree. This is exactly how the Amerikan companies are making profits and these companies are working with their government (the democrats and republicans) to redistribute enough of these profits to keep the labor aristocracy in this country pacified and bought off. For more on this analysis we recommend reading MIM Theory 1 (available for $3) and MIM Theory 10 (available for $5). Both of these magazines deal with the historical and economic basis for the development of a large labor aristocracy in imperialist countries. We have an organization called the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) which is for anti- imperialists who are studying with and working with MIM. MIM has dividing line questions or democratic centralism that it's members have to agree with while RAIL is a broader organization for anyone who is a revolutionary anti-imperialist. We encourage people like yourself to get involved with RAIL while studying MIM's line so that you can become more familiar with the party that is leading RAIL and we can struggle over theory and practice and commitment from there. There are a number of things you can do to get involved with RAIL. In addition to distributing MIM Notes, you will be receiving RAIL Notes inside MIM Notes once every other month. This is a publication written and produced by RAIL. We encourage you to get involved with this paper. We need more people writing articles about things going on in their city. And we need more art so please send in all the great art that you produce. RAIL Notes also needs help with funds: we need more money in order to cover the costs of printing and mailing each issue. We ask that RAIL members make a monthly contribution to help out with this publication. If you can send $25 a month, or whatever is possible, that would be a big help. We don't have any corporate sponsors so we've got to raise all the money ourselves. Some comrades sell the newspapers as a good way to raise money and to get people to talk to you about the politics in the paper. If there are places you can go to do this, it's a good way to spread revolutionary ideas and raise some money. If you are interested we can send you flyers to put up in your city about various political topics. Just let us know what other things you want to do to get involved and we will work with you to advance the revolutionary struggle. NOTES: MIM Theory 11, Coming to Grips with the Labor Aristocracy. P. 53. From the Statistical Abstract of the United States 1994. * * * JURY OF HIS PEERS ACQUITS WHITE MURDERER An all-white jury has acquitted Brentwood (Penn.) police officer John Vojtas, who participated in the murder of Jonny Gammage, a Black man caught driving an expensive car in October 1995.(1) The charge was only "involuntary manslaughter" anyway. Autopsy shows that Gammage died from suffocation while being crushed by up to five white pigs. Two of the officers were not charged, and the other two recently won a mistrial and may come back for another trial.(2) The police said Gammage became violent and had to be attacked by all five pigs, who called the five-on-one murder of an unarmed man "self defense." A friend of Gammage's told Reuters that Vojtas is "a murderer and they're letting him walk the streets." MIM agrees, and points out that Vojtas is one of thousands such murderers who not only walk the streets, but draw fat paychecks doing their jobs of repression and occupation. NOTES: 1. Reuters, Nov. 13, 1996. 2. MIM Notes 126, Nov. 15, 1996, p. 3. * * * STATE GIVES IMMUNITY TO POLICE BATTERERS In April 1995, someone killed a Prince Georges (Mar.) County police officer in what looked like cold-blooded murder. The pigs were furious, and they chose Jeffrey C. Gilbert, a Black man, to be the killer. Entering his apartment, supposedly on evidence that he killed the cop, they violently beat him. He suffered a concussion, a broken nose, and heavy bruises all over his body. They story was he resisted arrest, of course, and the elite task force - the T-70 squad - all testified that they didn't use unnecessary force: "Force was used to the extent that resistance was present," they said. Now the state has given immunity to a third cop involved in the beating, in the hope that he would incriminate his partners in crime. But instead, Cpl. Preston Asbury testified that Gilbert deserved what he got, and it now looks like the wall of silence on the part of the pigs will be successful, and the state may drop the investigation. The case was public enough to compel an investigation, especially why photos of Gilbert's battered face were splashed across the pages of local newspapers - originally on the assumption that he had killed the cop in the first place. When the pigs had to drop their trumped up charges, the embarrassed state began to investigate the beating. MIM is not surprised to see the pigs walk in yet another case of police brutality. But we also know that even if a few cops are prosecuted for such violence it will not satisfy the needs of the people for justice and reparations for many years of violence, repression and occupation. NOTES: Washington Post, Nov. 5, 1996. p. B1 (and correction the next day). * * * MEXICO STEPS UP ATTACKS AGAINST THE PEOPLE In late 1996 repression by the Mexican military is increasing. The people are suffering brutality and murder at the hands of the Amerikan supported Mexican dictatorship. But the people are also organizing and resisting. The recent escalation in repression in Mexico deserves a response by anti- imperialists in Amerika who know that the Mexican government would not stand for a week without the Amerikan aid it receives. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC REPRESSION The repression against the people of Mexico is not only by the army. Social and economic conditions make life difficult for the majority of the population. Many are proclaiming President Salinas the king of the worst crisis in the history of Mexico. Unemployment is approximated at 20-30% of the labor force, and this is not counting the underemployed who sell goods on the streets, or work occasional jobs. The minimum wage currently has the purchase power of 28% what it was in 1970. Youth have to work in order to help provide for their families so that fewer youth are attending school and illiteracy is rising. In these conditions, it is no surprise that street crime has escalated in the past few years. 40-60 million people out of a population of 90 million are below the poverty level. 20 million of these people are in extreme poverty--conditions that literally kill people. MILITARY REPRESSION In the face of this social and economic crisis for the people, the government has stepped up its armed attacks on the people. First under the guise of attacking the Zapatistas and then to attack the "terrorist" Ejercito Popular Revolutionario (EPR), the government is now regularly attacking small rural towns, torturing and jailing the people, sometimes bombing and burning entire villages. In a recent example, the military invaded a small town that claimed allegiance to the PRI, the ruling government party, but still the military tortured and jailed many of the town's people. The military is literally occupying indigenous communities. The Mexican government continues to enjoy strong support from the United Snakes. The Amerikan government just approved sending 93 helicopters to the Mexican government in early November. These were promised for delivery by Thanksgiving. These are the same helicopters being used to bomb indigenous villages. The Mexican military is also receiving intelligence training, night vision training, and other Amerikan imperialist assistance under the guise of the anti-drug war. All of this aid is used to attack the people of Mexico and bolster the power of the Amerikan lackeys in power. In Chiapas in 1996, half the state has been militarized, and the military has cut off supplies of food and medicine leading to shortages and epidemic outbreaks of preventable diseases like Cholera. There have been drastic corn shortages because the government forces people to purchase seed from government stores and many indigenous people will not do this. In addition, the government has been organizing vigilante squads to attack the people. The Mexican government recently released seven political prisoners and continues it rhetoric that they want to talk with the Zapatistas, but this is all said while their military troops are harassing and killing the people of Mexico who support the Zapatistas. Outside of Chiapas the repression is also escalating. 40 people were jailed and tortured in one town as suspected members of the EPR. Even young children were picked up and tortured. ATTACKS ON NGOS Even a coalition of non-government organizations in Chiapas, Conpaz, which formed to support indigenous struggles in Mexico, is facing increasing attacks. Because of their ties with other countries and external funding sources, NGOs typically escape government repression. NGOs are tools of imperialist countries helping to put a prettier face on imperialism. But CONPAZ is apparently striking a nerve in Chiapas as it receives death threats, has its offices torched and sees its members harassed. On November 4 the accountant of Conpaz and his family were kidnapped. They were released later in the week, tortured and very frightened. At press time further information on this situation was not available thanks to problems getting communications out of Mexico through taped phone lines. THE PEOPLE FIGHT BACK The EPR is a self-proclaimed Marxist organization that has been carrying out armed attacks against the military and government throughout Mexico. The strategy of the EPR appears to be that of focoist organizations which attack military and government targets in a sensationalist manner without building a strategic peoples war to overthrow imperialism. MIM believes in the necessity of protracted peoples war and we point to the Communist Party of Peru as a concrete example of this struggle being carried out in Latin America. Only by building a base among the people and building a movement from the people will revolution be won against the imperialists. Focoism refuses to assess the balance of forces and attacks the enemy when the enemy is the strongest and we are the weakest. The results of the EPR attacks have been positive in that they have exposed the bankruptcy of the Mexican government and shown the power the people can wield, but at the same time, they have resulted in fierce repression against the people in the towns where these actions are carried out. While imperialist repression is unavoidable, the strategy of people's war takes on winnable battles and builds a power base to protect the people against violence by the imperialists. In an open letter to the EPR from Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatistas in August, Marcos criticized the EPR for carrying out military actions in Chiapas which resulted in the repression of the indigenous people of that area.(1) While MIM also sees the EZLN strategy of attacking the government without a clear revolutionary line that recognizes the necessity of violent overthrow of the imperialists as one that has proved unsuccessful, we agree with this criticism of the EPR. Despite these disagreements, MIM points to the growing revolutionary struggle of the Zapatistas, the EPR and others in Mexico as a clear sign of the power of the people to resist imperialist domination. In the face of repression and brutality the people are organizing to fight back. These national liberation struggles are important, but only a Maoist revolution will be successful in defeating the imperialists and building a just and equal society for the people. NOTES: 1. Libertad, National Commission for Democracy in Mexico. Aug-Sept, 1996. All other facts for this article were collected at a talk sponsored by TONANTZIN (Boston Committee in Support of the Native Peoples of Mexico) at which several correspondents from Mexico reported on conditions there. *** MIM has no official tie to the Communist Party of Peru (PCP). MIM does not claim to follow Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought for the imperialist countries, but MIM does support it for Peru. Articles from MIM on Peru should be taken as MIM's best attempt to print genuine articles in support of the People's War in Peru. *** * * * MLM ONLINE MIM LEAVES NY TRANSFER NEWS COLLECTIVE In early November MIM informed the NY Transfer News Collective, with whom we have worked for several years, that we would no longer maintain our e-mail accounts or World Wide Web site on the collective's system. We also sent a public statement (printed on page 1 of MIM Notes 126) explaining that our decision was rooted in the fact that Agent "Luis Quispe" of the "MPP-USA" has an e-mail account and a Web site with NY Transfer. We understood that our mutual association with NY Transfer was lending legitimacy to a police plot. Our decision followed months of struggle with NY Transfer, during which we sent evidence of Quispe's counter-revolutionary activities (as we have printed in Maoist Sojourner and on the Internet's Marxism List) and argued that a self-identified progressive political resource like NY Transfer should not accommodate Quispe by allowing him to operate from its server. Our decision to part company came when NY Transfer made it clear to us that it did not want to choose sides in what NY Transfer perceived as an international split among Peruvian exiles. Despite NY Transfer's good work over the years, Maoists consider it a form of liberalism to ignore genuine political principles in the name of conciliation with "old friends." NY Transfer responded to our decision by explaining that it believes "MIM and many other activists in this ideological firefight have been hoodwinked by a COINTELPRO-style disinformation campaign designed to do exactly what it has accomplished: throw the anti-Fujimori forces into disarray, sow dissension and mistrust, and disrupt the work of Peruvian revolutionaries." Here, we reprint NY Transfer's response to our notice that we were leaving; our response to that letter follows. Dear MIM: We're sorry to learn of your decision to move your electronic operation elsewhere. Frankly, we think your position that our nonsectarian access policy constitutes endorsement of any of NY Transfer's member groups is absurd--as you well know, our slogan is "NY Transfer Follows NO Party Line." We do wonder how you can reconcile [your position] with your decision to move to etext [www.etext.org], with its very eclectic membership of groups. Of course, etext's services are free, we believe. Perhaps it's okay in your value system to share access on the same server with political enemies as long as you don't pay for it. In any case, we'll be very sorry to see you go. Your use of the Internet has been a model for many other activists (including lquispe and the New Flag--a group we originally welcomed to NY Transfer partly because of your referral and recommendation). We're disappointed that your political differences with this group have led you to move to another server, but we certainly understand your desire to cease any activity that you consider to be "liberalism." We are also sure you understand our position: to deny access to any other group because MIM disapproves of them would be completely contrary to our nonsectarian policy. Because of our long-standing relationship with MIM we did not dismiss lightly your allegations about Lquispe and the New Flag, but investigated them seriously, both here and abroad. We were unable to find any evidence that supports your charges. On the contrary, we found the actions and accusations of some people (not MIM) who joined in the anti- quispe campaign to be unethical, disreputable and thoroughly dishonest. We have reached our conclusions, and you are free to reject them. But NY Transfer cannot ever allow any one group, MIM included, to dictate who will be permitted access on our system. Such an expectation on your part is surprising and disappointing; it is also inappropriately authoritarian and completely unacceptable to us. We were not aware that MIM considers itself a "Peruvian exile" organization. We have always thought of you as a homegrown Amerikan radical movement. But regardless, far from choosing a "middle ground" between two groups, our policy has remained the same for years, and is quite uncompromising: we will not censor our members, restrict their access because of their political views, or engage in their sectarian squabbles, under any circumstances! Be assured that now and in the future, we will not hesitate to deal promptly with any threat if we believe a member of NY Transfer is a police agent, a provocateur, or attempting to do harm to our system or our Collective. We are truly sorry you are leaving NY Transfer and we hope you enjoy the same care, attention, and excellence of service on etext that we have always tried to provide at NY Transfer. Best of luck to you. --System Administrators NY Transfer News Collective/Blythe Systems MIM RESPONDS: Thank you for your quick reply. We would like to clear up a few misconceptions. First, we did not suggest that you were endorsing Quispe/New Flag. We do indeed understand your policy of not endorsing or following any party line. As we have repeatedly explained, we do not view New Flag as a "party line," but, based on actions towards Calero, etc., a cop. We have this basic disagreement over your position that you are viewing as nonsectarian and we are viewing as accommodating cops. Notice we have never complained about people on the system because of political line. We understand that incorrect political lines can be defeated with the correct line. So it is not about our "disapproval" of Quispe, or differences of political line. We understand that cops cause very real harm to the oppressed and to revolutionaries. (By the way, MIM has never claimed to be a Peruvian exile organization. We were simply responding to an earlier argument you had made to us--that you saw this struggle internationally as a struggle between factions in the Peruvian exile community, and that you did not want to get involved in choosing sides. We were just reiterating that Quispe does not represent a legitimate "side" in any such struggle.) As for our decision to move the Web site to the free etext server, that was not a financially motivated decision. We have been advertising NY Transfer as a resource for the oppressed for years, and you yourselves claim to be a movement resource. We cannot reconcile that with your inaction regarding Quispe. The etext Web server, on the other hand, makes no such political claims, nor will we advertise it as such. MIM does not see its actions as authoritarian, we did not attempt to coerce anybody into anything, we used evidence to try to persuade you. As you say, you looked into in and rejected it. That meant, for us, that we had to leave NY Transfer. We fail to see the authoritarianism in this action. In struggle, MIM *** This letter is one of the responses we received to our notice that we were moving from NY Transfer *** Dear MIM: Thanks for the new address. My question this week is related to reason for the change. Is there too much sectarianism among radical groups and what should we do to change that, assuming you believe there is? I look forward to your reply. --Internet Reader MIM RESPONDS: MIM defines sectarianism as an unprincipled division between political groups that obscures the real unity between them. In the case of "MPP-USA" police-plot, or any other split-and- wreck operation, breaking with the party in question is not sectarianism at all. Some big-tenters disagree with us, and with the concept of a vanguard party altogether, and would like to see everyone left of a certain point--left of Clinton, say, or of Ralph Nader--get together in the name of unity and progressivism. MIM has several responses to this line of thinking. First, police plots are not "left" at all, so the question doesn't apply to such operations. Second, historical experience shows that a principled, disciplined party with clear dividing lines is necessary to lead successful revolutionary movements. Such a party, ** when its line is correct **, exerts a powerful influence over all other progressive activism, including those who choose not to join the party. The problem with big-tentism, or sizeism, in the imperialist countries is that too many groups organize for imperialist-country aims--such as more pie for the labor aristocracy. This organizing is directly counter to, rather than merely "different" from, the revolutionary work of ending imperialism and all oppression. So while to some extent it is strategically true that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, too many groups on the "left" in the imperialist countries are not really the enemies of imperialism at all, but merely its left wing. MIM finds this to be the case with Trotskyist parties, most reformist parties, and all others who put increasing the incomes and power of imperialist- country beneficiaries before ending imperialism and its oppression of the rest of the world. That said, MIM works with many activists and groups that do not agree with all of our dividing line questions, groups which are truly opposed to imperialism and are interested in working under the leadership of proletarian politics. The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League, created and led by MIM, is one such group. We hope you'll get involved with it or contribute to the revolutionary movement in some other way. What do you say? * * * AMERIKAN ELECTIONS PROVE THEMSELVES A WASTE MIM thanks the USA Today newspaper for providing us with figures on re-election rates for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996. 357 out of 377 incumbents running won their races; that's 94.7 percent. With these figures in front of us, MIM does not believe that Amerikan democracy is truly a system of choosing the best person for the job in every instance. We just don't think the Amerikan government personnel are so great that they only need to be replaced at a 5.3% rate. Contrary to the image of rule of the majority, Amerikan elections in practice are a judgment on who has the most money. When an incumbent does lose, he or she loses to someone else who is wealthy and supports capitalism. In major (presidential) election years since 1980, re- election rates were as follows: 1980 92.1% 1984 96.1% 1988 98.5% 1992 93.1% USA Today also informs us that the oppressed are less likely to vote than the more privileged groups in Amerika. "Non-voters are more likely to be younger, poorer and members of minority groups. Gallup estimates turnout was 62% for those with family income above $75,000, only 39% for those with incomes under $20,000 ... 'When you have a class-skewed electorate, only the better-off people end up determining policy,' says Richard Cloward of Human Serve, a voter registration group." While 51% of whites voted in this election, only 35% of Blacks and 38% of other "non-whites" voted. Among youth aged 18-29, people not yet completely bought into the system, we see the same thing: 33% in this age group voted, while 49% of 30-49 did and people 50 and older voted at only 50%. MIM considers voter registration efforts by supposed progressives to be dogmatic. It's clear from the numbers and from the similarities between Democrats and Republicans that attempting to change the system through reform doesn't work, yet the voter registration advocates argue that participation must be the best way to reform. This is the definition of dogmatism: insisting on a failed strategy with no evidence to support it. These dogmatic reformists also drag us into dogmatic pragmatism in the Euro-Amerikan world: they raise compromise with the bourgeoisie to the level of principle. They are so set on surrendering to the powers-that-be and persuading everyone else to adjust to and capitulate to an oppressive system that they ignore all evidence contrary to their pious beliefs in their own effectiveness. The oppressed people constantly have their arms twisted behind their backs by the oppressors. They cannot express themselves within the oppressor's system. Only through armed struggle will the world's majority finally rule. NOTES: USA Today Nov. 8, 1996, p. 4a. * * * MIM AND RAIL ANTI-ELECTIONS EVENTS BUILD ANTI- IMPERIALIST MOVEMENT Under titles like Boycott the Vote, RAIL held educational events across the country in the months leading up to the elections in November. We wanted people to see that there is an alternative to choosing among imperialist candidates in the voting booth. Many of these events turned into debates with people who thought that it is important to work within the system to make changes to the system. In these debates we saw the insidious effect of the Workers World (WW) party electoral campaign. WW says it understands that you can't change the system without overthrowing it. But still WW ran candidates in the elections and the message this gave people was that revolutionaries can work within the system and revolutionaries should vote. MIM and RAIL have no interest in putting forward these lies to the people. We want to be very clear that electoralism within Amerikan imperialist elections is not a means to achieve any anti- imperialist change, and that those who participate in elections are not revolutionaries. On election day MIM and RAIL held an event in Boston that gave an historical overview of imperialism under the Republicans and Democrats and then focused on what we can do instead of choosing between evil and evil. We did this on election day because we wanted to show people that the alternative to voting starts with education. We pointed out that getting involved in activism is of crucial importance for anyone who wants to fight imperialism. The event was very well attended and most who came agreed with our message that voting is no way to fight imperialism. One person asked what we can possibly do instead and another person in the audience responded saying "power to the people." She pointed out that often people underestimate the power of the people and that it is movements of people just like us which can best fight imperialism. A number of attendees said they came to the event to see if there really were other people interested in doing something to fight the system rather than just accepting the imperialist elections. MIM and RAIL tried to provide them with some concrete ideas for activism while also encouraging people to get involved in the longer battle of fighting for revolutionary change. If you also want to get involved in anti-imperialist struggle, contact RAIL or MIM at any of the addresses on page 2. * * * ELECTIONS DEBATE AT A OBERLIN COLLEGE People in this country believe in the power of the vote, they believe that real change happens every four years in the local elementary school or town hall, in a voting booth. Yet only half the eligible voters in the United States take the time to vote. Maybe people realize that there is limited possibility of the vote changing anything. Or maybe they were just uninformed, uneducated, or too busy dealing with the everyday changes in their lives created by the current political leadership. Students at an elite liberal arts college in the Midwest are no different when it comes to the elections. Many students believe in the power of the vote; although most of us are open to challenging and critiquing it. So when election time came around this year, the college's Socialist Student Union organized a Left Party Debate to try to incite debate and thought on a campus known for its progressive tendencies. Participants in the debate included representatives from the New Party, the Green Party, the Left Party, the Workers World Party, the Socialist Workers Party, and the International Socialist Organization; and a statement from the Maoist Internationalist Movement was read. This debate gave us the opportunity to discuss the alternative candidates and the effectiveness of elections to enact real, positive change. The Socialist Workers Party stated that one of its primary goals in running candidates in this election was to educate people about the rigidity of the current system and the myths surrounding electoral politics. The International Socialist Organization promoted grassroots organizing over the extraordinary cost of running candidates or supporting elections. The New Party supports more local electoral campaigning and grassroots organizing, and has succeeded in getting both Democratic and Independent candidates into local offices. As potential voters, we were wary of their positions, and as students working towards changing the present system, we questioned the legitimacy and feasibility of change through reform, what Audre Lorde referred to as using the "master's tools" to liberate ourselves. I would agree to a certain, limited extent with MIM's stance on electoralism. Because reform within the current system is limited and only revolutionary action will bring about change, and because the ruling class controls the elections, a stance advocating a break with current electoral politics is very reasonable. I simply have problems with the more specific and more extreme positions on why Americans do vote and the alternative to voting. Concerning the labor aristocracy, I understand where MIM is coming from, but I disagree. Americans benefit from the exploitation of the Third World, but I think we need to distinguish between willing participation in exploitation and our struggle to fight imperialism in the Third World and on American soil. Historically, the labor aristocracy argument has been used to further divide the working class: dividing black and white workers, skilled and unskilled labor, and "First" and "Third" World workers. Concerning the minimum wage debate, we must recognize that the cost of living in this country is high. Our living standard has impoverished hundreds of countries across the globe, so we should argue for higher wages in America and everywhere. What alternative to voting does MIM offer to the oppressed class? Organizing outside of the structures of the current system? Great, but how does MIM do this? Are MIM representatives out on college campuses, or in the factories, or in small communities, organizing, and building that movement? The Workers World Party touted its pledge to a $12/hour minimum wage and its pledge to peoples of all ethnicities and backgrounds, but Proposition 209 passed in California, Congressman Jesse Helms of North Carolina was re-elected, and the real wages of working people across this nation barely inched forward. I think about the organizing and campaigns we could have taken on in lieu of the hours and energy spent on fighting for "write-in" ballot status. As part of a group that sponsored a debate on the elections, I am frustrated by the small impact we made on the lives of people in this country, and towards our socialist vision. I believe in the necessity of educating people about the real conditions of electoralism, but it is more important to focus on the reality of people's lives. On our campus, we have decided to fight the attacks against affirmative action in this country, and on a local level, fight the repeal of need- blind admissions to our school. MIM RESPONDS MIM's main disagreement with the author of this article is on the question of the labor aristocracy. We have done scientific study of the political economy of the United Snakes and concluded that a vast majority of workers here are not exploited, but are benefiting from the exploitation of the international proletariat. As MIM said in the statement we sent to this event: "It is clear that Amerikan workers live at a wildly inflated standard of living compared to the rest of the world's workers. There is the argument that it costs more to live in Amerika and therefore it is not so outrageous that Amerikan workers are paid more than their Third World counterparts. But this is a clear ideological question. People cross U.S. borders from Third World countries at a rate that quickly dismisses the cost-of-living justification for inflated Amerikan wages. Clearly with so many people crossing borders and risking arrest and deportation to work for less than minimum wage, we can see that it does not cost $10/hour to keep a worker alive." The labor aristocracy willingly participates in Amerikan imperialism. This pro-imperialist stance does not come from misinformation but from material circumstance. In the Philippines, misinformation and lies abound and access to the truth is difficult, but the people know that the government is lying when it says multinational corporations are doing good for the people. In Amerika, people understand that multinational corporations--which exploit the Third World proletariat and steal its land and resources--are doing good for the people of Amerika. If we were to redistribute all the wealth in the world right now, wages in Amerika would go down so that they could even out around the world. It is not a tenable position to call for higher wages the world over. You have to choose: will you continue to tell the Third World masses to wait so Amerikans can keep munching pie, or will you side with the majority? Most Amerikans understand these options and will rally for fascism before they will fight for revolution. Activists who identify themselves as "left" must decide if they are going to continue to coddle Amerikan privilege in the name of unity, or work for the truly oppressed. The author asks how MIM would organize outside current structures. Again from the statement of ours which was read at this event: "We believe that the best things we can devote our too-limited time and resources to are building independent institutions of the oppressed and building public opinion in favor of the just struggles of the oppressed. ... We have conducted [a campaign against bourgeois elections] in our print organs, via electronic media and in public events." MIM agrees with this author's assessment of the need to take up revolutionary activism rather than fight in electoral battles in this country. We point to the descriptions of the many small and large battles we take on, described in the pages of MIM Notes, as examples of our alternative to electoralism. All these campaigns are waged with the clear vision that worthwhile reforms to this system should help build the forces for revolution because reforms will never end imperialism. * * * INDIAN FEMINISTS SHOCK "MISS WORLD" ORGANIZERS WITH THEIR PROTEST Apparently the Miss World organizers have failed to notice the long and increasingly radicalized tradition of wimmin's protest in India. But now, as they prepare to stage their celebration of objectification in the South Indian city of Bangalore, they are seeing wimmin organizing creatively against them. Wimmin have staged rallies of a thousand people in India's capital, New Delhi, and have desecrated the Miss World shops with cow dung and diesel. The response of the pageant organizers has been patronizing. Julia Morley, chairperson of Miss World Ltd., said "I (regret) the controversy and I hope they will act as women and come and talk to us instead of acting as rebels." (1) But MIM knows well that for wimmin of the Third World, acting as wimmin means acting as rebels. It's a patriarchal lie that wimmin's issues center around make-up--for Indian wimmin resisting imperialism and its culture is key. Another gem of a quote from Julia Morley: ''I'm not shocked, but I'm sad. I respect the women of India and I know they will give us the mutual respect that we deserve.'' (2) "Respect" that precludes acknowledging radicalism is not respect at all. Further, purveyors of imperialist patriarchal culture do not deserve respect at all. NOTES: 1. Agence France Presse, November 4, 1996. 2. United Press International November 4, 1996, Monday, BC cycle. * * * AMERIKAN ARMY = GLOBAL PATRIARCH After the announcement on November 7 that at least three men army instructors at the Aberdeen Proving Ground would be charged with rape and assault, U.S army spokespersons scrambled to paint the incident as abnormal and "not part of the [army's] ingrained culture."(1) MIM and oppressed people around the world know that patriarchy and violence are indeed part of the army's culture. Prostitution and rape surround U.S. military bases around the world, like those in the Philippines and Korea. Army officials wink at these problems outside of U.S. borders. In response to the rape and murder of a girl in Okinawa by U.S. soldiers, an amerikan officer reportedly commented: "what'd they have to do that for? They should have just gone to a whore." Making the world safe for u.s. imperialism, the amerikan military bombs, shoots, napalms and gasses wimmin and men, and it's not apologetic about it. The massacre at My Lai village during the Vietnam war killed mostly wimmin and children (many of the wimmin were raped before being killed)--but the army systematically covered the whole thing up.(2) My Lai is just one famous example of thousands of similar incidents during the Vietnam war and after. MIM believes that feminists should not waste their time trying to reform the sinister amerikan army. This army is a bloody weapon used to preserve a system which forces the majority of the world's wimmin to live in poverty. Gender relations within army only reflect those of amerikan society at large; the main problem is with the system of patriarchy, not a single patriarchal institution. This is why MIM concentrates on the task of building the people's forces to the point where we can destroy the amerikan army and the system of imperialism which makes it necessary. In its place we will build socialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat, which will allow us to suppress patriarchy and capitalism. NOTES: 1. Reuter 8 November, 1996. 2. Marilyn Young, ** The Vietnam Wars **. (New York: Harper Perennial, 1991), p. 243. * * * TEXACO'S DISCRIMINATION EXPOSED: IMPERIALIST BOURGEOISIE CONDONES RACISM Texaco's dirty laundry is big in the news these days: racial epithets in the workplace, racist jokes told to Black employees, senior management with a penchant for firing Black people who complain about discrimination--and all this in spite of detailed anti-discrimination policies. So Texaco is being hung out and exposed big-time as a boil on the butt of corporate Amerika. The public message to Texaco is: you can't get away with discrimination, you've got to clean up your act.(1) But a lawsuit filed in 1994 on behalf of over 1,000 Texaco employees claiming systematic discrimination received no publicity until recently. Amerika now knows that the blatant discrimination at Texaco really happened because a white Texaco executive released a tape he had made of a meeting at which he and other top Texaco executives traded racist jokes and remarks freely.(2) The tape, which the downsized racist exec released to plaintiffs' lawyers in the discrimination suit, is evidence not only of Texaco heads' open racism, but of their plans to illegally hide company files relevant to the lawsuit against the company.(3) Black observers of and participants in the lawsuit have compared the Texaco tape to the video of Rodney King's beating by Los Angeles pigs 6 years ago. As in the Rodney King case, which took a video tape to prove that pigs would brutalize a Black man, Amerika needed the Texaco tape to believe that white corporations work systematically to keep Blacks out of better jobs. But the Black nation didn't need to hear the tape, because Amerika's steady work to restrain Blacks as a separate and oppressed nation is pushed in the faces of Black people every day. The public response to this Texaco expose, preaching about fairness, equality and non- discrimination, doesn't look so sincere on the face of the Amerikan bourgeoisie and media. These are the same clowns who imprison and execute Blacks at numbers far disproportionate to their numbers in the general U.S. population. Discrimination against Blacks in Amerika is institutional and condoned at every level of the state apparatus. Making noise about discrimination when it is exposed in a public way at a big corporation is only the oppressor nation's most convenient means of drawing attention away from much more direct forms of oppression, by which the state does not just call Black people names but locks them up and murders them as a means of controlling their legitimate desire for independence from Amerika. According to the Amerikan Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 1993-94 Blacks made up 44% of the Amerikan jail population while white people made up 39% and Latino nationalities were 15%.(5) Blacks are less than 15% of the U.S. population, so to jail them at a rate greater than whites is truly gross discrimination. Of people living under death sentences in Amerika in 1994, 1,645 were white while 1,197 were Black. So there were numerically less Blacks waiting to be murdered in the criminal injustice system, but still proportionately many more Blacks than whites.(4) In 1994, more than half as many Blacks as whites were murdered by the state--again, the number of Blacks in the general U.S. population is not even equal to half the number of whites.(4) In a state which treats Blacks with such blatant discrimination, and which openly takes Black lives in a far greater proportion than it does white ones, it is the height of hypocrisy to talk of discrimination as if it could be an isolated thing. Those who point the finger at Texaco are doing a good job of unearthing solid examples of national chauvinism, which revolutionaries can use to propel the fight against national oppression. But we must not be satisfied with talking about how big and bad Texaco or Denny's is; it is our task to demonstrate how these corporations are just following the state's lead, and to build a movement which can win a decisive victory over imperialism. NOTES: 1. New York Times Nov. 10, 1996, sec. 3, p. 1. 2. Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 8, 1996, p.3. 3. The Baltimore Sun, Nov. 8, 1996. 4. Bureau of justice statistics Web site http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/pub/bjs/ascii/cp94.txt. 5. Ibid, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/jaji93.htm. * * * MASSACHUSETTS PRISONERS STILL STUCK IN TEXAS On the one year anniversary of the transfer of 299 Massachusetts prisoners to Texas, Governor Weld announced that he is extending their stay another 8 months. He said he saw no compelling reason to bring them back. This news came as a hard blow to the friends and families of these prisoners and those of us who have been fighting all year to bring them back. While we have been successful in bringing back the sick prisoners, 250 remain in Texas, far from their families, and in a prison system even more repressive than the one we have in Massachusetts. These prisoners were transferred to Texas in the middle of the night, as a part of Weld's prison overcrowding crisis hoax. He took these prisoners hostage and shipped them off to Texas in a budget stunt that successfully got him $500 million for prison expansion in Massachusetts. Weld got his money months ago, but still the prisoners in Texas remain there. It's become easier to pay Texas to house these men than to fly them back home where it will be exposed that the overcrowding crisis was really a DOC fabricated problem of overclassification of prisoners so that those who commit the slightest infraction of the rules (like looking at a guard wrong) are stuck in maximum security. MIM and RAIL held our regular monthly petitioning rally the weekend after Weld's announcement and continued to educate people about the injustice system and why these prisoners should be brought back to Massachusetts where their families live and where there can be some accountability for their lack of care. The number of people aware of these transfers is increasing and we will continue to keep this issue alive and keep the voice of opposition to the criminal injustice system loud. Bringing these prisoners back will be a victory, but this is only one battle and fundamental changes in the criminal injustice system will not be achieved until we overthrow the system. We must always keep that message clear while we are fighting for small reforms to improve the lives of our comrades behind bars and give them more room to carry out revolutionary organizing. To protest this anniversary and the extension of the prisoners' stay in Texas, the American Friends Service Committee held vigils outside of the Governor's house every night for a week. At one of these vigils MIM talked to a woman who said her phone bill was $600 last month from talking to her son. This is the expense that Weld forces many families to endure if they want to stay in contact with their family member in Texas. A man read a letter from his brother, one of the inmates transferred to Texas, which described the nightmare of a year this has been, from the roundup and transfer in the middle of the night, to being held as budget hostages in Weld's political game in a prison system in Texas that is devoted to profit and torture. We hope this article will let our comrades in Texas know that we have not forgotten about them and that we will continue the fight to bring them back while fighting the larger battle to overthrow the criminal injustice system. * * * FIRST NATION IN "PANAMA" DEMANDS TERRITORIAL AUTONOMY Roughly 1,000 members of the Ngobe-Bugle nation, which resides within Panamanian borders, recently finished a 250 mile, two-week march across Panama. The march was staged to protest a Canadian company's copper mining activities in the Ngobe- Bugle territory. The nation, which has a population of 125,000, has been struggling for autonomous territory for the past 25 years. The Canadian mining company, Tiomin Resources Inc., has been operating in Cerro Colorado--home of the Ngobe-Bugle. In the age of imperialism, the fact that their home is also the site of the 12th largest copper deposit in the world is an unfortunate thing for the First Nation, because it means that assorted imperialist interests will use force and tricks to get and keep control of the land and its resources. This means the people must be prepared to fight against the imperialist bourgeoisie's greed if they want to achieve any level of autonomy on their own land. Ngobe-Bugle activist Alberto Montezuma said: "This walk is to show that we want the Cerro Colorado mining contract annulled and our demand of an Indian territory accepted." He went on: "The community will not accept meeting with any government official except the president. If we cannot, we will start a hunger strike." MIM supports oppressed nation struggles for autonomy. From what we can see of this case, the Ngobe-Bugle leaders have a correct view of their situation: as a separate nation there is no reason for them to negotiate with anyone less than the president of Panama. A nation does not have to make deals with small government agencies, but should be able to win victories from the comprador who speaks for all the government agencies. These struggles are the first necessary step towards weakening the grip of imperialism on the world's land and resources, and towards building the power of the oppressed to topple imperialism and build independent power. In this case, if the Ngobe-Bugle are able to deny the Canadian miners access to copper, that will directly hamper Canada's accumulation of wealth at the expense of the oppressed nations the world over. This will, in turn, weaken Canada's power over the oppressed nations and make it more possible for the oppressed to win more and greater battles against imperialism. Tiomin Resources said that it had no plans to stop its copper mining, which is what MIM would expect. Imperialists do not respond to polite requests that they give up power, they respond only to force which is equal to or greater than their own. For this reason, MIM supports the will of the oppressed to seize what is rightfully theirs by any means necessary. NOTES: Reuter Oct. 28, 1996. * * * SPORTS PLAYERS ARE BOURGEOISIE Interesting figures from the USA Today make clear that professional sports athletes are not exploited. If Michael Jordan put one year's salary of $30 million into a savings certificate bearing 5 percent interest, he would make $28,846 per week, enough to live on a whole year. Even if we cut that figure in half because of inflation, we can also calculate that Jordan should be able to put away two years salary and obtain the same result. At $9.0 million a year, Dennis Rodman would make $8,654 a week in interest. Such millionaire athletes are what we call bourgeoisie. Saccharin "Marxists" say that the players are exploited because they can be hired and fired. According to them, virtually everyone is exploited. These pseudo-Marxists are for everyone and therefore they stand for nothing. Heads of corporations are also hired and fired. However, they still control the means of production. People who collect enough dividends and interest to live on are capitalist class. They might happen to work and collect those dividends, but they are still bourgeois. The person on the street knows the difference between someone who has to work for a living and those who don't. Unfortunately, most calling themselves "Marxist" don't know the difference. They are spokespeople for the bourgeoisie corrupting the proletarian movement. NOTES: USA Today Nov. 12, 1996, p. c1. * * * POST-MODERNIST NEUTOPIA OPPOSES TURKISH REVOLUTION On November 4, Amnesty International hosted a talk and slide show on "Human Rights in Turkey" by post- modern Internet activist Doctress Neutopia. RAIL attended this presentation to distribute MIM Notes and Maoist Sojourner articles about the Maoist revolution in Turkey, including one article about the July hungerstrike by Turkish and Kurdish revolutionary prisoners. RAIL hoped that the event would be strong in its opposition to the U.S. backed Turkish state, and an academic article distributed by a member of Amnesty at the door to the event further bolstered this hope. The article contained a list of U.S. arms contracts with Turkey and clearly implied that the U.S. was politically--as well as militarily-- supporting Turkey's genocidal war against the Kurds. To our disappointment, the Doctress didn't talk much about conditions in Turkey, instead turning this into a talk on her world view as applied randomly to a country she happened to visit. RAIL had some very productive conversations with Amnesty members and members of the audience after the event was over on the differences between pacifism and revolution, as well as ways in which revolutionaries can include pacifists within the united front against imperialism. These conversations made attending the event worthwhile, although we wish it would have been possible to challenge Doctress Neutopia's spew more publicly. At best, the Doctress preached passivity, and at worst she encouraged anti-communism and for First Worlders to adopt a paternalist attitude towards revolutionary-minded Third World peoples. The slide show was mostly the sights and people that she met while attending a United Nations Habitat Conference in Istanbul. The lecture centered around her travels and her romance in Turkey. The Doctress supports "love-olution" which means that when people (or the Doctress?) resolve the incest from within the Virgin Mary-Jesus Christ relationship, good sex between men and wimmin will exist and then there won't be patriarchy. MIM argues that this theory is rubbish. Oppression exists because one group has power over another group. This group power is maintained by an entire system--from cultural ideas to the armed might of the government's military. To focus only on the cultural forms as Doctress Neutopia does, is to leave the entire system intact. In regard to gender, under the patriarchy MIM sees sex not as something empowering or liberating, but as part of an oppressive system of patriarchal dominance. Society has socialized women to eroticize their own submission. Rather than liberating women, the patriarchal system enslaves women. PATERNALISM Doctress Neutopia described her travels and how at a rally she felt stifled because since didn't speak Turkish, she couldn't tell when an appropriate time to speak to the crowd (in English) would be. The Doctress said: "It's very difficult to be in a country where you don't know the language [and] to be an activist." The implication was that she persevered and was an activist anyway. MIM would argue that it this is a correct observation, but would use this realization to go home where one can concretely engage the masses and their conditions. This admission by the Doctress exposes the bankruptcy of her criticism of the revolutionary left within Turkey. She criticized these organizations for raising their banners at a rally organized by mothers of people disappeared by the government. The Doctress opposes revolutionary ideologies not in synch with her "let's all get together in something mushy" approach. That the Doctress can't even name the organizations she is criticizing makes her criticism even more bankrupt. While MIM would also call Turkey a police state, we would not call Turkey barbaric as the Doctress did. While there is a polemical value to calling an action barbaric, we would not condemn a society as barbaric. But this language played well with mostly white audience, as calling Third World governments barbaric adds more legitimacy to movements designed for First Worlders to write letters "enlightening" the barbarian leaders. THE TOPIC Doctress Neutopia did address the advertised topic briefly by describing the length of some activists she met were held after being arrested. There was very little detail, and no mention of the very important struggle within the prisons of this summer. The Doctress did say "I wish I could say that human right abuses are just in Turkey, but they are here too." Again, there was no concrete link to the Amerikan government and it's war against the oppressed nations. A RAIL event on this topic would have made clear the link between the United States and the regime in Turkey, would have supported the revolutionary war against the government and would have connected that struggle to our struggle here. Doctress Neutopia ended her talk with an appeal to "end the war." The Doctress did not talk at all about the validity of the revolution, because her assumption was that it was bad. She wanted people to just get along. Instead, MIM and the Communist Party of Turkey, Marxist-Leninist, propose to end the war through communist led victory. AMNESTY Amnesty International does good work exposing some extreme abuses by governments against their people. Amnesty often brings enough attention to specific cases to protect the targeted individuals. However, MIM believes this type of work to be limited in several regards. First, it fails to end the ** system ** of terror against the people. This can only be done by overthrowing the minority who rule at the expense of the majority. Secondly, organizations like Amnesty use a bourgeois theory of "human rights." Maoists hold that there are no rights, only power struggles. The ability to be treated in a certain way, or for the bourgeoisie to hold its property or any other "right" is only supported by the ability to actually gain and defend it. There are no abstract "rights". Conceiving of justice in terms of "rights" allows the bourgeoisie to determine what is and is not a right. Capitalism forcing whole villages to starve or denying health care to Blacks in the U.S. is typically not thought of as a human rights violation. Finally, First World-based movements like Amnesty International are forced to work hard to avoid alienating potential supporters, so they ignore or tone down criticism of the First World--and especially the local First World--country. Within the United Snakes, Amnesty will sometimes focus timid pressure in some death penalty cases. People can most effectively organize in their own territory, but Amnesty chooses to ignore the torture in police stations and prisons right around the corner. Even from within the reformist perspective, the people who need to shut down the Control Units at Marion prison--cited as torture by Amnesty--live within U.S. government borders. For local issues not to be an integral organizing strategy is a mistake. We would be happy to work and struggle with members of Amnesty in the areas where we agree. NOTES: Synthgesis/Regeneration 11: A Magazine of Green Social Thought, Fall 1996, p. 9-11. * * * UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS PENNSYLVANIA PRISONER NOT STOPPED BY CENSORSHIP To the staff, I was certainly happy to receive a subscription to your organization's paper MIM Notes, but due to the restrictions this prison has put upon publications that don't promote the u.s.a. (united snakes of amerikkka), I'm going to have to have you cancel the subscription. Since you did inform me that I was to let you know whether or not I was receiving the paper, I'm doing so. I did enjoy the few issues I was able to receive before they started to censor it. Although I'm no longer able to receive your paper, that will not stop me from continuing to send you articles which give you another perspective to look at from inside here. I believe in what you are doing simply because this system is a dirty, racist, and corrupt one that needs to be brought down. Continue the good work. --A Pennsylvania Prisoner, Sept. 22, 1996 FAT, LAZY PRISONCRATS IN AMERIKKKA ...Being an inmate I can't even begin to describe just how incredibly, unbelievably disgusting the Department of Corrections truly is. It is hard to believe that there could be such incredible laziness and apathy on the part of the staff and the different institutions that I have unfortunately been incarcerated at. The sheer amount of laziness and incompetence is almost indescribable. It is utterly disgusting to think that the average correctional officer makes more money in one week of doing nothing sitting between a desk gossiping, joking or talking sports that a subsistence farmer in the third world makes in an entire year. Not only do the correctional officers (CO's) do nothing, but what few menial simple tasks that they are supposed to do, they do reluctantly at best. The correctional system of the state of Massachusetts is a sham. A multi- million dollar scam that does absolutely nothing to rehabilitate the inmates who are incarcerated, nor does it give them anything constructive to so with their time. Ninety percent of all funds spent on correctional institutions is spent on staff. The three institutions that I have unfortunately been incarcerated at are ridiculously overstaffed with twenty CO's tripping over each other, just to get out of each others way. There is no task too menial or simple that they do not try to avoid and are consistently trying to fake injuries to get out of 'work'. The simple fact is that CO's do not do anything even remotely similar to work. Their idea of work is to sit behind a desk and act like a juvenile delinquent. Nor do they respond well to any emergency or disturbance. Considering the outrageous amount of money that they make, one would at least expect them to at least do this competently. The entire criminal justice system is a multi- billion dollar scam that is thoroughly corrupt and filled with people who could not possibly work at a real job, one which requires anything more than showing up for 'work' and then doing nothing for eight hours. Meanwhile some people who actually do produce, construct and manufacture the things that we do use to make our lives comfortable and convenient, often do not live as well as the scum in the so-called criminal justice system. It is particularly disgusting for me being a former blue collar worker to witness this bizarre spectacle. The longer I am incarcerated, the more painfully obvious it is that the personnel at the correctional jobs could not possibly do any real work. Work that involved any decision making, any use of hand or power tools, anything involving measuring of any type of math, or anything that required any thought process. They are secure in their 'jobs' so long as they don't do anything except the absolute bare minimum and show up when they are expected.... The staff at prisons are no better than welfare recipients, or should I say no different than welfare recipients, as neither one are expected to do anything for their checks. The entire concept of rehabilitation is a bad joke at best. The trend to build more maximum security prisons in the future will turn prisons into little more than warehouses for humans. I would also like to call attention to the sickening amount of sheer waste that takes place daily at 'correctional' institutions across this county. The attitude of the staff does much to encourage this waste and abuse of the state's resources. At the same time, the staff can be very tight with these same resources if it inconveniences the inmates. At times it is almost impossible to obtain a bar of soap, although soap along with a number of other items are routinely wasted on a daily basis. ...It is impossible to even begin to articulate the sheer insanity of prison. As an example, it is cold and rainy outside and yet in my cell it is blowing cold air out of the air conditioning vent. All summer, nothing but warm air ever came out of the vent, but now that it is getting cold outside, cold air is coming out. Unfortunately this is all too common for prison, everything is ass backward and for the staff this is something that they joke about and think is funny. Of course most staff members have the mentality of juvenile delinquents even thought they are supposedly law enforcement officers. The mentality of a prisoncrat is thoroughly incomprehensible for any rational person to possible understand.... Unlike other people in the workplace, who must work within strict guideline, a prisoncrat is free to issue directives that are totally arbitrary in their nature.... A prisoncrat is under no restraints. He is free to do as he pleases, so long as it is considered constitutional by the courts. Even when a policy of the DOC [Department of Corrections] is found to be unconstitutional, prisons are notorious for either not changing the specific policy, or delaying [the change] as long as possible. Inmates are routinely denied due process, subject to harassment, abuse, etc. by the guards, and the administration. Rarely if ever does a guard get fired or even disciplined for their actions. Prisons give those who have an authority fix, but can't cut it as cops, a playground to abuse and raid the state treasury every week.... ...As I type these words it is a bright sunny day outside, and yet the main yard is closed today. Yesterday it was pouring rain and the yard was open. Does this make any sense? Of course not! But then again, nothing in prison makes any sense. Considering the mentality of the people attracted to this kind of 'work', one can not expect any of the rules and procedures to make any sense.... --A Massachusetts Prisoner, Oct. 2, 1996 MIM COMMENTS: Overall this letter does an excellent job demonstrating the laziness and incompetence of pigs, who are paid extremely well. It is intentional that prisoncrats are rewarded for their laziness and harassment of prisoners, it is not that the prison does not make sense. Prisons in Amerika are meant to control and warehouse people. Pigs put the air conditioning on in the winter and the heat in the summer, intentionally to torture prisoners. It is not because of the idiocy of prisoncrats that prisoners don't have soap and aren't allowed outside in nice weather. This is the point of prison, to punish and torture those who are a threat to Amerikkkan society. Remember it is the law enforcement officers and the imperialists who are the real criminals. Often so- called "juvenile delinquents" are just rebellious youth trying to survive in an oppressive society. While both welfare recipients and prisoncrats may not be expected to work for their check, they are not the same. People on welfare do not get paid to verbally and physically harass and torture human beings on a regular basis, but pigs do. It is the oppressive imperialist system that is the main enemy here. We must educate and organize in order to dismantle this system, stop the torture and free the oppressed. --RCG1, Oct. 29, 1996 A NOTE TO TEXAS PRISONERS T.D.C.J. Prisoners, if you ever had a problems getting U.S. mail into or out of any Texas Prison, note that a class action suit has been filed in Federal Court. The attorney for the plaintiff (inmates) class is: Mr. John Paul DeGeeter, with the Law Firm of Visson and Elkins, Attorneys at Law, 2300 First City Tower 1001 Fannin St., Houston, TX 77002. Write a brief summary of the problems you have had with incoming or outgoing mail, or describe your problems with mailroom staff and send it to Mr. DeGeeter. Keep your letter short, free of emotion and make it businesslike. --A Texas Prisoner, Sept. 26, 1996. **MIM received the following article from a Michigan prisoner. The article highlights his battle with a new and unproven method of drug testing . It was printed by the Spectator July 1996 on page 16, and was written by another person, possibly a fellow prisoner.** PRISONERS BALK AT NEW DRUG TESTING The controversial PharmChek sweat patch used as a mechanism to detect drug usage among prisoners has found its was into SMI-Central Complex. The patch began as a pilot program at the Egeler Facility and after what could be deemed as favorable results by the MDOC [Michigan Department of Corrections], the patch has replace the traditional urinalysis form of drug detection. However, prisoners at the Egeler Facility and SMI- Central Complex have made complaints as to the validity of the patch. At the Egeler Facility prisoners complained of irritation of the skin beneath the patch, rashes, puffiness and severe headaches. Prisoners at SMI-Central Complex have complained of similar reactions. A new twist has recently come into question that involves prisoners who allege to use no types of drugs, testing positive for morphine and opiate based drugs. Prisoners have also complained of being allergic to the adhesive used to secure the patch while others have made accusations that the adhesive literally removed their skin in the removal of the patch and yet no remedies have been provided. An incident concerning a prisoners whose patch was beginning to come off in the shower, and the prisoner reported the incident to an officer, who in turn observed and placed their initials on the patch to verify that the prisoner had not tampered with the patch. However, the prisoner received a major misconduct for substance abuse which has the potential of forfeiting his visits for 30 days on the first incident and on the second his visits will be permanently revoked. Also, the prisoner could forfeit all of his good time as a result of a bogus substance abuse infraction. Also prisoners who are found guilty of substance abuse will lose their job, potentially their parole, in addition to their security status. So as you can see, there are serious repercussions to being found guilty of a patch that has not yet been proven to be an accurate detection of drugs. The patch has been criticized in comparison to its traditional counterpart. No one seems to know why the MDOC has chose the patch over urinalysis. Some feel the MDOC has an agreement with the manufacturers of the patch. Others say testing with the patch is less of a financial burden upon the MDOC. For the most part, the only people who are exempt from patch testing are people who have excessive hair. "If a prospective donor has excessive hair on the parts of the body recommended for patch application, do not shave area. If excess hair is not able to be determined visually, apply patch. If the patch adhesive does not provide a complete seal around the absorbent pad because of hair, this person is not to be considered a prospective patch donor and another method of testing for drugs should be used." The PharmChek sweat patch has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration to be worn to collect sweat. According to a PharmChek medical briefing report, "PharmChek has also been cleared by the FDA to be used to collect sweat specifically to be used to test for cocaine, opiate and amphetamine use." What seems somewhat suspicious is that applications to FDA to use the patch for testing PCP and marijuana are currently being reviewed by the FDA. However, the PharmChek sweat patch can be used to test for all 5 drugs for criminal justice clients (prisoners). It doesn't make very much sense that the FDA would allow prisoners to be tested when they have not approved this product. Some say the MDOC has taken it upon themselves to implement the patch without FDA approval. Others say prisoners are in fact the product of field testing for the FDA which by law and policy is illegal. A medical briefing report, states that a most likely cause of an allergic reaction would be the adhesive on the patch. Allegedly no allergic reactions have been reported. However, the medical briefing states, "at the end of the training manual are pictures of what severe reactions look like." If no allergic reaction have been reported where did the pictures come from? Writer's Note: The FDA is being contacted by this office and we will give an up-date. WASHINGTON CENSORS MIM NOTES (MIM received this letter from the Washington Department of Corrections) Incoming mail to the offender may be disapproved for receipt for any of the following reasons: (i) The mail contains information that which, if communicated would create a risk of violence and/or physical harm to any person. I rejected per Headquarters. --Sgt. J. M. Sinprez, Oct. 1, 1996 Letters of protest may be sent to: Director, Division of Prisons or Community Corrections, PO Box 41100, Olympia, WA 98504-1100, or Sgt. J. M. Sinprez, State of Washington Department of Corrections, Clallam Bay Corrections Center, 1830 Eagle Crest Way, Clallam Bay, WA 98326-9723. MIM NOTES GETS TO SOME PRISONERS IN WASHINGTON STATE To my Comrades in arms, I am very pleased to inform you that MIM Notes are being delivered here at Airway Heights Correction Center. At this point in time, there has been only one issue rejected. Their reasoning was it was banned state-wide. I would also like to tell you that quite a few people have shown great interest in reading my papers. I am going to talk to the library here to see if we can get them [prison officials] to order them [MIM Notes]. I am very interested in any books or other avenues of obtaining more information and insight into the movement. Sincerely yours, --A Washington Prisoner, Sept. 30, 1996 TENNESSEE CONTINUES TO CENSOR MIM NOTES (MIM received this letter from Warden, Howard Carlton to a Tennessee prisoner) Rejected Mail - TDOC [Tennessee Department of Corrections] Policy 507 I am in the possession of a magazine addressed to you from "MIM" Distributors. The periodical contains extremely racist material and is discouraged inside a penal facility due to its direction toward violence, therefore, I am not allowing you to receive it. You have the right to appeal my decision to Mr. Jim Rose, Assistant Commissioner of Operations. You have 15 days to appeal, after which the magazine will be returned to the publisher. I suggest you cancel your subscription. His Address [Jim Rose]: Tennessee Department of Corrections, 4th Floor, Rachel Jackson Building, 320 Sixth Ave North, Nashville, TN 37243-0465 --Howard Carlton, Warden, Sept. 9, 1996 Letters of protest can be sent to Jim Rose at the address above or to Howard Carlton, Warden, Department of Corrections, Division of Adult Institutions, Northeast Correctional Center, PO Box 5000, Mountain City, TN 37683-5000 STUDY GROUP FORMED TO FIGHT REPRESSION IN ILLINOIS Comrade, I am writing to inform you that I have started a study group here at this hell hole and would like to request any and all material I can use to learn and teach with. I would appreciate any assistance you could provide. Thank you. --An Illinois Prisoner, Oct. 1, 1996 P.S. Pontiac Correctional Center (I.D.O.C.) has found a new way to prevent us from communicating with the free world. It is called confiscation of contraband. The following items are considered contraband in segregation: pens, pencils, markers, or anything that writes. This is in retaliation to us writing the director of the I.D.O.C. about the way Pontiac's warden deprives us Brothers in segregation the use of the phone. No use if in c- grade, knowing every resident in segregation is in c-grade. And how we can't have envelopes delivered to the outside by the state anymore even if you are indigent. We were also complaining about the warden stealing our allowance pay, stating that because we are in seg. we can't receive it even though the person is in Adm. Lock (meaning the warden feels your a threat to him and the institution, so he throws them in segregation). We're fighting now to end this injustice. Oh yeah, Illinois Department of Corrections (Pontiac, Menard, Stateville) are still on Lockdown! NEW STUDY GROUP FORMS IN TEXAS Dear MIM, ...My reason for writing is to congratulate you all on a fine, respectful and up front newspaper. Please keep up the good work. My other reason is to inform you all that some more guys and myself have launched a successful organization inside the prison walls. Which is a self- empowerment organization. The organization is called "Brothers of the Future". This organization has been created to be a catalyst for positive change within the members' lifestyles. We use our cultural studies as a spark that might ignite the fire of our ancestors into our population. We would like to start our own newsletter, whereas we can play a part in getting positive information into the hands of the people. Could you send me some information on how to start a newsletter and how to get our organization registered, whereas we can operate legitimately in the freeworld. If you know of some brothers who might be interested would you please have them write me. We are looking for outside members. --a Texas Prisoner, Oct. 2, 1996 MIM RESPONDS: We at MIM are glad that you like our publication MIM Notes. Maybe you would consider working on or expanding MIM Notes instead of starting your own newsletter. Why start a new publication when we already have one you can use. You could expand Under Lock & Key from 2 pages to 4, or have your own biweekly column. We at MIM would like to congratulate you getting organized and forming a group where you can study and discuss important issues. As for registering as an organization, that depends on the policy at your institution. It varies at different institutions. There is not reason to register on the outside, unless this is as a non-profit to save some money on mailings. Of course the FBI would love organizations to register with them, but why help them in their surveillance of the revolution. --RCG1, Nov. 13, 1996 MIM AND RAIL GET AROUND IN MASSACHUSETTS Friends! First of all, let me thank you for sending me MIM's paper and also MASS RAIL's publication. They are always welcome and though provoking to say the least. You guys have been the voice of the voiceless - the convicts serving time in Massachusetts, Texas, and nationwide, and it IS appreciated!!! I made copies of the Prison Awareness Week flyer, and posted them throughout the institution. It looks so nice and innocent, that it took a while for the pigs to catch on. It was not until they read the Prison Awareness Week Points of Unity, and studied the GREAT artwork (pad-locked mouth), that they caught on. Special State Police Officers, known as the "I.P.S." (Internal Perimeter Security), who even dress like Gestapo - quickly removed each one, while we were locked down. I fully expect an investigation shall follow. Screw em! I have also passed on all of your newspapers to friend, for them to read. Then, when all are finished, I slip them onto the newspaper rack in the prison library. There are so many already there, that al least for now, nobody has noticed, and the men are reading your words along with those of the local rags to which the institution subscribes. Perhaps others may try this technique, in their joints. I must tell you up front, that although I am thankful for all that you are doing for us, that I do not agree, (yet) with the Maoist/Communist ideology, and may never come totally to those beliefs. I am willing to listen. And, I would die to preserve the right for you to say what you say. You may have guessed that I am white. That does not make me a bad person. I agree with you that the struggle shall start with the most oppressed, an we all know it is not the white man. But, there are many of us inside the wall who support our brothers of all races and creeds. Do not discount us!... -- A Massachusetts Prisoner, Oct. 27, 1996 MIM RESPONDS: MIM agrees that the revolution must be led by the most oppressed and their interests. But MIM does not discount individuals who are white and have progressive or revolutionary ideas and practices. At the same time, MIM does discount the white nation, as a whole, as a revolutionary force. It is not in the interests of the white Amerikkkan nation to have revolution. They benefit from the imperialist spoils stolen from the majority of the world's people. MIM would encourage white individuals interested in ending oppression to commit nation and class suicide and join RAIL and MIM in the revolutionary struggle against imperialism. MAIL TAMPERING IN MAINE I received three copies of MIM Notes, on Sept. 20, 1996, so I know these maggots are holding back my mail. I really enjoyed reading MIM Notes, but since these scum bags are holding them I don't know if I'm going to get my copies or not.... In Struggle, --A Maine Prisoner, Sept. 26, 1996 ***WHAT NON-PRISONERS CAN DO TO SUPPORT PRISONERS*** *1. Struggle with, work with, finance and join MIM. The best way to support prisoners is to overthrow the system under which capitalists profit from the exploitation of prisoners. History shows that the best way to do this is to build a Marxist-Leninist- Maoist party. The oppressors will not give up their power without a fight. *2. Finance MIM's prison work. Our biggest bill each month is postage. Most of the prison comrades who read MIM Notes have no way of paying for it. So if you have money, send what you can afford. Every cent helps, and stamps are as good as cash to us. *3. Distribute MIM Notes and Notas Rojas. Bring the voices of prisoners and their supporters to as large and wide an audience of people as possible. Contact MIM for bulk rates and distribution tips. *4. Start or join a prison support group. MIM can provide advice and resources to help you build public opinion for prisoners and their struggles. *5. Fight censorship, beatings, torture and other fascist outrages. Under Lock and Key often features the addresses of prisoners' friends and enemies. Work with the friends and let the enemies know you're watching. (Don't expect to win the fascists to the side of humanity, however. See #1 in this list). *6. Stay in touch. Keep us informed of pro-prisoner work you do. Our readers might find it educational or inspirational. ***WHAT PRISONERS CAN DO TO BUILD MIM*** *1. Start a study group. This is the best way to share materials and ideas. In groups, prisoners can better benefit from the limited resources MIM has. *2. Get MIM Notes and MIM Theory into your library. This allows one copy of the paper to be seen by many comrades. *3. Contact people on the outside. MIM needs comrades and allies everywhere. Maybe you know people on the outside who want to subscribe to MIM Notes or distribute it. *4. Share materials. If MIM sends books or periodicals, please make sure that as many people as possible get a chance to read them. *5. Write MIM at least every three months. Otherwise, you will be dropped from our mailing list. There are many cases where your keepers throw out MIM Notes, so we need to know that you actually get it. Also, comrades are moved around a lot, especially those who are known to be political. Please let us know of any address changes as soon as you know them. *6. Make MIM Distributors an official distributor. Many prisons require registration before MIM can send books or other materials. Usually we can comply with these bogus rules. It helps immensely to have someone there do the reasearch and send us the proper forms. *7. Send money or stamps. Our biggest bill each month is postage. Most of the prison comrades who read MIM Notes have no way of paying for it. So if you have money, send what you can afford. Every cent helps, and stamps are as good as cash to us. Please make all checks payable to "MIM Distributors." *8. Write for MIM Notes or Notas Rojas. Prisoners write almost all of Under Lock & Key. We don't care if you know how to spell or write good English or Spanish. Write on any topic you like, it does not have to be a prison story. *9. Translate. If you can read and write English and another language fluently, let us know. Any translation work you do will help us make Maoist ideas accessible to more people. *10. Fight censorship. When you know of censorship of books or newspapers, investigate. Write to MIM to confirm what has happened, then see what you can do about it. *11. Keep in touch after your release. Many comrades stop doing political work after their release. Write to MIM as soon as you know where you'll be so we can hook you up with comrades on the outside.