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 129 JANUARY 1, 1997 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. FILIPINOS FILL STREETS MILITANTLY OPPOSING IMPERIALISM 2. BURMESE STUDENTS PROTEST FASCIST SLORC 3. SETTLERS ATTACK AFFIRMATIVE ACTION WITH PROPOSITION 209 4. "COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING" PROGRAM MEANS MORE PIGS IN AMHERST 5. NEW CIA CHIEF IS A BIG PIG (SURPRISED?) 6. DECLARATION OF THE PEOPLE'S CONFERENCE AGAINST IMPERIALIST GLOBALIZATION 7. PEOPLE'S CONFERENCE COUNTERS IMPERIALIST GLOBALIZATION 8. WILLIAM HINTON: CHINA'S "MISGUIDED OLD FRIEND" 9. GAY MARRIAGE ALMOST LEGAL IN HAWAII 10. RCP-USA'S RAYMOND LOTTA SPEAKS ON U.S. STRATEGY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY 11. MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE 12. UNDER LOCK & 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 * * * FILIPINOS FILL STREETS MILITANTLY OPPOSING IMPERIALISM THE PHILIPPINES, November 1996 -- Students, peasants, workers, women, religious and human rights activists, fisherfolk, academics, and activists of all sectors organized several lightning rallies(1), the all day march and demonstration against the United Snakes' Embassy in Manila following the Anti-Imperialist World Peasant Summit and the People's Caravan during Novemeber 1996 to demonstrate the force and strength of the masses in their opposition to imperialist globalization and economic domination through the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). The Filipino people as well as the international activists supporting their struggle for genuine agrarian reform and National Democratic liberation took to the streets, chanting, singing and standing up to expose the lies of the U.S.-Ramos regime and to oppose the imperialist attacks by the Japanese and Amerikan governments. In 1994, when the U.S.-Ramos regime argued that entry into GATT would improve the situation of the Filipino People, it promised an annual agricultural trade surplus of $3.4 billion. What actually happened in 1995 was that the trade deficit climbed to $2.21 billion. The regime promised an increase in 1995 of P7.6 billion in export earnings. What actually happened was a decrease of P0.43 billion.(2) Lies. Lies. Lies. The Ramos regime has facilitated the destruction of the Filipino people by opening up the economy for the dumping of cheap foreign imports, the superexploitation of Filipino labor and the extraction of natural resources to benefit transnational corporations and the entire chain of imperialist parasites. In 1995, agricultural imports rose by 43%. Unemployment in the farm sector increased by 154,000, though the promise was to have 500,000 new agricultural jobs.(2) The masses see through these lies meant to cover up the benefits which Ramos receives from cowtowing to imperialist interests. The masses have been organizing all sectors to fight against imperialism, bureacrat capitalism and feudalism. The masses are organizing a strong National Democratic movement to achieve national industrialization and genuine agrarian reform with a socialist character. The events of November 1996 highlight this strong opposition against imperialism and its lackeys. LIGHTNING RALLIES DEMONSTRATE OPPOSITION TO THE PILLAGE OF THE PHILIPPINES One lightning rally was staged on 22 November by students in front of the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex on Roxas Blvd. The spokesperson for the PCAIG said "We oppose globalization mainly because the schemes it promotes worsen rather than abate the uneven development of nations and the exploitation of people."(3) The 100 activists stormed past police and came within a block of the site where cabinet members were meeting. The protesters entered the Cultural Center complex and were almost to the Convention Center -the site of the APEC meeting -- when the police barricaded the path. Two loads of riot police with batons stopped the protesters from reaching the complex where 3,000 police and soldiers were guarding the complex.(4) Hundreds marched to denounce APEC on 21 November. They were stopped by the Makati riot police who prevented the protesters from getting through to the presidential palace. Protesters sang and danced at Don Chino Roces Bridge before being dispersed by the police. The rally was sponsored by BAYAN Bagong Alyansang Makabayan - New Patriotic Alliance.(5) Police used cars and towing vehicles to block the peaceful protesters. After a standoff for two hours, baton-wielding police chased the protesters and two were arrested.(6) One point emphasized at the rally was that globalization threatened the conditions of Third World peoples because the governments cut all social programs in order to entice foreign investment. GOONS ASSAULT ACTIVISTS AT OLONGAPO CITY RALLY 14 November, 500 activists headed toward Olongapo City - the site of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit -- in order to hold an ecumenical service and rally to work and organize among the masses. Organizing the masses in the area had already been curtailed by the regime's decree that the area would have a strict curfew and vehicle check points. The Manila Bulletin (15 November 1996) said that the rally, led by priests and nuns, was stopped one km away from the gates of Subic in a clash with 200 angry residents. This version of the story was mirrored on local television stations. The police (the ones in their uniforms) stood aside as the protesters were attacked saying that the 'residents' of Olongapo were very emotional about the issue. However, Olongapo residents informed BAYAN that they saw two Victory Liner buses at the back of the roadblock unloading about 100 men just minutes before the marchers arrived. The provocateurs attacked the peaceful demonstrators and injured 50 of them. It was not regular residents who assaulted the activists but "plainclothes police and military men, barangay tanods, and political aids and bodyguards of Richard Gordon, chair of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority."(7) Gordon's goons appeared again later on the National Day of Protest in Subic where they threw pig shit at peasant and student activists who oppose APEC. LEADERS ARRESTED IN ANTI-APEC CRACKDOWN Two officers of BAYAN were arrested on 22 November. Freddie Cunanan, the vice-chair of BAYAN chapter in Orion, was arrested for alleged possession of live ammunition. His brother Antonio, was arrested for alleged possession of subversive documents.(8) Sonia Soto, the BAYAN secretary general said that "The massive curtailment of the people's democratic rights to monitor the wholesale of national sovereignty and patrimony through the APEC summit has been the order of the day." Central Luzon Aeta Association (CLAA) said that ground troops from Basa Air field have tracked down two leaders of this indigenous people's organization. Guiao and Abuque have been outspoken leaders against mining operations in areas which are ancestral land in Floridablanca and Pora. The military warned the CLAA not to join the APEC People's Caravan.(9) (see MIM Notes 127 for more information on the crackdown including death threats to stop the People's demonstration against imperialist globalization.) NATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST ACROSS THE NATION Protest rallies on 25 November were held in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. The Luzon rallies were held in Baguio, San Fernando and Angeles in Pampanga, Tarlac, Olongapo, Metro Manila, Lipa in Batangas, Calamba in Laguna, Camarines Sur and Sorsogon. In the Visayas, strikes were held in Bacolod, Dumaguete, Cebu, Iloilo, Tacloban and Tagbilaran. In Mindanao, protests were held in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan, Kidapawan and General Santos. Ramos concentrated 50,000 troops in Central Luzon in preparation to stop the protesters.(10) To fill the space left from troops leaving for Subic, security guards filled in for the police in other provinces.(11) In addition to the military, undisclosed numbers of uniformed and plainclothed police, another 100,000 goons were organized from village guards to pump up the security for the conference. The Chief of the APEC organizing committee gave the low down in the preparation for security and was summed up in an article entitled "APEC security prepared for war." Seven back-up planes included the biggest military aircraft, the C-5 Galaxy Star Lifter from the US beefed up security for u.s. President Bill Clinton. The Star Lifter has the capacity of airlifting one battalion of troops and their equipment. Military officials said that the C-5 might be carrying Marines, their tanks, armored jeeps and helicopters. In addition the u.s. brought along three Boeing 747 jet liners, two cargo c-20s and one C-141.(12) A PNP intelligence officer also said that there are enough technicalities in the laws to prevent the protesters from pushing through with the motorcades. Technicalities and downright lies were used to delay the People's Caravan in Central Luzon. Hundreds of jeepneys (jeepsmodified in the Philippines for use as small buses) carrying approximately 15,000 protesters were stopped on the way to Subic by about eight different police charades. On the North Expressway between Caloocan and Quezon City, the police blocked the highway and were backed up by fire trucks with water cannons and other vehicles. This stop caused traffic to massively back up. People in the surrounding barangays (communities) gathered to watch the interaction of the police and the protesters. At first, the thousands of masses on the sides of the highway and on the overpass close to the point at which the police had created the barricade were only observing. Student organizers spent the hours stuck at the barricade circulating fliers about the People's Caravan and the impacts of APEC on the Filipino people both to the people along the sides and the people in vehicles stuck in the massive traffic jam caused by government schnanagans. The people slowly joined in, supporting the speakers on top of the semi-truck which traveled with the caravan serving as the platform for speeches and songs. On the semi-truck platform, revolutionary music rang out and further enticed the masses to join in the ad hoc rally. Families standing on roof tops beat pots and pans with the revolutionary rhythm. The masses in the crowd cheered the speakers and started to join in the chants of solidarity against APEC. As the rain poured down, some of the masses started to leave. Then, they slowly returned and filled the spaces along the road with umbrellas and tarps to continue to lend support to the protesters in the pouring rain. One man from a nearby barangay was near the police barricade and started to raise a clenched fist in the air, hung up a "JUNK APEC" poster along the cement wall and cheered in support of the People's Caravan. Speakers at the rally pointed out to the barricade that the police were standing in the rain without protection or food and emphasized that the support of the masses had provided the protesters with both protection from the rain and food. Additionally, at each police barricade, the speakers and protesters invited the police to hand over their guns to the side which truly represents the interests of their people - the Filipino people. The police were invited to join the struggle like retired Army General Raymundo Jarque who is now a military consultant for the National Democratic Front. The speakers warned the police that they should join today because tomorrow it will be too late. One time that the police stopped the people was on an off ramp. Right before the curve, the military had pulled a large semi across the ramp. The PNP told the story that the truck was broken down and that people had to take another route to Subic - a much longer route which would have military sniveling around attempting to stop the protesters as well. The PNP also told the story that people could not use the ramp because a bridge not far away had collapsed. Finally, after legal negotiation backed by fierce chanting by the protesters, the semi was removed and the Caravan pushed through. Because the military had been continuously playing these games, the people were all out of the jeepneys, marching into town, leading the way for the jeepneys to come through peacefully. The Caravan met up with thousands of additional supporters from BAYAN-Bataan. As the two groups met, cheers of "Ang tao, ang bayan, ngayon ay lumalaban!", "The people united will never be defeated!" rang out in Spanish, English, Tagalog and many other languages simultaneously. The brothers and sisters greeted one another with raised fists and marched on. Soon, the People's Caravan reached the bridge which had supposedly collapsed. It was fully intact and revealed yet another lie which the military had used as a tactic to stall the people. The military let the people marching through, but the jeepneys were stopped. This tactic forced the marchers to stop until the jeepneys were secured. The People's Caravan was delayed in Dinalupihan, Bataan for the majority of the night with jeepneys not moving all until about 5 am. Despite the reports which stated that it was the local residents countering the protesters, local residents supported some in the Caravan with water, tea, crackers and milk and said that they would have done more if they would have known the activists were going to be stuck in that spot overnight. Early the next morning, some 300 police were forced to step aside and allow the People's Caravan to proceed. Finally, the People's Caravan stopped about 20 km away from Subic in order to start the rally. The police had stopped the Caravan with a barricade, but by that time, major sections of the economy had been brought to a stand still, thousands of people were organized in the streets across the country and press from around the world recorded the protests. Other sections of the Caravan which had planned to meet up at Subic converged with the protesters in Bataan to start the very powerful rally. The militant organizations outlined the need for continued and fervent struggle against imperialist globalization which aims to round off completely free trade by the year 2020. At the end of the rally, delegates - including MIM - signed the Manila Declaration which rejects "the APEC process of global economic integration in service to a corporate agenda at the expense of the human rights, dignity and well being of the peoples of this region." The declaration states that the people "are not human resources to be mined, exploited and depleted." Some protesters were able to get inside to the site of the APEC summit. They staged lightning rallies and were met by Gordon's goons who threw pig shit and attacked activists with steel pipes and baseball bats. Though the main part of the People's Caravan was not able to reach Subic, the Caravan was a success. Nathaniel Santiago, secretary general of BAYAN said "Considering the large number of our enemy, we will not sacrifice our bodies, we will not sacrifice our force because that will be suicide." The organization of the militant activists in the Philippines has built massive public opinion against APEC and imperialist globalization both among the Filipino people and internationally. The rallies organized by BAYAN and the People's Conference Against Imperialist Globalization were widely accepted as the most successful amongst the different anti-APEC groups. This is not surprising since the rejectionists - those who broke away from the New Democratic movement during the struggles over the rectification campaign -- had already shown that opposing imperialist globalization was not their principal priority. The leader of the yellow (pro-imperialist) union Buklurand Manggagawang Philipino (BMP), Felimon "Popoy" Lagman, was arrested on 12 November for an alleged murder. In response, 200 labor unions associated with the sell-out BMP promised to drop plans of mass actions against APEC if the government freed Lagman. SUPPORT THE JUST STRUGGLE OF THE FILIPINO PEOPLE The National Democratic movement of the Filipino people is waging a just struggle against imperialism. It is a struggle to liberate the people to develop their own national industry and to create genuine agrarian reform. The goals to rid the country of imperialist rule, feudal relations, and bureaucrat capitalist regimes are concentrated goals which unite the broad masses of the people on a path toward genuine liberation. NOTES: 1. Lightning rallies are unannounced rallies which quickly converge on one area, show the force and strength of the masses and are dispersed by the police or their goons. 2. The Manila Chronicle, 23 November 1996. pp. A1&A9. 3. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, 22 November 1996. pp. A1&A4. 4. The Manila Chronicle, 22 November 1996. pp. A1&A8. 5. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, 16 November 1996. p. A1. 6. The Philippine Star, 23 November 1996. p. 4. 7. Ibid, 23 November 1996. p. 4. 8. APEC Watch & Dispatch, PCAIG Media Release #27. 9. The Philippine Daily Inquirer, 14 November 1996. p. A3. 10. Ibid, 20 November 1996. p.A1. 11. Today, 26 November 1996. p.1. 12. The Philippine Star, 20 November 1996. p.A1. * * * BURMESE STUDENTS PROTEST FASCIST SLORC by a MoRAIL comrade Rangoon, Burma -- 6 December 1996 - Students staged one of several recent militant protests against the fascist ruling State Law and Restoration Council. Protesters marched through the Thamai intersection and were cheered on by the entire work force of the Thamai Textile factory. The demonstration grew and reached about 10,000 as the masses joined in opposition to the SLORC.(1) On 3 December, at least 1,500 Burmese students from Yangoon demonstrated, waged sit-ins at Yangoon University and a 10-hour sit-in at a major traffic intersection. They demanded action against police officers who brutalized students during an October demonstration, the release of prisoners jailed by the military authorities and the right to form their own union. The military arrested 300 demonstrating students. The military claims that it as treated the students "gently" and merely escorted them back to their residences.(2) It's not clear whether they are telling the truth that no students have been detained or brutalized. The police beat and detained a Burmese journalist despite the fact that he had obtained permission from them to cover the demonstrations.(3) Gentle treatment in one situation by the military can only be seen as an attempt to cover for its history of brutal repression of the people of Burma. Burmese military officials said that they don't want a replay of the political uprisings of 1988 when thousands protested against Burmese demonitarization -- which made 80% of Burmese citizens' banknotes worthless. The government responded with repressive measures, killing more than 1,000 protesters. Subsequently, 10,000 - 20,000 students fled to the countryside to live with the masses. Many of them became armed guerrillas and helped form the Democratic Alliance of Burma.(4) US IMPERIALISTS TRY TO COVER FOR SUPPORT OF FASCISTS Bill Klinton's recent remarks in a November tour of Southeast Asia suggests that the United Snakes no longer sees the SLORC as a viable puppet for imperialism. "The role of drugs in Burma's economic political life and the regime's refusal to honor its own pledge to move to multi-party democracy are really two sides of the same coin, for both represent the absence of the rule of law. Every nation has an interest in promoting true political dialogue in Burma, a dialogue that will lead a fight against real crime, corruption and narcotics and a government more acceptable to its people."(5) More importantly for Klinton is that the imperialist nations have an interest in building a facade of democracy in order to ensure a steady and secure supply of superprofits flowing to the imperialist countries. The United Snakes makes broad criticism of the SLORC for being undemocratic and lawless. But Klinton et al. don't publicly denounce the SLORC's military-enforced use of slave labor to build roads, pipelines and hotels. And Klinton certainly does not criticize multinational corporations who reap huge superprofits in Burma. The Amerikan oil company Unocal's joint venture with Total of France and Burma's state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise is an example of this. The SLORC forcibly relocated villages and supplied forced labor for the project.(6) Klinton's wringing of hands and pledge to fight drug trafficking in Burma is disingenuous, given Amerika's track record in Burma. In the 1950s, the CIA helped the anti-communist Chinese Nationalist Amy settle in Burma's northern Shan Province and build a multi-million dollar heroin operation. The CIA provided the KMT with arms to force the Burmese hill tribes to expand opium production, provided them with business contacts in Laos and Thailand, and provided C-47 cargo planes and other vehicles to transport opium and heroin.(7) While the CIA was helping to create the world's largest heroin trade in Southeast Asia from the 50s to the 70s, CIA intelligence teams reported that the Chinese communists in the Yunnan province, which borders Northern Burma, had "transformed the patterns of hill tribe agriculture" and had virtually eradicated opium production.(7) The CIA still encourages heroin production in Burma. U Saw Lu, a leader of the Wa people in Shah province, reported SLORC involvement in heroin trade in Wa territory to the US Drug Enforcement Administration. He was tortured for 56 days for that. Undaunted, he submitted a drug eradication plan (entitled "The Bondage of Opium: The Agony of the Wa People, A Proposal and Plea") to DEA special agent Richard Horn. Horn planned on working with the Wa people to implement Lu's proposal. But CIA Chief of Station Arthur Brown sabotaged the effort by giving a copy of the proposal to SLORC military intelligence officer Col. Kyaw Thein. Horn was subsequently forced out of Burma by the State Department under pressure from the CIA in September 1993.(8) Just like their imperialist master, the SLORC is cultivating an image of actively eradicating heroin operations in Burma. The SLORC publicly bragged recently that drug kingpin Khun Sa had "surrendered" to them. Gen. Maung Aye, recently promoted to Vice-Chairman of the SLORC, has been on Khun Sa's payroll for years. Khun Sa's "surrender" basically amounts to a closer working relationship between Khun Sa's people and the SLORC in heroin production in the Shan province.(8) Khun Sa, got his lucrative heroin operations off the ground with help from the CIA, according to Jack Blum of the San Jose Mercury News.(9) According to The Nation, the state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) launders millions of dollars of revenues from heroin production.(8) It is likely that Burmese fascism will be brought to a halt through a bourgeois democratic revolution. Burmese students should be credited for rousing popular discontent and opposition to the SLORC. Liberal activists group can also take credit for internationally agitating public opinion against the SLORC. MIM and RAIL support the fight against fascism in Burma. We oppose imperialism and its puppets which resort to brutal repression to maintain the superexploitation of the masses. But only a democracy led by the proletariat in alliance with the peasantry will put an end to the oppression of the Burmese people. This democracy can only be achieved through Maoist revolution. We must continue to expose the Amerikan role in propping up fascists as well as expose the ways in which the imperialists attempt to create a facade of democracy when the masses take to the streets. But we also must be clear that the battle is not over if a bourgeois democratic revolution is won. The masses will demand an end to exploitation and oppression and for this communist revolution is the only answer. NOTES: 1. soc.culture.burma , "Current News in Burma" 2. Agence France Presse, 3 December, 1996. 3.soc.culture.burma, "The BurmaNet News" 4 December 1996. 4. BURMA TODAY: Land of Hope and Terror (December 1991) by Eric Kolvig (available on the internet at gopher://gopher.igc.apc.org:2998/7REG-BURMA, Search "Democratic Alliance of Burma") 5. http://www.soros.org/burma/clinton/html 6. See RAIL Notes (Fall 1996) 7. Al McCoy ''The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia'' (Harper & Row, 1972). 8. The Nation, 16 December, 1996. 9. San Jose Mercury News, 23 October, 1996. * * * MIM RE-LEASE PROGRAM MIM doesn't have a Re-Lease program, but you are the one who is going to make that change. Help ex- prisoners get a new lease on life. Mao said we in the imperialist countries would have to fight long- -dare we say it?--tedious legal battles in the imperialist countries. MIM channels the anger of the oppressed into revolutionary politics. We aim to set up independent business institutions of the oppressed so that prisoners can make a living in this rotten system--legally--while staying true to the revolutionary cause. Find out how you can participate with no financial loss to yourself. Contact MIM. * * * SETTLERS ATTACK AFFIRMATIVE ACTION WITH PROPOSITION 209 by BayRAIL comrades Settlers in kalifornia passed proposition 209, ending all affirmative action programs in the state while making it possible for businesses and colleges to discriminate in hiring policies and admissions on the basis of biological sex. Although the implementation of prop 209 has been temporarily halted by a judge, there is much to analyze in the actions taken against 209 to mobilize the masses to eradicate national oppression in the so-called united states. Settler masses and the creators of 209 claim that the proposition aims at disregarding race as factor in hiring and admissions programs. They claim that the initiative was drawn up as a way to end reverse discrimination because they felt that they were getting a raw deal with affirmative action. First, races do not exist. Race is a social construction manipulated to perpetuate privileges for the oppressor nations. Different nations exist within the borders of the so-called united states. These nations have separate histories, cultures and material interests. The white settler nation dominates oppressed nations within Amerikan borders just as imperialists reap the benefits of Third World labor, steal Third World natural resources and dominate Third World economies, political structures and cultures. Second, settlers are not victims of national oppression. Though settlers supporting prop 209 pose as victims getting a raw deal, they are protecting their national interests in continuing inadequate education and opportunities for oppressed nations. BayRAIL supports affirmative action because it benefits the oppressed. These benefits help to lessen great inequalities between nations within the United Snakes. However, we do not delude ourselves into thinking that the oppressor will create laws that truly liberate the oppressed. The oppressed cannot expect to make real gains by participating in the imperialist's elections. Under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, elections are always rigged in the favor of the oppressor. Since the oppressors wish to maintain capitalist production relations, they will not concede an equal status to the oppressed without a fight. The oppressed need to build independent institutions and strengthen the anti-imperialist United Front in order to kick the oppressors out and seize state power. Unfortunately many groups posing left spread the petty bourgeois myth that the oppressed can rely on imperialist electoral politics to make substantial gains. The events following the November election at the university of kalifornia, berkeley serve in exposing this type of reformism. BAMN! BUILDING TAKEOVER On November 6th a coalition of students forcibly occupied sather tower, a prominent structure of the uc berkeley campus. They issued demands from the tower entrance and hung banners calling for revolution. As the event progressed, they were met with straight out fascist repression by the pigs and were removed by brute force. BayRAIL opposes this fascist repression. Repression from pigs and growing white chauvinist oppression illustrate the necessity of the left and its leadership to oppose imperialism and to forge the most correct path forward to gain liberation. The coalition of students were led by the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action by Any Means Necessary (BAMN!).(1) (BAMN! is a front group of the Revolutionary Workers League (RWL), an adventurist, Trotskyist organization). BayRAIL opposes the misleadership of BAMN! because its strategy kowtows to white nation workers despite these workers interest in maintaining settler hegemony. BayRAIL supports the masses in taking over imperialist buildings because they are enemy institutions. The masses are justified in taking such actions against imperialism. But the key to turning such tactics into victories is correct leadership and correct line. These actions must be taken at the appropriate time in the struggle when the masses can win rather than face increased repression from pigs who are much stronger. And these actions must be part of a larger anti- imperialist united front led by the proletariat. BAMN! SEEKS MEDIA COVERAGE TO INSPIRE SETTLERS BAMN! claimed that the media would cover the occupation and that the people of the world would see and be inspired by the students. BayRAIL pointed out that the majority of the media which cover these actions serves the bourgeoisie and its agenda. Instead, BayRAIL works with the masses in building independent institutions including independent media rather than attract repression in the name of bourgeois publicity. BAMN! expected that coverage of the occupation of sather tower would inspire Amerikans to take militant action against 209. Settlers support the repression of progressive actions because squashing movements for change is in their interests. As in the LA Rebellion, settlers would not be motivated to take action on behalf of the oppressed if they saw resistance on CNN. UNITY WITH ELECTED OFFICIALS? BAMN! believes that some politicians who oppose 209 are progressive. BAMN! wishes to ally itself with these politicians to show that the "masses" stand united against 209. There is a mass base for fascism in the united snakes because the workers BAMN! so adamantly supports as the "working class" understand their privileged settler nation status and want to maintain the status quo. Most politicians in Amerika do not oppose 209 because their supporters created 209. Some politicians dissent to appeal to the "left" voters. And it would be a mistake to disregard concrete actions of some bourgeois elements which can actually further the causes of the oppressed. As long as a fierce anti-imperialist strategy is maintained, temporary alliances with these politicians on some issues is correct. We can use the contradictions between bourgeois politicians to defeat attacks on affirmative action while maintaining strong proletarian consciousness and leadership (2). BAMN! also claims that the politicians who support 209 want to make uc berkeley the bastion of reaction. BayRAIL thinks that the university of kalifornia has always been the bastion of reaction and that there is no sense in trying to deny this or making it appear as if at some point the institution was "pure" or dedicated to progressive ideals. The university of kalifornia is a military institution built on stolen land by stolen labor. REVOLUTION IS IN THE HANDS OF THE OPPRESSED MASSES - NOT THE LABOR ARISTOCRACY BAMN! members revise Marxism to defend their tactics. BAMN! claims that oppressed masses need to unite with the labor aristocracy and that a successful revolution would have to be supported by the white working class. Objectively, the white working class will not support the liberation of the oppressed masses given that they benefit and hold a privileged settler status due to the exploitation of those masses. The oppressed do not need the labor aristocracy to win liberation and should not make concessions in the interests of the labor aristocracy at the expense of genuine liberation. BAMN! defined exploitation as any difference in earnings. When the contradictions in this definition were pointed out, BAMN! changed their position andsaid members of the working class who earn only enough to be kept alive have revolutionary potential. To this BayRAIL pointed out that Amerikan workers own homes, two or three autos and have fat pension plans and more than what is necessary to survive. REVISIONIST REFORMISM WILL NOT WIN NATIONAL LIBERATION Because BAMN! is revisionist in theory and materialist analysis, it is reformist in practice. Because BAMN! has delusions of bourgeois democracy and rallies behind the white working class, its actions naturally cater to that class. BAMN! works against real revolution for the world's oppressed and objectively feeds the mouths of the imperialists with reformism. BayRAIL must say that the proletariat makes revolution. Concerning the proletariat, this is what the Comintern in Lenin's time had to say: "The imperialist super profits of the advanced countries enabled and enable them to bribe the upper strata of the proletariat, to throw them crumbs of these super profits drawn from the colonies and from the financial exploitation of weak countries, to create a privileged section of skilled workers . . . without fighting not only against the trade union bureaucracy but also against all petty bourgeois manifestations of the craft and labor aristocracy . . . without calling in the lower strata, the broad masses, the real majority of the exploited, there can be no talk of the dictatorship of the proletariat."(3) In Amerikkka the "real majority of the exploited" are Black, Latino, and First Nations and immigrants from the Third World. To say otherwise is first world chauvinist sentimentality, not Marxism. DOWN WITH REVISIONISM BayRAIL does not propose avoiding all reforms. But we will not replace proletarian consciousness and leadership with bourgeois leadership. In the short run, revolutionaries may benefit from bourgeois reforms (in the form of free speech laws, Affirmative Action, etc.). The important element, as Lenin said, is to make sure that when forming alliances with bourgeois elements in order to hold the bourgeoisie to its own laws, or to fight a winnable battle for some reform that will concretely benefit the revolutionary cause, the revolutionaries are always free "to reveal to the working class that [the revolutionaries'] interests are diametrically opposed to the interests of the bourgeoisie."(4) BayRAIL wants the oppressed not to give in to bourgeois ideology but rather seek to destroy it. With access to information and correct leadership, the oppressed will not choose the road of revisionism and reformism but will instead work for genuine change and greater goals than single-issued reforms. The oppressed must build a front against the principal contradiction between imperialism and oppressed nations. This can be done by working with RAIL in exposing the crimes of Amerikkkan imperialism and building public support for the struggles of the oppressed here and abroad, building independent proletarian media, and by expanding the political consciousness of the masses. NOTES: 1. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action by Any Means Necessary (BAMN) hotline + voice mail (415) 267-30672. 2. For more on this see MIM Theory 7, "The Anarchist Ideal" pp.25-31, and MT6, "The Stalin Issue", pp.75-78. Both are available from MIM for $6. 3. Jane Degras qtd. in MIM Theory 10, "Coming to Grips With the Labor Aristocracy", p.24. Available from MIM for $6. 4. Lenin, V.I. What is to be Done? International Publishers, NY: 1943, p.21-22. Available from MIM for $5. * * * "COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING" PROGRAM MEANS MORE PIGS IN AMHERST by a RAIL comrade AMHERST, MA - Early November, 1996 -- A RAIL comrade attended a community policing meeting. Town officials, cops and committee members outnumbered community members by at least two to one and youth were completely unrepresented. The meeting was an attempt to build a partnership between Amherst citizens and the police department. Many Amerikans - specifically from oppressed nations -- do not trust or respect the police and are pissed about brutality and corruption. The police realize this and try to win public support through the community policing programs which are sweeping Amerika. The police agencies do this by co-opting the community by making them part of the police force. This strategy reduces the level of resistance from the public and further enables the pigs to serve imperialist interests with a helping hand. BENEVOLENCE HIDES PIGGY PROLIFERATION The focus of the meeting was on the mission statement, police training, community training, the problem of youth and crime prevention. "The mission of the Amherst Community Policing Council is to create an interactive approach to problem solving and problem prevention based upon a partnership between Amherst citizens and the Amherst Police Department. We will use a practical approach, and respect for the dignity of each individual and the diversity of our community, to broaden communication and collaboration between Amherst citizens, neighborhood organizations, the Amherst Police Department and other departments, in serving and strengthening our community." It sounds good, but what does it mean in practice? First, Amherst is planning to increase its police force. For the town government policing team, it is planning on having three officers to cover North, South and Downtown, plus a D.A.R.E officer, a Youth officer, three mounted patrol, two bicycle patrol and other officers as needed or assigned. Second, the police are recruiting members of oppressed nations to pig on their own people. One discussion pertained to the difficulty of hiring and retaining female officers and officers from oppressed nations. The pigs tried everything -- with a test/without a test -- but "minorities" just don't seem to be qualified. Now they work with NOBLE (New England Black Law Enforcement Officers) to recruit pigs from oppressed nations within US borders. While the cops attempt to co-opt more oppressed nationals, they sidestepped the issue of cultural sensitivity training, making the excuse to avoid even this liberal band-aid because the expenses are too high. Third, the pigs will happily train random citizens to serve as community cops. The pigs present were eager to provide the community members with a citizen police academy. This academy would meet one evening a week, for about 8 weeks. The Town Manager, explained how it's "easy to get hooked" on the details of crime fighting. It costs about $3,500 for 20-30 people to attend this pig academy. The chief of police was ready to take down names and sign people up. It's to the police's advantage to co-opt the community members early on. COP TARGETS THE UNREPRESENTED YOUTH One of the most important issues at the meeting was that of youth. There were no youth at the meeting and none were on the committee. However, this is a large focus of community policing -- especially after "the incident" this past summer. Six youth were verbally and physically assaulted and arrested by police. Very few details of the incident or police brutality were mentioned at the meeting. Participants explained afterward that several youth were arrested at an outdoor movie program. One youth was allegedly handcuffed then hit in the eyes with pepper spray at very close range. The youth said that he was then denied medical treatment, kicked into a cell and hosed down 'like an animal' until his clothes were soaked.(1) There have been several cases reported of police brutality -- mostly against oppressed nation youth. One womyn said that people are not addressing the need of kids. This launched a discussion about how youth don't have proper values, are not in school, and just hang around causing trouble. From there, participants talk about crime prevention and what options there were to get kids off the streets. One individual asked for specifics to prevent crime or issues with youth. "Lock up the bad guys" one pig quipped, "Heh, Heh." The police chief said that any law enforcement officer knows that information is key. In order to prevent it we have to know about it. Then he called for pigs in the schools. The Town Manager said that the local government couldn't force pigs in the schools, but thinks that they should talk to them about it. When it was pointed out that youth were being discussed without anyone to represent youth, committee members said that it was already tried and it didn't work. This group which in print "respects the dignity of each individual" completely disregarded the youth as citizens. The youth were viewed as trouble-makers who only cause chaos. The solution to dealing with them is to have more police and hopefully even get police in the schools. Community policing is the up and coming wave of pig oppression. The police and local governments bill it as community control of police and a cooperative effort to fight crime. In practice, COP enables the pigs to infiltrate the neighborhoods in increased numbers and round up more youth and oppressed nationals to ensure that the status quo is maintained. COP makes everyday people part of the police machinery. With these co-opted citizens, the pigs have an a better ability to arrest, harass and control more people. Essentially this means that more oppressed nationals within US borders will be confined within prisons across Amerikkka. One sentiment which MIM agrees with from the meeting is that people and communities have power. The police would love to take that power and use it to serve the imperialist interest of further smashing the strength of oppressed nations and youth within the United Snakes. MIM urges people to use community power to organize and work against the Amerikkkan system of imperialist oppression. Make the cops less effective, and work for revolution. NOTES: 1.) Daily Hampshire Gazette, 24-25 August, 1996. * * * NEW CIA CHIEF IS A BIG PIG (SURPRISED?) In December, Clinton proposed that Anthony Lake be the new head of the CIA. Lake is stepping down as National Security Advisor, from where he crafted Amerikan foreign policy. Lake is an appropriate choice for Amerika's first post-Cold War president, because Lake is firmly focused on World War III against the Third World. Lake is well known for his theory of "rogue states" -- those Third World nations that challenge U.S. hegemony in their regions. He views these nations, such as Iraq, Iran, Libya, north Korea and Cuba as the main enemies of the United Snakes. As National Security Advisor, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA reported to him. So in that sense, this could be seen as a demotion for Lake, although given the extreme autonomy of the CIA from the rest of the Amerikan military establishment, MIM doubts that this is any form of punishment from Clinton. It's just a different job with that will allow Lake to be a little more hands-on in the killing of Third World peoples. In 1993, Lake said speaking for the Clinton Administration: "... we do not seek to expand the reach of our institutions by force, subversion or repression." This is a blatant lie. His predecessors in the CIA supported the overthrow of elected Haitian president Aristide. Later, these new puppets were discredited internationally, but the CIA continued to train their repressive army. Eventually, Lake oversaw the armed invasion of Haiti to replace the puppet leaders with more respectable ones. Lake has overseen the bombing of Iraq as well as numerous CIA operations against the Iraqi regime. His "theory" of "rogue states" holds that "such reactionary, 'backlash' states are more likely to sponsor terrorism and traffic in weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile technologies. They are more likely to suppress their own people, foment ethnic rivalries and threaten their neighbors." In reality, the United States, with more than 30,000 nuclear weapons, is capable of destroying the world many times over and is the only country that has used nuclear weapons against another country.(2) The United States refuses to promise to not use nuclear weapons first and has threatened to use nuclear weapons over 20 times.(3) The U.S. has also fielded tactical nuclear weapons during combat, and since the late 1970s has actually had a policy committing the U.S. to a "First use" nuclear policy.(4) Many of the so-called "backlash" states are objecting to Amerika's insistence that they renew the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty, which preserves the inequality between the nuclear haves and have nots. In 1993, the United States led the world in the export of weapons and weapons technology to the Third World, with 76% of the market.(5) As far as "ethnic rivalries", Amerika imprisons Blacks at four times the rate apartheid South Africa did(6), and has carried out many murderous repression campaigns against domestic revolutionary and dissident movements.(7) Instead of being a warrior against the most dangerous backlash states, Lake is one of the top leaders of the #1 backlash state, headquartered right in Washington, D.C. NOTES: 1. Anthony Lake's remarks at John Hopkins University September 21, 1993, p. 1. 2. Gerson, The Deadly Connection: Nuclear War and the U.S. Connection, p. 36. 3. Gerson, p. 15, 39-40. 4. Gerson, p. 10, 15. 5. Peace Action Education Fund Fact Sheet; Grimmett, p. 51. 6. "Penal Reform International using data from the Council of Europe and the Australian Institute of Criminology," in William Dan Perdue, Systemic Crisis: Problems in Society, Politics and World Order (NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1993), p. 515, 516. 7. See Agents of Repression: The FBI's War against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement by Ward Churchill and Jim VanderWall. In 1995 MIM and RAIL led a protest against the selection of then National Security Advisor Lake as Commencement Speaker at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Write for copies of the pamphlet "The politics of Commencement 1995: Anthony Lake, U.S. Imperialism & the University" send stamps to RAIL to pay for postage of a small bundle. * * * DECLARATION OF THE PEOPLE'S CONFERENCE AGAINST IMPERIALIST GLOBALIZATION Quezon City, Philippines, November 21-23, 1996 We, participants in the People's Conference Against Imperialist Globalization, representing people's organizations, nongovernmental organizations, solidarity groups, movements, networks and individuals from 34 countries in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, North America and Europe, have come together to confront a common danger and respond to a common challenge. Monopoly capitalists, frontlined by multinational/trans-national corporations (MNCs/TNCs) backed by their respective states, are in haste to expand and tighten their rule in the world. They have created the bandwagon of "globalization" with its three elements: trade and investment liberalization, deregulation and privatization. These monopoly capitalists, invariably called modern-day imperialists or neocolonial powers, use globalization to extricate themselves from three decades of recurring prolonged recessions induced by the international debt crisis and the crisis of overproduction. In the post-Cold War era, the traditional imperialist powers that have long divided the world among themselves -- the United States, the leading states of the European Union, and Japan -- are colluding more than ever. They connive, using their MNCs/TNCs, to exploit and oppress the peoples of the Third World and of the former Soviet bloc, and their own workers too. But in the inevitably intensifying rivalry, each power plots to penetrate and take over the other's domains and redivide the world. Thus, the promised "new world economic order" of prosperity and peace is far from coming. Emerging instead is a new world disorder far more destructive of the lives of billions of peoples, in industrial and non-industrial countries alike. The prescribed path, free trade, is not free at all. To advance their unified goal, the major imperialist powers have harnessed various instrumentalities. Chief of these are the United Nations Security Council, the International Monetary Fund- World Bank tandem and its nefarious structural adjustment programs, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, lately restructured as the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as international, regional and bilateral military alliances and agreements. Reactionary regimes, particularly of imperialist client-states in the Third World, have conspired with imperialism to further this goal. The major and minor imperialist powers are using regional free trade blocs -- principally the European Union, the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) -- to speed up the WTO trade and investments liberalization timetable. Meantime, they secure their national and regional markets. With NAFTA in its tight grip, the US has seized the initiative in APEC to regain economic preeminence over Japan in Asia-Pacific, check China's growing influence, and consolidate American geopolitical hegemony in the region. In face of this situation, we, participants in the People's Conference Against Imperialist Globalization hereby resolve collectively to oppose globalization in every way and by every means possible in our respective countries and worldwide. We denounce and oppose the subservient client- states for selling out their peoples' interests. They connive with imperialism in promoting distorted concepts of "democratization," "civil society empowerment," and "sustainable development" in a bid to disarm the people and co-opt their organizations into the imperialist stratagem. We oppose imperialist globalization because the schemes it promotes worsen the uneven development among and within nations, intensify the exploitation of peoples, and deepen inequality and social polarization. They accelerate the concentration of wealth in the handful of imperialist states, their MNCs/TNCs and the billionaire-owners, and drive the majority of nations into deeper impoverishment. These schemes also foster mindless consumerism and trash Western culture that warp, marginalize or efface the cultures of Third World peoples and debase their humanity. Globalization schemes are wiping out jobs and livelihoods in industry and agriculture, both in industrial and non-industrial countries. Evidence we have seen undoubtedly show that globalization is causing mass layoff of workers via "downsizing," "labor flexibilization," "labor-only contracting" and other management designs; massive landlessness and worsening forms of feudal and capitalist exploitation of peasants and farm workers; displacement, commodification and modern-day slavery of women; eviction of the urban poor; deprivation of indigenous peoples of their ancestral lands and patenting of their human genes; wanton human rights violations and political repression; commodification of migration; razing of the environment; de-industrialization and bankruptcy of small and medium enterprises; cutdown or total absence of state social services; rising costs of consumer goods and services and declining levels of income and standards of living of the majority of the people. They also aim to deprive the toiling masses of their capacity to organize and effectively fight for their rights and survival and to resist imperialist domination. No wonder workers and peasants of many countries, men and women alike, have raised their banners in defiance. They and their fellow oppressed represented in this conference -- indigenous peoples, women, youths and students, intellectuals, the middle classes, among others -- are determined to shatter the myths and expose the false promises of globalization by showing its all-too-real adverse impacts on peoples' lives and environments. More than that, they are waging varied forms of struggles to frustrate globalization. By its own rapacity and cupidity, monopoly capital is fast bringing together the world's exploited and oppressed peoples to share their common pains as well as their common struggles and aspirations. In more and more countries, they are developing new means of struggle or taking up proven ones, including the revolutionary recourse to armed struggle. Having resisted and survived state reaction and brutal repression, the people are resolved to win. We hereby resolve to carry out the following actions: Fully expose and vigorously oppose the deceptive slogan, destructive schemes, and the programs and policies of globalization in our own countries and worldwide; Junk APEC, NAFTA, the European Union and the WTO as imperialist instruments to further subjugate and exploit the toiling masses and peoples of the world; Fight for the dismantling of imperialist military alliances, the abrogation of Cold-War vintage security agreements, and the withdrawal of overseas US military bases and troop deployments. Struggle to establish a social, economic, political and cultural order in our countries that shall ensure freedom from foreign domination and domestic exploitation and oppression. Develop our natural and human resources for our peoples' well- being. Foster international cooperation based on equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit. Resist imperialist economic, political, military and cultural aggression, political repression by reactionary states. Campaign for the freedom of all political prisoners, and demand justice for the victims of all human rights violations; Strengthen our anti-imperialist solidarity, perseveringly build our national organizations and alliances and enhance our capacities to carry out both independent and coordinated action programs. Forge strong solidarity links among ourselves and with other anti-imperialist and progressive organizations to further advance the world's anti- imperialist movement. MIM COMMENTS: Unfortunately, MIM was unable to sign the "Declaration of the People's Conference Against Imperialist Globalization," despite our unity with its general anti-imperialist thrust and virtually all of its contents. As a demonstration of our overall unity with the statement, we reprint it here with a response to clarify our disagreements. We want to hear from our readers who are eager to advance the struggle against imperialist globalization and would like to prepare for next year's People's Conference. MIM did not because the statement includes an incorrect statement in the third paragraph that the imperialist powers "exploit and oppress...their own workers...." and one further down which says, "Globalization schemes are wiping out jobs and livelihoods in industry and agriculture, both in industrial and non-industrial countries." As a group, imperialist country workers are not exploited, meaning they are not paid less than the value of their labor. In fact, imperialist country workers are paid more than the value of their labor, a bribe from the imperialists made possible by the imperialists' superexploitation of the peoples of the neocolonies. And while industrial jobs are being wiped out in the industrialized imperialist countries, they are being replaced by managerial and other white-collar office jobs. While the world's majority suffers, imperialist country workers benefit as a group from imperialist globalization. MIM did not argue to replace these passages with ones correctly stating that imperialist country workers in fact materially benefit from the exploitation and oppression of the world's majority (albeit at the price of their humanity). After all, the presence of imperialist-chauvinist revisionist parties from the imperialist countries would have ensured a deadlock. Instead, MIM sought a compromise position which would have left the statement silent on this question by removing the words "and their own workers too" from the third paragraph and removing the words "both" and "industrial and" from the other contentious passage. MIM's compromise position was rejected, so MIM was unable to sign the statement. Before discussion on the topic was closed, MIM's presentation of its position prompted criticisms of MIM from an imperialist country activist who said, "Workers of the world should unite, not divide." and by an activist from the U.S.-based Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), who repeated the first critic's comment and added that MIM's position is unscientific. In response to the first comment, it is true, the workers of the world should unite. The question is, on what basis? The workers of the world should unite on an anti- imperialist basis, but wishing it will not make it so. It is an unfortunate fact that imperialism has created a split in the working class, one whose basis Lenin was able to pinpoint in his time. Lenin's analysis of the basis of opportunism even explains the willful amnesia on this point suffered by so many of his supposed followers in the imperialist countries. Ultimately, the kind of unity the critics were advocating is the kind where the proletarians unite with the labor aristocracy on the latter's terms. No thanks! As for the FRSO activist, who professes to support Maoism, he should have followed Mao's admonition, "No investigation, no right to speak!" When questioned later, the FRSO activist admitted he had not read MIM's theory journals on the subject. In fact, MIM is confident enough of the scientific validity of its position that the pages of MIM Theory are open to our critics. We hope that the FRSO or the individual FRSO activist will inform us in writing of their criticisms of MIM Theory #1 and #10. For activists in the imperialist countries, the question of the nature of the class forces in the imperialist questions is a dividing line. Those in the imperialist countries who are genuine Marxists and thus scientific socialists recognize that one of the most basic facts about the class forces in the imperialist countries is that the majorities in the imperialist countries do not suffer economically from imperialism, and in fact are bribed with a share of the superprofits extracted from the neocolonies by the imperialists. Those in the imperialist countries who claim to be Marxists and deny this basic fact are in fact revisionists. This question is of the same level of importance in the imperialist countries as the question of the semi-feudal and semi-colonial nature of the Philippines is in the Philippines. The difference, however, is that the correct position on the basic political-economic nature of the Philippines has hegemony within the broadly-defined Filipino left, while MIM still has much work ahead of it to win hegemony for the correct position on the basic political-economic nature of the U.S. settler- empire and the imperialist countries generally within the U.S. settler-empire and the imperialist countries generally. To this end, MIM distributes a number of reading materials supporting our position, some by MIM and some by non-MIM authors. Readers interested in studying this question are encouraged to write to MIM with questions and/or requests for reading materials. Those who are interested in understanding the basis for MIM's position in the Marxist classics can start by looking at what Lenin said was the basis for the opportunism which split the Second International. * * * PEOPLE'S CONFERENCE COUNTERS IMPERIALIST GLOBALIZATION METRO MANILA, Philippines, 23 November 1996 -- While the U.S.-Ramos regime hosted the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, 200 anti- imperialist delegates held a summit of their own -- the People's Conference Against Imperialist Globalization (PCAIG). PCAIG delegates came from 34 countries spanning six continents. Today was the last of three days of speeches, discussions, workshops and cultural presentations which exposed the imperialist strategy of globalization to further superexploit the peoples of oppressed nations. APEC is a forum whose leadership is contested. The US imperialists have strengthened their hand in directing APEC, parrying the Japanese imperialists' challenge. Both imperialist groupings are united, however, in using APEC as a forum for the advancement of trade liberalization in the Asia Pacific region. By brandishing the GATT and its implementing arm, the World Trade Organization -- which requires participating countries to remove barriers to free trade -- the imperialists are furthering their interests in the domination of Third World economies. The US and Japanese imperialists exacted commitment from the other APEC members for full liberalization by 2010 for countries with industrial economies and by 2020 for the others. In the APEC meeting, each member country is expected to come up with a specific action plan to meet this goal. The PCAIG, in contrast, was a people's conference. The delegates mainly represented organizations which share the anti-imperialist sentiments of the world's oppressed majority. The US delegation included (among others) Joseph Gerson of the American Friends Service Committee, William Hinton, and representatives of MIM and mass organizations devoted to solidarity work with the Filipino and Mexican people's struggles, including PESANTE, the Philippine Peasant Support Network. The conference's theme was "Strengthen International Solidarity and Advance the People's Struggle Against Imperialism." A few speakers tackled such broad themes as the role of multinational corporations in APEC and globalization, while most focused on the struggles in specific countries or regions. Workshops addressed the relationship of imperialist globalization to the struggles of immigrants, workers, peasants, wimmin, indigenous peoples, students, youth, educators, progressive environmentalists, and opponents of U.S. militarism. MIM unites in the struggle to oppose imperialist globalization. We work to build support from the imperialist country masses for Third World people's struggles and also to build revolutionary movements amongst oppressed nations within the belly of imperialists beasts. Under the banner of "globalization," the imperialist powers seek to pry open the economies of the world's neocolonies. These same powers oppose true internationalism -- proletarian internationalism. They pose as internationalists developing a global economy while they intensify their political, legal, and military attacks on immigrants from the neocolonies to the imperialist countries. By campaigning against immigrants, imperialist demagogues cater to an oppressor-nation chauvinism which is deeply rooted in the majority of the imperialist country populations. This oppressor- nation chauvinism has a material basis in the fact that the imperialists extract massive superprofits from the people of the neocolonies and give a share of these superprofits to the imperialist-country majorities in order to pacify them. Proletarian internationalists in the imperialist countries go against the tide of oppressor-nation chauvinism. Proletarian internationalists everywhere seek a world without borders while simultaneously supporting the struggles of the oppressed nations for genuine national liberation and independence. As the imperialists unite to exploit and oppress the world's peoples under the banner of "globalization," the world's peoples must unite under the banner of proletarian internationalism by applying anti-imperialist principles to their own respective national conditions. While proletarian internationalists in the neocolonies fight imperialism principally by struggling for national liberation and independence, proletarian internationalists in the imperialist countries fight imperialism principally by struggling against oppressor-nation chauvinism. Well-armed with rational knowledge, most conference participants will spend the next two days taking the anti-imperialist message to the streets with 20,000 others participating in the People's Caravan which is part of the National Day of protest, the high point of the People's Conference's 5-month campaign against imperialist globalization and APEC. NOTE: Additional information about the PCAIG is available at http://www.sequel.net/~bayan/conferen.htmFurther information on the legal, militant organizations organizing the conference and caravan can be found at http://www.sequel.net/~bayan * * * WILLIAM HINTON: CHINA'S "MISGUIDED OLD FRIEND" One of the highlights of both the Anti-Imperialist World Summit and the People's Conference Against Imperialist Globalization was the presence of William Hinton, author of some of MIM's favorite books: Fanshen, Shenfan, Turning Point in China (an excellent primer on the politics of China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR 1966-76)), and Hundred Day War. MIM has unity with Hinton on some questions of great importance: MIM and Hinton both defend China's new democratic, socialist and cultural revolutions while opposing the comprador- capitalist Deng Xiaoping regime which currently rules China. Hinton is officially regarded by the Deng regime as "a misguided old friend." Hinton explained that while China still is about 80 percent peasant (with the remainder mainly proletarian), it is no longer semi-feudal, because there are no landlords. Hinton believes that the current road forward for the Chinese people is not new-democratic protracted people's war as it was in the 1930s and 1940s. Instead, he believes that the anti-feudal new-democratic revolution has been won, that the anti-capitalist socialist revolution instead is thus on the agenda, and that the struggle is likely to take the form of insurrection or even a military coup. Hinton pointed out that the current Chinese regime is comprador-capitalist, meaning that the comprador bourgeoisie is dominant over the national bourgeoisie. Hinton thus sees a neocolonial status as a likelihood for China in the near future. When fascist compraor Deng Xiaoping dies, Hinton believes comprador Jiang Zemin will maintain power for 1-3 years, "so don't be too optimistic." In looking at the long-term, however, Hinton has strategic confidence. Even now, he said, "there is great ferment in China" due to capitalist crisis, and the masses already dislike the Deng regime. As capitalism develops in China, that system's internal contradictions will become increasingly acute. Among the contradictions Hinton noted as already in evidence is the displacement of unemployed peasants and the underemployment of other peasants on the one hand, and the existence of millionaires in the countryside on the other hand. Maoists in the misnamed Communist Party of China have no success; they are either demoted or expelled. Hinton provided a list of readings he recommended on the current situation in China (write to MIM for a copy of this list). * * * GAY MARRIAGE ALMOST LEGAL IN HAWAII HAWAII, 3 December - A Circuit Court Judge ruled that the state had failed to show a "compelling reason" for denying marriage to gay couples - specifically in the case of three couples who sued the state in 1990 because they were denied marriage licenses. While this is progress towards recognizing marriages between gay and lesbian couples, the state is appealing the ruling and in the mean time marriage is still not an option for gay and lesbian couples anywhere in the United Snakes. MIM views this court ruling as a progressive step towards eliminating one small form of gender discrimination. While benefits and a higher standard of living in the united snakes primarily comes from exploitation of Third World masses, there is no basis for believing that straight couples deserve special privileges that other couples do not. While marriage under patriarchy is far from a perfect institution, the financial and health benefits along with the social recognition that come with this institution should not be denied to any couple. The "Defense of Marriage Act" that Clinton signed in September allows states to decide individually whether to honor gay marriages from other states. Since that time, 16 states have passed legislation refusing to accept out-of-state gay marriages. Even if Hawaii ends up allowing gay and lesbian marriages, other states are not obligated to recognize such marriages. The Hawaiian Constitution makes explicit the right to privacy and a ban on gender discrimination, unlike the US Constitution. This is the basis for Hawaii taking the lead among states in recognizing gay marriages. Hawaiian courts have ruled that any law making a distinction between homosexuals and heterosexuals must be supported by a "compelling" state interest. State sponsored reforms that advance the acceptance of equality for all people come with a danger that the state will appear to be a vehicle for progressive change. MIM works for reforms within the system that will relieve some oppression or advance the cause of equality of all people, but we always do this in the context of revolutionary organizing. The recognition of gay marriages is progressive as it advances the acceptance of gay couples, but this acceptance is only into the patriarchal institution that exists under capitalism and does not involve a critique of the reactionary social standards that exist under the patriarchy. While MIM understands the usefulness of the institution of marriage to gain financial benefits as well as the social pressures that help keep relationships together, we work towards a future where relationships will not involve the eroticization of power differences. True gender equality can only exist in a society where no gender has power over another and where no aspect of gender or sex is valued as superior to another as straight couples are considered morally superior to gay couples. Under capitalist patriarchy MIM views monogamy as the best practice for people engaging in sexual relationships because of all the power games played in relationships which are only worsened by people holding the possibility that they may leave a relationship over their partner's head. And for this, marriage can be a useful social tool to reinforce that two people intend to stay together. It is revealing that the Hawaiian constitution is unique for including a ban on gender discrimination. A ban on all discrimination, oppression, or power of people over others, should be the basis for human interactions. But even in a country where wimmin have gained considerable power relative to the rest of the world's people, banning gender discrimination is not explicit. The fact that it is so difficult to legalize gay marriage and the strong resistance by many in this country makes it clear why people believing in the equality of all people need to be fighting for revolution. Under imperialist patriarchy, gender discrimination is a part of the system. We need to eliminate the basis for gender discrimination by creating a society where gender does not contain inherent power differences. Join MIM in this revolutionary struggle to overthrow the imperialist patriarchy. NOTES: Boston Globe, 5December, 1996. p. A1. * * * RCP-USA'S RAYMOND LOTTA SPEAKS ON U.S. STRATEGY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY Raymond Lotta of the crypto-Trotskyist Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP-USA) spoke at both the Anti-Imperialist World Peasant Summit (AIWPS) and the People's Conference Against Imperialist Globalization (PCAIG). Despite our disagreements with the RCP-USA, we had no significant disagreements with his speech at the AIWPS on "Imperialist Globalization, Imperialist Crisis, and the Revolutionary Way Forward." During the question and answer session, however, he made some remarks which merit comment. Lotta said the "U.S. empire is in crisis," but then correctly clarified that "the U.S. is not in revolutionary crisis today." In MIM Theory #10, MIM explains that the standard of living for most U.S. residents is improving. The crisis of capitalism has been contained in the oppressed nations. In contrast, Lotta spoke of huge layoffs (a fact in the industrial sector, but one made up for by the rise of white-collar employment in the U.S.) and supposed downward pressures on the U.S. workers and even the U.S. middle classes, hinting at impending crisis even though he had to admit there was no crisis today. Lotta gave the clearest explanation MIM has heard from the RCP-USA of its general strategic line. While MIM sees the national liberation struggles of the Black, Latino and First Nations as principal in the U.S., and believes that these struggles have a new- democratic (though not anti-feudal) character, the RCP-USA sees a single socialist revolution. Lotta sees the force for this revolution as being a united front against imperialism composed of three main groups: (1) the supposed single multinational proletariat in the lead, (2) the oppressed nationalities, the second of the two "core elements" of the united front and (3) significant sections of the middle class which can be won to a revolutionary line. Lotta admits that "the U.S. has a very large middle class." What he does not explain is why the proper approach to winning the middle class to a revolutionary line is by flattering it and its demands the way the RCP-USA does. Furthermore, the Lotta/RCP approach to the united front seeks to unite with the oppressed nationalities while opposing their main struggle, which is for national liberation. Despite its errors, Lotta's discussion of the class forces in the U.S. empire was more straightforward and accurate than the usual RCP-USA fare. In addition to admitting the existence of a "very large middle class," he differentiated between that class, the labor aristocracy, the bourgeoisified workers, and the proletariat. Lotta said that the labor aristocracy occupies a position between the bourgeoisified workers and the middle class. MIM does not agree that there is a basis in the Marxist classics (Lenin is the key reference on this question) for Lotta's distinction between the bourgeoisified workers and the labor aristocracy. We believe Lotta is confusing the labor bureaucracy (professional trade union misleaders) with the labor aristocracy (bourgeoisified workers). Bourgeoisified workers, for Lotta, refers to better-paid sectors of the US working class such as those found in the steel and auto industries. Lotta correctly acknowledged that not all US workers are proletarians. We would like to hear the RCP-USA say explicitly one thing which this implies: that some U.S. workers are not only better-paid, but are paid more than the value of their labor, a super-wage made possible by the fact that these labor aristocrats share in the superprofits which the imperialists extract from the superexploited workers and peasants of the neocolonies. Lotta attributed the existence of a better-paid sector of the working class in U.S. borders to the labor struggles of the 1930s, but that is only one part of the picture, and not the most important part for people to understand and for a true vanguard party to explain. Even where he erred, Lotta deserves credit for his efforts to explain his party's line clearly. In this, Lotta was an improvement over the RCP-USA's usual public face, which resembles cheerleading more than science. On the other hand, Lotta also reflected the opportunistic RCP-USA tendency to avoid precision. Repeating an old RCP-USA standby, he said "there are tens of millions of oppressed proletarians in the United States." This could mean 20 million or it could mean 200 million. In other words, it could mean less than 10% of the U.S. population, or it could mean 80%! MIM focuses its main energy on the bottom 20% of the U.S. population, in which the oppressed nationalities are overwhelmingly concentrated. MIM seeks greater clarity from the RCP-USA in the latter's analysis of the political economy of the U.S. This question is an important one, but Lotta was out of line when he brought it to the floor of a summit whose focus was on the peasantry. MIM of course has opinions about the class forces in the U.S., but we deliberately avoided using the main floor of AIWPS as a forum for airing them. (A meeting of delegates from Canada and the U.S. was another matter.) In his speech at the PCAIG, "Global Crisis and the Struggle for a Different Future," Lotta repeated his old line that the imperialists leading the USSR and the US were on a "collision course to World War III" until the USSR collapsed. The RCP-USA should bag this old line, but to do so properly would require self-criticism. For opportunists, that simply won't do. It was one thing for the RCP-USA to overemphasize the contention between imperialists. By doing so, the RCP-USA underemphasized both the collusion between the imperialists against the masses, and the struggle of the masses against imperialism. But to hold this line in the 1980s as the RCP-USA did was one thing. To cling now to the line that the US and USSR were heading for inter-imperialist war is ridiculous. It is now a matter of historical record that the Soviet social-imperialists responded to their system's crisis not by resorting to nuclear war, but by liquidating their empire relatively peacefully. Clearly, collusion, not contention, was the principal aspect of the US-USSR relationship. In fact, World War III is on, but not as the RCP- USA foresaw it. The imperialists are currently waging a hot war--a World War III--against the world's oppressed nations, including the U.S. empire's internal colonies. For the Soviet social- imperialists, this war took precedence over inter- imperialist war. * * * M-L-M ONLINE ***MIM posted an article called "State Cracks Down on Brooklyn Activists" (MIM Notes 128, p. 1) to our Web site. One Internet reader, apparently quite familiar with MIM literature, wrote in to advocate the following focoist line:*** I read the What's New section and would like to ask you a question. Thirty-five people were arrested for marching and carrying and/or concealing weapons. Instead of bringing up the Constitution issue afterwards, why didn't you just shoot at the police and finish it off. Now they must all stay in a prison cell and probably prison for years to come because of not firing or striking. This is the only way to effect revolution and militant social protest - the "anarchy of the deed" (Bakunin, as in your MIM's Anarchist Wind) [See "MIM's Anarchist Wind" MIM Theory 8, 1995 --ed.]. Otherwise why carry arms at all, just step back, pick up a democrat card and smile at the police and then get a hot dog. After all, once they get you in there (inside a cell) there's no getting out again. MIM RESPONDS: MIM prints this letter because there are a couple of important points the writer raises. The first issue raised is the reason to bring up the Constitution in this case. The second raised is the implication that we should carry and take up arms now, rather than concede to arrest and imprisonment. Or, in MIM's view, rather than build public opinion until the revolutionary forces are strong enough to take on the powerful organization of the state and win. As for the Constitution, as we ultimately concluded in the article, we don't care about the Constitution one way or the other on the question of the "right" to have weapons. We were simply pointing out the blatant hypocrisy of the government, and its spokespeople in the bourgeois press, for turning this into a story about Communists owning guns -- rather than honestly presenting it as suppression of a subversive political line. Our point was that the Amerikkkan government supposedly has a Constitution to determine the legality of people owning guns or not -- and to wage public opinion war against the Brooklyn activists because they owned guns proves that bourgeois law and "justice" is not neutral as the bourgeoisie claims. As for the question of armed struggle now, we know nothing about the political line of the so-called Provisional Party of Communists, so we cannot speak to that. We do know, however, that armed struggle can only be led effectively by the vanguard party with the correct political line, and, in the imperialist countries, only when the bourgeoisie is truly weakened. Since we do not see the bourgeoisie as truly weakened, we do not agree with your assessment that the "Provisional Party of Communists" should have fired their guns or struck first at police. Victory for Maoists means the mobilization of the oppressed masses for a military defeat of the bourgeoisie and the construction of a socialist government and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Without a chance of this kind of victory in Brooklyn, surely the activists would have risked even greater repression -- at no more political gain -- than as it happened. Instead, the political gain that can be made in the wake of this state attack is for the revolutionary forces to expose the hypocrisy of the state and its bogus regard for equality under the law. We further expose the hypocritical claims that incidences of child abuse and strong political opinions was evidence that the Brooklyn activists were a "cult," when MIM knows that the oppression of children is endemic to the imperialist patriarchy and this group was clearly being singled out because of their political views. (See MIM Theory 9, "Psychology and Imperialism.") That was MIM's intent in that article, as well as to open the pages of MIM Notes to anyone involved in the group to tell their side of the story. * * * WORLD WIDE WEB REVIEWS Hatewatch (www.hatewatch.org) Hatewatch proposes to keep Internet users up to date on "hate" groups, defined as "an organization or individual that advocates violence against or unreasonable hostility towards those persons or organizations identified by their race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or gender also including organizations or individuals that disseminate revisioned or historically inaccurate information with regards to these persons or organizations." Hatewatch is upset because the Internet is more democratic than other media. They say: "Prior to the advent of the Web, hate groups had limited influence due to financial constraints and their own geographical isolation. "Now the situation has changed. The Internet has eliminated these natural barriers and allowed hate groups to disseminate their propaganda inexpensively and to vast and growing audience." MIM says, bravo! The Internet lets MIM and other revolutionary groups reach many people for the same reason it lets the small-time reactionaries do it. What Hatewatch does not care about (or list), are the big-time reactionaries and imperialists who are the real "hate" groups in the world. So they list the Black Panther Coloring Book (www.cybergate.com/~bpcb/index.html) as a "hate" publication, but don't list the CIA (www.odci.gov/cia/), the U$ Army, etc.(1) Most of the groups on the "hatewatch" are despicable racists and reactionary nationalists, and at least communists are not included. But the site is fuel for censorship and the backhanded defense of imperialism. On the Internet, MIM is glad to take the bad with the good. NOTE: 1. In fact, the Black Panther Coloring Book was rejected by the Panthers as projecting a too- violent image. The FBI COINTELPRO made the book even more violent. The FBI distributed thousands of copies anonymously or under fake organizational letterheads. Making sure it got in the hands of the middle forces who were providing support to the Breakfast Programs, the FBI was able to undermine this support. Hatewatch does not make this distinction, and hence implicates the Panthers (incorrectly in this case) as a "hate group." Info from War at Home; Covert Action Against U.S. Activists and What We Can Do About It, by Brian Glick, South End Press, Boston, 1989, p.46. * * * NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT OF THE PHILIPPINES IS ON THE WEB http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/ndf.htm MIM was thrilled to see the National Democratic Front of the Philippines publish its new Web site in November -- a comprehensive revolutionary information and activist resource on the just struggle of the masses of the Philippines, led by the CPP and the NDF, against the fascist U.S.- Ramos regime. The site is new and still under construction, so we encourage readers to check back often, as the NDF builds up the links to its publication Liberation International, and to the theoretical journal of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Rebolusyon. The site contains a history of the NDF, a list of its participants and program; a link to the CPP containing important documents of and about the rectification campaign which began in the early 1990s; and current statements of solidarity to the People's Conference on Imperialist Globalization. Readers can also find updates on the arrest and detention of NDFP consultant Danilo Borjal on 21 November -- in violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). (http://www.geocities.com/~cpp- ndf/peace5.htm) There are also current articles from Free Philippines News Service, and revolutionary poetry by CPP founder Jose Maria Sison. With the Web becoming more filled with decadent commercial advertising and government propaganda, it is important to remember it is still a valuable way to publish revolutionary literature and build far-reaching public support for the struggles of the oppressed. By providing history, theory and current agitation materials in a well-organized site, the NDF is making excellent use of this technology. * * * MIM UNLEASHING FINANCE CAMPAIGNS Writing, editing, distributing media, protesting, debating and holding talks--no one doubts that a revolutionary movement must do these. Yet Mao taught us that leadership and participation are possible in an infinite number of areas, including finance, where there is a science to carrying out people's finance for inevitable victory. The people can build their own business institutions and do so with greater foresight and social cooperation than the imperialists can. In fact, some of the masses and comrades will specialize in making just such business contributions to the revolution, which is in line with the fact that there are an infinite number of possibilities for doing successful revolutionary work, one winning battle at a time. The Rightist Liberals say that victorious struggle is impossible. Meanwhile the ultraleft is constantly talking about the permanent crisis of the imperialist countries as if revolution were right around the corner. MIM opposes both the rightist cop-out and the ultraleft's competition with Rev. Moon and the other millenarians. We are not here to tell you revolution will succeed tomorrow on a grand scale in the imperialist countries. However, there is no doubt that it is possible to win a number of small battles one at a time and build the independent institutions of the oppressed within our overall strategy of what Mao called "long, legal battles." It's not headline grabbing struggle, but it is nonetheless glorious struggle, especially to carry it out right here in the belly of the u.s. imperialist beast. What we need are some persistent, hard-headed comrades willing to do the toil of the small details. Even for those not on the front-lines of armed struggle there is never an excuse for not carrying out the most exceptional work. Contact MIM to learn how to help build independent business institutions of the oppressed with no financial loss to yourself. Those of us not dodging bullets can still make a contribution to the cause of the international proletariat without sweating bullets. Even greater contributions are possible from those willing to take small risks compared with the comrades in Peru, Turkey, India and the Philippines putting their lives on the line for revolution every day. * * * UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS MIM ON PRISONS AND PRISONERS MIM seeks to build public opinion against Amerika's criminal injustice system, and to eventually replace the bourgeois injustice system with proletarian justice. The bourgeois injustice system imprisons and executes a disproportionately large and growing number of oppressed people while letting the biggest mass murderers -- the imperialists and their lackeys -- roam free. Imperialism is not opposed to murder or theft, it only insists that these crimes be committed in the interests of the bourgeoisie. MIM does not advocate that all prisoners go free today; we have a more effective program for fighting crime as was demonstrated in China prior to the restoration of capitalism there in 1976. We say that all prisoners are political prisoners because under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, all imprisonment is substantively political. It is our responsibility to exert revolutionary leadership and conduct political agitation and organization among prisoners -- whose material conditions make them an overwhelmingly revolutionary group. Some prisoners should and will work on self-criticism under a future dictatorship of the proletariat, in those cases in which prisoners really did do something wrong by proletarian standards. LIFT UP THE REVOLUTIONARY BANNER Dear Comrades, I was hoping I haven't been taken off the list. Maybe I wrote you all too much, huh? I hope not. I justed wanted to write what was on my mind about the system. Did I say anything wrong? Have I been taken off the list or what? I need to know if these people are messing with my mail or not. I haven't received a paper since June/July. I have a lot of supporters and we look forward to your notes. How many stamps we need to hussle up? Is everything alright? I'm truly devoted to you all and I'm fighting the courts tooth and nail basically for the main reason to join you all and work hard around the clock to lift up what we represent. I have no kids, no husband, no tie downs. And when I was in the game in the streets... I truly in my heart wanted to find people like you all. The gang I was in was strong, old players in the crip world. But had nothing solid. We really stood for --the guns--our character, had no solid foundation. I fought only to survive, but I felt empty. I knew something was missing I knew I would belong to something strong, that would lift up a banner that represented more than just survival, a few dollars in my pocket and wake up. Anyway, I hope to hear something soon. You can rest assured, I am a strong sister. In struggle. -- A Texas Prisoner, 14 October, 1996 MIM does not stop sending MIM Notes because someone writes too much. Writing too much is not possible. We have been sending MIM Notes to you, so if you are not receiving them you are being censored by that prison. Please continue to keep in touch with MIM and tell us what is going on where you are. --RCG1, 11Dec96 Letters of protest can be sent to the warden or mail officer: Skyview Unit, P.O. Box 999, Rusk, TX 75785 DELAWARE PRISONERS DEFEND THEIR LIVES Dear Comrades, Let me first apologize for not getting back with you sooner. Believe me, it had nothing to do with me forgetting about you, but rather things have just been terrible and ugly here lately. The situation is getting worse. This pigs are coming down hard on us and we have been very busy with trying to defend our Lives. In short to stay alive! Repression and racism is what rules here and for all those who do not accept this, more repression, isolation, control units, maximum security units, brutality, transfer, trumped-up charges, more time added to your sentence, death threats or even death itself, is what awaits you. Revolutionary activism carries with it consequences and if one is not aware of this before getting involved, then he/she, is in for a rude awakening. Nothing that happens to me, or happens around me, or anything that my "keepers" happen to do in the way of maintaining control over the downtrodden, surprises me anymore. I now know that we are dealing with a vicious, treacherous, heartless and merciless "pig" who cares little or noting about the unfortunate mass of people who are the victims of this pigs' corruptness, madness and destructiveness. To get in the business of opposing this individual, or this power elite, one must clearly understand the sacrifices and hardships that will come with this job. There is no sense in involving yourself in something that you are not willing to give up your life for. Nothing of any value, and especially freedom, comes without the strain and hard work of struggle. At present I remain in M.S.U. (Maximum Security Unit) where me and my comrades, or in fact, everyone else as well -- Blacks, Whites, Latinos, etc.-- are the constant victims of unjustifiable and sadistic attacks by the prison officials. The conditions as well as the treatment are horrendous and inhumane. We are kept locked up twenty-three hours and fifteen minutes each and everyday. We are fed in our cells. We are kept separated from one another. On one side of this unit the prisoners' trays are given to them under the door. Everyone else's trays are slid to them through a slot in the door. Just the other day there was and incident involving one prisoner who was being attacked by 6 or 7 solider- guards that were equipped with batons, shields, body armor, pepper gas, and so on. While this prisoner had to resort to grabbing the mop to defend himself. Because of this incident we are no longer allowed to use the broom or mop to clean our cells. What they give us now are a handbrush and a sponge. This means we have to get on our hands and knees, as well as our stomachs to clean the floor, to reach under the bed. Yes, the shit is coming down hard on us all. From reading the MIM Notes and other revolutionary publications, I can see that the situation inside these prisons are the same all over Fascist Amerikkka. The things are becoming much worse in here and at the rate it is going, before the year 2000, we are going to see even more destructiveness taking place here. The Amerikan ruling class has no intentions of easing up or doing away with its repressive and murderous policies. The oppression and suffering of the masses of people in Amerikkka means nothing to the powers that be if it has anything to do with the dismantling of capitalism and imperialistic hegemony. They will never willingly relinquish this dominion for the sake of sharing or distributing the wealth and power equally. They do no believe in "people's government". For them to sit down and even debate it is out of the question. Capitalism and capitalist man just do not operate on this premise. We are just going to have to get ready for the task of marching onward to educate, unite and organize the working class, the Lumpen-Proletariat to heed the call to arms. Revolution means change, and so as it may be, Let us get on with the business of creating revolution in Fascist Amerikkka. Please continue sending me the MIM as it is an inspirational uplift to all of us here. Very, very informative, to say the least. It works wonders with aiding us in politically educating the apolitical. Build to Win! --A Delaware Prisoner, 6 October 1996 HOLD YOUR FIRE, EDUCATE AND ORGANIZE Comrade RAIL, Upon receiving my first subscription of Under Lock & Key, thus your personal scribe, my interest in writing articles for MIM has grown taller than from my first inspiration. I try not to deal with the emotional aspect of how I truly feel towards these pigs because we have the interest of the people at heart. What I mean by this is in part, of what you stated in your letter to me which read, "MIM holds that this struggle will not end until armed revolution with the help of the third world proletariat..." I couldn't agree with you more but lets take a closer look my comrade. Do you really think that we are actually ready to go to war right now at this point in time? These pigs stay target practicing on their farms on the firing range or just straight up for hobby. How many do you know exercising the same talents on our side? Giving the benefit of the doubt, very few... So many arms are flowing in the streets, but are being misused thus taken for granted & still who are the ones putting the arms out there? Plain insult if you ask me. The nucleus of our struggle is not just taking up the gun but learning how to use it effectively. How do you see it? Something to sit and ponder, thus scrutinize because it's real.... In struggle --A New York Prisoner, 24 October, 1996 MIM agrees that now is not the time to wage armed struggle. As you correctly argue, the other side is much more powerful militarily. MIM's line is that eventually armed revolution will be needed to overthrow the imperialists, because they will not give up power willingly. MIM also agrees that now, is the time to educate and organize ourselves for revolution. That means exposing the torturous conditions of prisons as well as the military tactics of the imperialists. --RCG1 9 December 1996 WE HAVE THE STRENGTH AND POWER OF THE PEOPLE ON OUR SIDE MIM, I'm writing this letter to further expound on the article written by one of my Brothers in Arms, entitled "Latinos persecuted in New York". I myself am a member of the Glorious "Almighty Latin King Queen Nation" so I feel bounded by honor to shed some further light regarding our struggle within these walls. The reason why this rule 105.12 was brought about, was to try and stop those of us within the confines of hell from educating and manifesting the truth to our fellow Latin people. The imperialist have continually attempted to prevent any unification from formulating within these walls. They are secretly aware that we have the strength as well as the man-power here to make changes. So every chance they get, they persecute us to discourage those who exist in a state of ignorance, if you will, from listening to our massage and coming into the light of self-realization. But the struggle continues. For we as Kings have an obligation to break the chains of mental entrapment which many find themselves in. Whenever there is a King the light of rightness illuminates the path. We must continue to push on in the struggle against these cowards in gray, blue and green. --A New York Prisoner, 22 October 1996 DETERMINED TO USE INCARCERATION FOR REVOLUTION Dear Comrades, First I hope, pray and anticipate that this finds you well and strong... To begin I am writing for I am very interested in your thoughts as I so understand them; and the reading of MIM Notes are very thought provoking and enlightening and a blessing at this stage of my development. I am writing you in hopes of acquiring any free books and literature on the principle program of MIM that would be of some viable help to me in my growth and rehabilitation. I am not at all financial secure in fact I am indigent but I am rich in my thirst for information. Due to a lot of misinformation and a lack of working knowledge my incapacitation as a captive soul is compounded. And these imperialist, capitalists do not help prisoners' growth at all. In fact from past experience, they attempt to impede on the growth of political prisoners. I am really tired of sport, play and games of chance, therefore, I am earnestly, humbly and sincerely requesting any books for productivity. However, I would like to know more about the philosophy, creed, and objective of MIM so any information, literature, suggestions, contacts or support you can offer and indigent prisoner would help me a great deal. I am determined to use my incarceration in a manner that will arm me for revolution. But as you can imagine, I am a bit limited in what I can do on my own because of my current position. Please assist me in any way that is within your means before they begin this censoring garbage in the Mikkkigan department of Incorrection. I thank you for your concern, time, understanding and in advance for your cooperation. --A Michigan Prisoner, 23 October 1996 PRISONERS WORK TOGETHER TO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE OUTSIDE Dear MIM, I am writing this in regards to the subscription of ...[my fellow prisoner].... The reason I am writing this is 'cause we are currently on lockdown status and he had no postage supplies in the house when we got locked down. And he had too much money on his books to make use of the indigent postage system we have here. You've got to have $5.00 or less on your books to qualify, and I believe ...[he] ... had around $7.00. So, as it is, he's basically being held incommunicado, as most other people on this unit who are in the same situation. He would write this himself, but the "postage police" over here try to make a major offense out of acts like that. I guess they figure that we were trying to get over on them with 38 cents or something like that. They call it abusing the indigent supply system. Anyway, as it stands now, he's hollering across the dayroom to me, giving me the run down on what to write down. He got his second set of MIM Notes today. The September issues I believe. Also, along with it came the final notice about writing to y'all. Please, take this letter as confirmation that's he's been receiving his issues of MIM Notes, and wishes to continues receiving your newsletter, as long as possible. We should be coming up off lockdown soon, and he says he's gonna write to y'all himself as soon as he can get his hands on some postage supplies. Thanks a lot for your time and understanding in this matter. Sincerely, -- A Texas Prisoner, 24 October 1996. PRISONERS FIGHT CENSORSHIP IN AMERIKKKAN GULAGS Greetings, I am writing today to inform you the latest package sent to me here at the KKKamp in Pendelton, Indiana was rejected and confiscated by the staff here. If you would continue you to send them I would like to see the effort done to evaluate the consistency of this investigation of allegedly "threat to institution order", and will I'll keep you updated and/or cancel the prescription. We all know that this oppressive struggle will only be liberated with armed combat, strong minds and God's blessings. So I salute you brothers on that end for your vigilant source of support. In any even long live life in truth. --An Indiana Prisoner, 3 November 96 Letters of Protest can be sent to C.I.F., PO Box 601, Pendleton, IN 46064 Dear Publisher, Enclosed you will find documents relative to the rejection of your paper, which consists of ten (10) pages. This writer has exhausted all Administrative remedies in an effort to obtain the paper, all in vain. It's my contentions and belief that the Prison Officials are in violation of the publisher and this prisoner's First and Fourteenth Amendment Rights. As well as their own policy, which requires written notification be sent to the publisher in order to appeal the warden's decision. The Cain case referred to in the grievance has absolutely nothing to do with communicating with a publisher, it deals with catalogs. It is my wish to file suit in the federal court and I hope that you are able to assist with this legal matter. Thanks for you time and consideration and may I hear from you in the immediate future. -- A Michigan Prisoner, 6 October 1996 Letters of Protest can be sent to, Ms. J. Smagacz, Mail Room Supervisor, Lakeland Correctional Facility, 141 First St, Coldwater, MI 49036 Dear MIM I pray to the almighty father that everyone stays strong for the struggle. I enjoy the MIM Notes and I let everyone that is interested in reading them, read them. I received all your notes and I would like to thank you. The Beast tried to take them as well as my lessons of the A.L.K.Q.N. They got a serious surprise for I fought against them all. They gave me [back] the right to receive MIM Notes. Now they are starting some new stuff. They are saying that the Notes must come from the distributor. The Beast is complaining about the two different addresses on the envelope. He saw the article on Bill KKKlinton and said that it was cute. I said no, it's reality. I have set a meeting with the man that runs the library to see if we can get MIM Notes in the library. Also we have a lot of Brothers that want to start a study group. I have a lot of literature on the POW's of Puerto Rico. Pedro Albizu Campos was a great leader and teacher. As well as Lolita Lebron, who on March 4, 1954, they stopped the United Snakes in making Puerto Rico a state. The Beast is always raping other peoples land. It's time to put it to a stop. I'd like to thank you for the MIM Notes and tell everyone to stay strong in the struggle. -- A New Jersey Prisoner, 22 October, 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.