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 153 JANUARY 1, 1998 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. PIGS MARK SETTLER HOLIDAY THROUGH ATTACK ON ACTIVISTS 2. PIGS ATTACK LATIN KING & QUEEN NATION 3. LETTERS: AMERIKA¹S POLITICAL PRISONS 4. FILIPINO MASSES PROTEST RAMOS POLICIES & VISIT TO NYC 5. STATEMENT FROM ONONDAGA NATION ACTIVIST ARRESTED 6. THE PIGS MAKE $625 7. STOCK MARKET CRASH: LABOR ARISTOCRACY CRISIS MONGERS GRASPING AT STRAWS 8. WOMYN HONORED FOR PARTICIPATION IN GENOCIDE AGAINST ABENAKI 9. U.$. IMPERIALISTS SCHEME FOR INCREASED MILITARY PRESENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES 10. AMERIKA FIGHTS WAR OF STARVATION AGAINST IRAQI PEOPLE 11. U$ RESTRICTS WEAPONS TO INDONESIA 12. EAST TIMOR MASSACRE COMMEMORATION REPRESSED BY U.S.-BACKED INDONESIA 13. MARXISM- LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE 14. FOSTER CARE PIGS PERPETUATE HETEROSEXIST PATRIARCHY 15. MASSACHUSETTS CONTINUES PRISONER DEPORTATION & ROTATION TO TEXAS GULAGS 16. BAR ASSOCIATIONS ADVOCATE MORATORIUM ON DEATH PENALTY 17. SWITCHED VOTE KILLS EFFORT TO REINSTATE MASSACHUSETTS DEATH PENALTY 18. UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS * * * PIGS MARK SETTLER HOLIDAY THROUGH ATTACK ON ACTIVISTS Police attacked marchers participating in the Day of Mourning on November 27, 1997. The previous issue of MIM Notes reported on this repression of activism against settler colonialism. Since then, we have spoken with several demonstration participants and use the pages of the people's newspaper to offer more background and detail. The history and activism of the people cannot be covered and hidden by the oppressor if the people organize and when the people control their own media. Two-hundred demonstrators gathered for the annual Day of Mourning at noon on November 27 on Knowles Hill, around the statue of Chief Massasoit. The marchers gathered to protest the settler mythology of Thanksgiving Day. The marchers commemorated indigenous people's struggles against the plunder of land and resources, genocide, enslavement and repression committed by settlers. For nearly two hours, activists spread the history of First Nations and struggles against settler colonialism through speeches. Participants gathered from many First Nations spread throughout what Amerikkkan settlers call New England, as well as First Nations from other parts of North America and Peru. As at every previous Day of Mourning commemoration since 1970, activists set out to march through Plymouth, Massachusetts ending at the settler monument, Plymouth Rock. Because of successful protest in previous years, the pigs prepared well this time and blocked off the streets first. The police then confronted the marchers with force when the activists descended from Knowles Hill. The police pushed marchers and used pepper spray and mace against the people -- including in their eyes and at children. A total of 35 cruisers from the sheriff's department and local and state police corralled to repress the demonstration and used force without provocation. Several mounted police trampled their horses through the crowd, including children, without regard to causing injury. Unlike the bourgeois press, which claimed that only people in the street were arrested, our correspondents report that people were arrested from the street and the sidewalk without pretext or warning. Political signs were torn down, native dress was damaged, and sound and communications equipment was stolen by the police. A correspondent told MIM Notes: "One elder native man was attacked from behind as he was instructing us to retreat. As he calmly assured us that these Nazi Pig's weren't worth the trouble, seven policemen grabbed him from behind and apprehended him. He was charged, ironically, with Assault and Battery on a Police Officer, as well as, unlawful assembly, and disorderly conduct. All of this for exercising his so-called freedom of speech." The marcher reported that a First Nation member from the settler-labeled state of Ohio was arrested and that "the police attempted to tear some bamboo earrings out of his ears. [He] vows to return next year with 10 times as many of their people." Amerikkkan police serve to protect the white settler nation. The white settler nation has a material interest in stomping out the history of indigenous people. That history revealed shows that the settler nation resides on stolen land and wallows in wealth acquired through bloody genocide and wars against indigenous and oppressed nations throughout the world. Particularly, settler mythology, which is created to cover this history of genocide, serves to bolster settler nation chauvinism. This chauvinism serves the purpose of perpetuating settler nation hegemony. At the expense of losing hegemonic control, the settler nation and its police and army will stop at nothing to stomp out the history of the masses. MEDIA SUPPORTS IMPERIALISM The mainstream press was quick to report that among the attendants at the Day of Mourning were some "dangerous outside elements" and the name that was repeatedly reported was Richard Picariello. The implication was that these outside elements had provoked the violent confrontation and that this would have otherwise been a peaceful event. This is just a way to try to clear the pigs for their attack on the masses. Picariello has been reported on in previous MIM Notes as the target of state repression after serving his full time in prison for his crime of fighting against the Amerikan imperialist government. Still treated like a criminal, Picariello is considered dangerous because he is still a strong activist in the anti-imperialist movement. The Patriot Ledger reported "Picariello was not arrested during Thursday's demonstration and clash with police, but went to Plymouth District Court the next day and confronted court officers trying to quiet a belligerent youth."(1) So even though he apparently did nothing wrong, somehow he must have done something wrong, says the bourgeois press which is quick to judge and agree with the criminal injustice system. The Patriot Ledger needed the police to tell them that Picariello is a supporter of the First Nations: "Police say Picariello and other extremists are supporters of the Native American cause." MIM says that of course anti-imperialists support the First Nations right to self- determination. And this is precisely what makes them dangerous in the eyes of the government and their press. Anti-imperialists expose and oppose the genocidal imperialist system and fight to overthrow it.(1) SETTLER CELEBRATION OF BARBARITY Regardless of the exact date and explanation for the Amerikan settler holiday Thanksgiving, its origin and continued celebration solely have the purpose of covering the Amerikan settler nation's history of genocide against the sovereign First Nations. The Plymouth Pilgrim plantation was not the first settler colony in North America, but it was the easiest to beautify in myths. The residents of Jamestown were openly speculators, who had to turn to cannibalism to survive. The Pilgrim myth centers around their flight to the New World for religious freedom. "The mythology of the white masses holds that those early settlers were the poor of England, convicts and workers, who came to North Amerika in search of "freedom" or "a better way of like." Factually, that's all nonsense. The celebrated Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock, for example, didn't even come from England (although they were English.) They had years before emigrated as a religious colony to Holland"(2) "But in Holland these predominantly middle class people had to work as hired labor for others. This was too hard for them, so they came to North Amerika in search of less work and more money."(2) They came to steal land, minerals and resources and enslaved the indigenous peoples. The settler-labeled Pilgrim feast supports the mythology of cooperation between the settlers and First Nation peoples. That the First Nations helped the settlers when they were starving is not controversial. But one correspondent argues that the First Thanksgiving was actually a celebratory feast for settlers after killing and robbing First Nations. Some reports found by MIM say that the celebration occurred after the Dutch and English settlers united to slaughter the Pequots in 1637. Other accounts claim the celebration followed the settler victory in King Philips War in 1676. Even if one assumes that the Thanksgiving myth was created based on meetings between the First Nations and settlers which involved food, the long and bloody history of genocide outweighs any possible symbolic cooperation on the part of the settlers. When Columbus stumbled upon the indigenous peoples' land, there were 100 million indigenous people (throughout the western hemisphere) and approximately 10 million in North America. By the 1900s, only 200,000 - 300,000 surviving descendents of indigenous people remained, and the genocide continued.(2) One truth of the settler mythology currently perpetuated in the bowels of the beast is that the First Nations aided settlers. Our research and settler mythology confirm that these pitiful European strangers would not have survived their first several years in the settler labeled area of New England if it were not for the aid of the Wampanoag people. The goal of the new Amerikan settlers was to grab as much land, food and resources as possible. The material interests of settler Amerika was then as it is now -- to dominate whole nations and groups of people to extract resources and exploit labor, building parasitic wealth off the backs of the settler nation's colonized. MARCHERS ARRESTED & CHARGED FOR ACTIVISM EXPOSING TRUTH Twenty-five marchers were charged with unlawful assembly, and disorderly conduct. Five of the arrested activists were also charged with assault and battery against a police officer. A correspondent at the march reported that no one assaulted the police and that no police have claimed to be injured, but many of those arrested were bruised. After this well coordinated violent repression by the pigs, the people retreated back to the Massasoit statue but were given just a few minutes to disperse by the police. About 80 supporters held a six-hour vigil outside the police station waiting for the prisoners to be processed and released. The police also threatened and abused these activists. The settler pigs refused to release a list of the prisoners and the prisoners' medical status. The pigs also denied supporters use of the public bathroom, the public phone and did not allow them to eat in the building. Activists were also threatened with arrest for singing the American Indian Movement song when prisoners were released. The oppressors have shown once again that their proclamations regarding the right to free speech and assembly do not apply to the oppressed or activism aimed at teaching the history of the masses accurately. For this reason, we build independent media of the people to convey the masses' struggles and history. Accurately representing the interests of the masses is a necessary first step in building successful struggles against oppression here in the belly of the beast. As one activist working on defense efforts of those arrested stated: "This isn't the first time that Native peoples have been brutalized. It's just the most recent." The next hearing for those arrested is set for January 29th. Activists are lobbying for as much support as possible to be present in Plymouth on that day. [Submit details of the upcoming hearing or full length submissions to or snail information to the address on page two.] NOTES: 1. The Patriot Ledger, 3 December 1997. 2. Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat. by J. Sakai. Available from MIM for $12. * * * PIGS ATTACK LATIN KING & QUEEN NATION In mid-November, police arrested over 60 members of the Almighty Latin King & Queen Nation, a multi- national gang in New York city and Holyoke, Massachusetts. As exposed in many recent MIM notes articles, the pigs use the war on drugs and gangs as excuses for mass round-ups of oppressed nationals. Specifically, the Black, Latino, and First Nations - oppressed nations within u.$. borders - pose a threat to the established status quo. The real war is not against drugs and gangs, but against oppressed nations and their imperialist oppressors. The New York arrests of 32 Latin Kings were said to be for illegal possessions of fire-arms and drugs. Though none of these were found, 24 members were charged with unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct. Witnesses said that the pigs had attacked some members earlier in the evening and other witnesses that said the Latin Kings charged were not acting disorderly. (1) Following their New York colleagues' example, Holyoke pigs decided to arrest 34 Latin Kings members as well. (2) At a November 21 talk at Hampshire College, Hector Torres, Chief Political & Media Advisor for the NYC King and Queen Nation, spoke about the transformation of the NYC gang into a cultural and political organization. Torres said that in the past, the Latin Kings have dealt drugs and have murdered. But, speaking for the NYC Kings, he said that with many deaths, and the realization that they were fighting themselves and not their enemies - racism and pigs - that it was time to re-assess their priorities. The NYC Kings and Queens have focused on the current oppression that minority groups face in Amerika. In efforts to end oppression and build a place for the oppressed within Amerika, the NYC Kings and Queens organize members of the oppressed around youth education, immigration, domestic violence, incarceration, AIDS, drug use, spirituality and other issues affecting the oppressed nation community. While their organizing exposes the nationally oppressive system, it falls short of addressing the principal contradiction in amerikan society, imperialism. Capitalist driven profit motive innately relies on disparity between groups of people. The surplus labor force created by colonization of internal colonies allows the oppressor white nation to get cheap services and products by exploiting the oppressed nations. The Black, Latino and First nations are then disproportionately forced to live in ghettos, prisons, and poor areas of Amerika. Oppression is a part of the structure that is reinforced through the white nation police force, education and lack of social services. Oppression can only be eradicated by changing the system via national self-determination struggles allowing the masses to control their own lives. So while the NYC Kings and Queens are progressively organizing to expose police brutality, prison injustice and overall oppression, they fall short of ending oppression by not organizing for future armed national self-determination struggles and socialism. They see their group as a way to react to white rape of their culture and communities by educate the oppressed communities about their culture and current U$ status, while building a support service for their members. Even falling short of revolution, their organizing does pose a threat to the system as shown by the massive pig crackdowns. King Blood, predecessor to current leader King Tone, is incarcerated with a life plus 45 years sentence, all in solitary confinement, for supposedly ordering murders from within prison.(1) According to Amnesty International this is the strictest, most inhumane sentence ever legally given out to anyone in the u.$. While pigs are targeting the Latin Kings for violence and drugs, MIM knows that violence is not the real reason for targeting these groups. The Kings are able to organize oppressed nationals into action. The current tactic of charging clean Latin Kings with "unlawful assembly" is the only way that NYC police can stop their organizing. The power that the Kings have to organize the oppressed masses is a potentially revolutionary act that threatens the u.$. status quo. The pigs are in the front lines of the war now, with the bourgeois media feeding Amerika with contradictory slogans about the "war on drugs and gangs". But the biggest gangs are the u.$. military and armed pigs themselves. Every year they commit more murders, theft, and acts of violence via mass starvation, then any organized group of oppressed nationals. If the U$ were really serious about its war against drugs and gangs, it would stop pumping the drugs in to the communities, eradicate a prison system that has been proven to not reform, and provide jobs and resources to all members of its communities. But what's being done is increased police brutality, military expansion, imprisonment and poverty. These are certainly not signs of a government working to end violence. While we unite around the Latin Kings and Queens efforts to expose oppression, we encourage all oppressed nation groups serious about ending oppression to focus on the principal contradiction of imperialism. Imperialism has proven itself devoted to oppression. Only internationalist national self-determination struggles will get the oppressor off the back of the oppressed masses and pave the way for socialist revolution where the masses will have control of all aspects of their life. * * * LETTERS: AMERIKA¹S POLITICAL PRISONS ***This letters section of MIM Notes is devoted to discussion of the issue of political prisoners. As MIM and RAIL build for the upcoming Jericho¹98 march in Washington, D.C. we are pushing forward the struggle over the definition of political prisoners and support for all prisoners¹ struggles against oppression. We welcome debate of all points of view on this subject and encourage our readers to write, criticize, question and struggle.*** ALL PRISONERS ARE POLITICAL PRISONERS FACING THE UNJUST GULAG SYSTEM DEAR MIM NOTES: I am writing in regards to the statement that all prisoners are political prisoners. In negotiating my agreement with this extreme perspective, I first had to define the term. The common person describes a political prisoner as one who is incarcerated for his/her political beliefs. At first this seemed to restrict the use of the term to those who had not committed a "crime." To that notion, one must look at which imperialist powers set up the qualifications of what a crime entails. The supposed purpose of the law, as instituted by the constitution, is to protect the rights of the people. However, an American prisoner is clearly a citizen of this country and should be allowed his/her constitutional rights. Unfortunately, the amount of censorship that goes on in United States prisons, constitutes grave injustice on the part of the governing body. Denial of such basic rights should be considered criminal behavior on the part of the prison system. In my opinion, it does not matter under what circumstances a prisoner is incarcerated. The most important issue is that once under the jurisdiction of the penal system, no one should be punished for reading revolutionary literature, holding political discussions, or otherwise imparting political ideals. I have come to agree with MIM's statement after reading several letters written by prisoners detailing their struggles with the prison administration. Disciplinary actions are taken against those who attempt to receive MIM Notes and other revolutionary literature through the mail. Many inmates' incoming and outgoing mail is screened and duly censored. Finally, many prisoners are discouraged from having political discussions among themselves. Whether revolutionary or reactionary, a prisoner with political views is most likely considered a threat to the social order. In light of the rampant censorship and other injustices common to American prisons, I have to agree with the statement that all prisoners are political prisoners. Sincerely, -- a comrade in Michigan THE POLITICAL PRISONER/PRISONER OF WAR ISSUE There has been much debate and discussion in the issue of who is and isn't a Political Prisoner and/or Prisoner of War (PP/POW) and we think it is time that this issue is AGAIN discussed, because we find there are some people who refuse to accept that there are PP/POWs unless there case have received some form of yankee acknowledgment, or the kapture individual was involved with this that movement/group. It is interesting that many "revolutionaries" have not raised their consciousness above the level of Amnesty International's conventional labeling of comrades. As comrade Geronimo [ji jaga] Pratt clearly indicated, and I quote from MIM Notes 141, July 1, 1997 page 1: "You have political prisoners on top of political prisoners. I'm only one of a great many that should be exposed, should be addressed." This comment supports the position of PPWC[Political Prisoners of War Coalition] and MIM/RAIL comrades. We "overstand" this but there are any others who do not agree with this and fight tooth and nail to denounce the fact that there are literally thousands of PP/POWs in state/federal death kkkamps. This makes us wonder whether or not some of these movements/groups who refuse to accept this fact have hidden agendas as to why they refuse to see the big picture. For another example testifying that there are many PP/POWs in state and federal death kkkamps that most of the masses know nothing about, please refer to the story in MIM Notes 141, July 1, 1997, page 6 regarding former Black Panther Party members, Mondo we Langua (formerly known as David Rice) and Ed Poindexter, who has been languishing in the kkkamps since 1971, where they were accused, wrongfully convicted an left to rot in the death kkkamps for a murder they did not commit, but were accused of by a frightened 15 year old Duane Peak, at the time. It is rather interesting that this issue of PP/POW should even be a thing of discussion today considering the nature of the amerikkka unjust system (cyst'm). PPWC have been telling many about the political process and how that process discriminates against oppressed nations within her borders. That ALL PEOPLE OF COLOR who has been kolonized and beaten to amerikkkan judicial submission and are incarcerated in the yankees state/federal death kkkamps are PP/POWs. But we still find ourselves in debate with various ones out there over this. Ones who claim to be Anarchist. Ones who claim to be progressives. Ones who claim to be about the liberation and struggle and political, social, economic change and the total OVERTHROW of this existing amerikkkan [farce] kapitalistic government. It shouldn't be a hard thing for anyone with eyes to see that amerikkkan officials have taken every aspect of our lives and made it POLITICAL by the very nature in which they control and attempt to control our lives. From the food you eat to the clothes you wear, to the type of place you live, to where you are "allowed" to live. All of these things are POLITICAL and to think otherwise is foolish or (as they say in NA) you're in DENIAL. When we have pigs arresting Seneca First Nations in New York and being held hostage, harassed, badgered, threatened and treated with ultimate disrespect solely because they refuse to give up the little land they have or the livelihood they have by selling tax-free gasoline and tobacco, how can anyone sit back and claim that their arrest is not POLITICAL or that they are not PP/POWs (if they are locked up) by the police state who aims are purely for political economical gains? Like MIM, we believe that all prisoners are not to be set free at this time, because there has to first be implementations in place for fighting crime against the citizen. But we do advocate that all prisoners undergo complete political re- education while implementations for dealing with social crimes are being made. We also understand/overstand that the bourgeois injustice cyst'm imprisons and executes a disproportionately large number of oppressed people while they allow big business, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and corrupt korporations to get away with wholesale slaughter, murder and deceit in the name of kkkapitalism and expansionism. As a conscious collect of political revolutionaries, PPWC does not agree with everything MIM says but we agree to disagree and act accordingly in efforts to educate and effectuate complete change in this existing cyst'm in amerikkka, while we struggle along side our comrades of MIM. We would like to know what you comrades out there think on this issue of PP/POWs? We would like to have this issue put to the public for debate and see why can't we collectively go to Amnesty International and let them know that "they must" change their concepts and definitions. Then again, what's really up on Amnesty International and who made them the definers of who is and isn't a PP/POW? In the trenches... -- a Michigan prisoner August 1997 * * * FILIPINO MASSES PROTEST RAMOS POLICIES & VISIT TO NYC New York City, November 26 -- At 6 p.m. a respectable number of protesters, mostly Filipino, held a picket outside of the Marriott Marquis to protest the economic and political policies of Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos. Ramos was in North America to attend an APEC summit in Vancouver, Canada, and in New York to speak to the United Nations this morning and at a fundraiser for his political party at the Marriott Marquis. The attendees at the fundraiser included elite Filipino compradors and multinational corporations. The chants at the protest organized by Philippine Forum included "Up with the workers, Down with Ramos!", and "APEC No!". Protesters also exposed the U.$-Ramos regime's doublespeak with: "Ramos says export, we see exploit." and "Ramos says free trade, we see flesh trade". Many signs exposed the economic and political repression of the people by the U.$-Ramos regime. The informational flyer for the protest split the protest into two major categories: against APEC and against Ramos. The Revolutionary Anti- Imperialist League (RAIL) attended the protest in support of the anti-Ramos aspect, but not in direct support of the anti-APEC aspect. The informational flyer for the protest explained about APEC: "For the people, APEC and imperialist globalization means increased misery. Workers are faced with higher unemployment and depressed wages, peasants and farmers are losing their livelihoods and land to transitional agribusiness corporations, and because of cheap imports flooding the local economies. The exploitation of women and children is intensifying, and indigenous communities are forced from their ancestral lands in order to open forests and mountains to foreign logging and mining corporations." This is a correct reason for people in the neo- colonies to oppose individual imperialist agreements like APEC as part of their larger struggle against imperialism itself. In fact, in the neo-colonies, economic protectionism plays a progressive role. Without APEC, the revolutionary forces -- in the case of the Philippines, led by the Communist Party of the Philippines -- could lead the proletariat and peasantry to revolution, but APEC forces large sections of the national bourgeoisie to join the revolution. Here in the imperialist countries, a different "middle force" plays a different, parasitic role: the labor aristocracy. The bought off workers follow the leadership of the nativist bourgeoisie against globalization because these workers are afraid of losing their jobs. They take this conservative position despite history's lesson that First World jobs lost through globalization are replaced with even more decadent white collar jobs. MIM can not lead a revolutionary class alliance against treaties like APEC at this time without unleashing a fascist movement we would prefer stay sedated. Despite superior intentions, nothing can change the fact that for MIM to organize against the APEC agreements would unleash these fascist forces further. In the Philippines, opposing APEC is correct because it is the fastest road to revolution. This is not true in the First World societies, although organizations and demonstrations in the First World aimed at Third World exiles are a different matter. As our principal task is to make revolution here, we must adopt the strategies most appropriate to make our revolution. While we can not adopt the anti-APEC slogan for our work here, we can firmly unite with other portions of this exile movement, including the placard that said "NO to Ramos' sellout of the Philippine patrimony!" Note: "No to APEC" by Philippine Forum, philforum@juno.com. For a question and answer article about MIM's stance on organizing against individual imperialist agreements, see "Corrections" in MIM Note 130, 15 January 1997. * * * STATEMENT FROM ONONDAGA NATION ACTIVIST ARRESTED ***MIM Notes received this statement from one activist, issued after the his/her arrest.*** November 29, 1997 I, X of the Onondaga Nation was asked by my brothers from Onondaga to seek support from other Nations, to come to Onondaga to re-establish the Foundation of the Five Nations. On my journey on Thanksgiving Day at Plymouth Rock I was arrested. During the booking processes, I of the Y Clan was asked by police to show identification. The only identification that I had were white wampum strands and a pouch of sacred tobacco. The police confiscated the wampum and tobacco. A police officer opened the white leather containing the wampum and removed it from the leather. They accused me of possession of marijuana; this was my sacred tobacco which they poured out onto the counter for inspection. I told them that was the biggest mistake that they ever made, was to handle our sacred tobacco and wampum. Prior to my release from police custody I was asked to raise my right hand and swear to appear in court on the appointed date. I refused to raise my hand but told them, using expletives, you can be sure I will be there, because I have a lot to say. * * * THE PIGS MAKE $625 A town borne in the bloodshed of 500 nations A nation-state crafted solely to protect the opulent few On this genocidal holiday, 300 gather Looking down at the monument of rock-solid stupidity and greed Welcome to Plymouth Mass. Thanksgiving 1997, national day of mourning As we march forward to briefly reclaim stolen land I feel like I'm on Gandhi's path But when my friend and brother in struggle for lenape restoration Is surrounded by six pigs, maced, slammed to the ground, cuffed and dragged into a patty wagon, I learn a lesson I could never find in books Such horror is virtually unexplainable in words First you must understand that injustice is routine That attacks are calculated, premeditated and directed at groups of living creatures for arbitrary reasons Such as nation, or gender or age or species. Next you must see that these tyrants have such a monopoly on power that they are almost completely untouchable, They may strike without reason, without morality And the best capitalist democracy can offer is: acquittal, a small pile of money and a slap on the wrist You must recognize that the people with uniforms, badges and guns are no different from those with robes (black or white) or suits and ties You must understand all of this in your mind and then... Then watch 25 of your brothers and sisters beaten, Then watch mace stream down the sidewalk in massive puddles, Then, and perhaps only then, will you see why the black panthers carried guns. As I stood in the lobby of the plymouth police station amidst fifty first nation people, all of singing with our fists raised proudly in the air I thought of the lenape people Of their communal living; gender equity, anti- racism, respect for gay and lesbian peoples, youth liberation and ecological sustenance And as I thought of all of this I remembered the $625 Paid to the plymouth pigs just so our people would be released from their prisons And absorbing this final blow -- I thought to myself: Just look where government has gotten us! just look where government has gotten us.... ***The above poem, written by an anti-imperialist friend of RAIL, creatively depicts the settler pigs' repression against activists at the recent commemoration of the National Day of Mourning in Plymouth, Massachusetts. MIM disagrees with the implication above that government in principle will result in oppression of the people and repression against actions of the people to make society more just and equal. When the people truly have the power and forge genuine struggles against oppression, the purpose of government is to represent the political, economic, military, and social interests of the masses with the ultimate goal of ending all oppression and the withering away of the state itself. MIM welcomes accounts of protest against settler colonialism and Amerikan imperialism and we encourage activists to work with us in building the foundations for revolution in Amerika led by the people.*** * * * STOCK MARKET CRASH: LABOR ARISTOCRACY CRISIS-MONGERS GRASPING AT STRAWS by MC12 Take an example: Two people each put $100 in the stock market. Over time, the price of the stock increases to $200. Then one person sells out, taking a $100 profit. If a lot of people do this at the same time, the stock market "falls" -- that is, the price of stocks goes down from all that selling. So the second person, who was yachting the first day and not paying attention, has to sell his or her stock the next day, at "only" $150. "Look!" says MIM, "These imperialist-nation investors just cashed in on a profit of $150 between them, without lifting a finger in labor." On the other hand, "Look!" says Workers World and other crisis-mongers, "The masses are losing money, because the second person only got half the profit of the first person!" This is a condensed version of what happened with the U.$. stock market when its core stocks (averaged into the Dow Jones industrial average) suddenly dropped in price in November. A few really rich capitalists and millions of really privileged labor aristocrat workers cashed in on huge unearned profits from years of riding the stock market up in their mutual funds and pensions. When they did, they reduced the amount of profits that could be claimed the next day. The stock market lost a few percentage point of price, but remained much higher than it was even one year before. No one "lost" anything, although some people got less opportunity to reap unearned profits off the backs of the oppressed than others. But here's what Workers World said, representing the "small investor," and the "working class" who have trillions in stocks, directly and indirectly through mutual funds and pensions and the like: "It's not just Bill Gates and other rich capitalists who lost money on Wall Street. At least 40% of the population of the United States owns stock shares -- most through mutual funds, pensions, insurance policies or savings accounts. Some estimates are as high as 75% of the population. Many workers have no idea where their pension money is invested." So now Workers World says almost half the U.$. population "lost" money in the market crash! They quote AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who pointed out, as MIM did, that "Worker pension funds now own 30% of all financial assets in our country and 25% of the shares of stock in U.S. corporations," which comes to more than $2 trillion. WW weeps on: "These funds lost billions in the crash. Even when the market goes up again, it doesn't mean that the winners are the same people as the losers. Much of the pension fund losses may never be recovered. The stock market is notorious for being a disguised form of capitalist expropriation of small savers. It is another way for the capitalists to take away savings and pensions of the workers and middle- class people. The stock market fall is thus another form of cutback." Now we are supposed to despair that these "losses may never be recovered"! Let's see the numbers on how many people had a NET loss -- how many people saw their stock prices fall below the amount they put in. Granted, a small proportion of people probably walked in and plunked down their semi- or un-earned cash the day before the crash, and they could have had net losses, but all those millions of labor aristocrats with their money in pensions have had it there for years; their "losses" are merely missed opportunities to claim the profits of pillage. WW has the smarts to know some allies of the oppressed are scratching their heads by now, so they go on: "The idea that almost everyone in the United States could be called a capitalist is often put forward. But owning stock does not make anyone a capitalist. A shareholder does not own the assets of a company; she or he only has a right to part of the profits made by the company. The yearly dividend incomes of working class and middle-class investors rarely amount to the monthly wage of an average industrial worker." OK, now MIM and the allies of the oppressed are pacified. The labor aristocracy is not bilking the poor -- in fact, many of them see unearned pay increases of less than 1/12 or about 8% -- every year, compounded until retirement, of course -- all for doing nothing! "The real capitalists are those who own controlling interests in the big corporations," says WW, and that's true. But the question is not really whether or not the labor aristocracy are all "real capitalists" -- most are not. The question is whether they are oppressed proletarians, and whether they will side with the oppressed in revolutionary movements. In answer to both those questions, the fact that the labor aristocracy reaps billions in unearned stock market profits -- beyond their inflated wages and salaries -- is strong evidence in support of MIM's position that the labor aristocracy is not a revolutionary class. NOTES: Workers World newspaper quotes from Nov. 6, 1997, "Market spasms forecast turmoil in economy" on http://www.workers.org. For more of MIM's analysis of Workers World and the labor aristocracy, see MIM Theory 10, "Coming to Grips with the Labor Aristocracy." * * * WOMYN HONORED FOR PARTICIPATION IN GENOCIDE AGAINST ABENAKI by MC53 The town of Haverhill, Massachusetts is currently considering another celebration of settler colonialism and genocide committed against First Nations. This particular case shows how settler nation wimmin benefit from membership in Amerika's gender aristocracy. In 1697, Hannah Duston murdered ten indigenous Abenaki. According to settler mythology, the Abenaki had captured Duston along with 14 others. According to a friend of MIM, the indigenous group accompanying Duston consisted of twelve people -- two men, three wimmin and seven children. In the middle of the night, Duston woke, murdered and scalped members of the Abenaki group, escaped and returned to Havervill with some of the other settler murderers. The first person killed was Bampico, an adult male, by Samuel Leonardson. The adults were killed first, then the children, all of whom were asleep. All of the Abenaki were killed except for a small boy and an elderly womyn who was badly injured. After having escaped successfully, the settler colonialists returned specifically for the purpose of scalping their victims. Duston and the other settlers then returned to Haverhill with ten scalps for which they collected a bounty. The pouch that contained the scalps is currently on display at the Haverhill Historical Society. Settler mythology not only perpetuates lies which covers the settler history of exploitation and genocide, but also commemorates such acts of terror by labeling it heroism. Duston was the first womynn honored with a monument in the United Snakes of Amerika. That statue of Duston at the center of the town is one of many sites commemorating her settler barbarity. There is also a stone monument by the bank of the Merrimack River where she was allegedly pulled up upon her return from her bloody adventure. Additionally, a nursing home, a street and The Hannah Dustin Garrison House, a local tourist site, and an elementary school that is slated for demolition bare the settler womyn's name. Currently, Havervill is considering a proposal to name at least one of the two newly constructed schools after the murdering white womyn. Imperialist-nation wimmin share the national privilege and stature of imperialist-nation men. At this time, wimmin in imperialist nations are pacified by the material benefits of white chauvinism and national oppression. Generally, First World wimmin choose these benefits rather than the fight to eradicate patriarchy. MIM urges First World wimmin to join the struggles of the oppressed and work for liberation of wimmin everywhere by taking up the banner of revolutionary feminism. This is the only path which has in the past and will in the future truly liberate wimmin. Necessary to achieve equality for wimmin is the seizure of state power by the people. The forefront of the struggle to liberate the world's people from oppression of groups of people over other groups, is the struggle for national liberation of oppressed nations. Without first having political, military and economic control over its own nation, a people cannot eradicate oppression based on class and gender. Truly heroic wimmin warriors are the ones who do not work in the interests of imperialism and instead fight for the eradication of the three strands of oppression: nation, class and gender. NOTE: The New York Times 30 November 1997, p.A16. Special thanks to an anti-imperialist ally for helping to set straight the history of Dustin's settler barbarity. * * * U.$. IMPERIALISTS SCHEME FOR INCREASED MILITARY PRESENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES Representatives of the puppet u.$.-Ramos regime met in Washington, D.C. with Amerikan imperialists to on September 30 to negotiate a new Status of Forces Agreement (SoFA), which will grant immunity from prosecution to Amerikan military personnel in the Philippines. The SoFA and another pending treaty, the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) are part of imperialist scheming aimed at expanding the Amerikan military's access to the Philippines. Amerikan military presence in the Philippines violates the sovereignty of the Philippines and will be used to repress the anti- imperialist struggles of the Filipino people. The Philippines also serves as a launching pad for u.$. military aggression against the peoples of East Asia. Two of the largest Amerikan military bases were in the Philippines until 1991, when the bases were closed in response to a broad anti-bases movement led by militant national democratic organizations. Prior to the closing of the bases, Amerikan soldiers and personnel enjoyed complete immunity for individual criminal acts in addition to serving as soldiers in imperialism's war against the oppressed nations in the Pacific and East Asia.(1) Since the United Snakes of Imperialism formally closed the military bases in the Philippines, Amerika has retained control over the masses through its support for its puppet, President Ramos, its support for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and through continued imperialist economic domination. Now it seems that Amerika seeks to re-establish its direct presence in the Philippines to increase both economic profits and military presence. The following factors are pushing the u.$. military to re-establish a massive presence in the Philippines: (1) the majority support in Okinawa to expel Amerikan forces from the island; (2) the military's need for a base in the Pacific in order to implement its "two front" strategy, which requires Amerikan forces to fight in the Middle East and Korea simultaneously; (3) the probable end to Ramos' reign in June of 1998; and (4) the tremendous revolutionary intensification in the Philippine countryside led by the Communist Party of the Philippines. Filipino Representative, Wigberto Tañada (Liberal Party, Quezon), said in June of this year that ACSA was "up for finalization" while the SoFA was "already a done deal ...."(1) While SoFA protects individual crimes committed against the people, ACSA (Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement) more formally gives power and rights of use back in the direct control of Amerikan imperialism. ACSA is the euphemistic acronym for the restoration and indefinite presence of U$ military forces in the Philippines according to the national democratic legal mass organization, BAYAN.(2) ACSA requires the Amerikan and Philippine military forces to provide each other mutual support and supplies. Tañada explained, "(But in) reality, it will be the Philippines which will do all the providing, in the same way that Subic Naval Base had served as the US Pacific Fleet's main supply and repair depot."(1) Mutual defense in this context means serving U$ strategic interests primarily, and Philippine security interests only incidentally, both at the expense of the Filipino masses. Tañada added that the ACSA will allow the US military to replicate decisive functions of the bases, "but under another name and in another form." "ACSA is the prelude to enabling the United States to preposition its war material aboard its ships which serve as its bodega or floating depots in Philippine waters," he said.(1) "Tañada said the implementation of the Acquisition and Cross Agreement Servicing in particular was apparently being backed by two presidential aspirants, Defense Secretary Renato de Villa and Speaker Jose de Venecia. In a speech delivered at a recent forum of the Kilosbayan, Tañada said the two had indicated their adherence to ACSA to court US support for their presidential ambitions."(1) Additionally, the Nuclear-Free Philippines Coalition (NFPC) explained that under the ACSA, "the United States had the choice of any place in the Philippines to establish new bases."(1) To serve as a jumping off point for military control in Asia and the Middle East, the ACSA would allow the u$ military to use most of the important ports for ship docking and military exercises and also allow the u$ military to use Philippine airfields. Included in the discussion of how best to expand u$ military domination in the Philippines is whether or not the u$ should be allowed to use the harbor of General Santos City in Mindanao and a nearby airfield. U.$. AID has spent $48 million in the last few years to construct the airfield there, $15 million to expand the harbor and $63 million for building highways in the region to connect General Santos City with other cities. To carry out these imperialist projects of expansion, U.$. contractors were often used by the Pentagon. Military access concretely to Mindanao and potentially to the other important points gives the United States of Imperialism direct access to aid in the fascist repression of the people's revolutionary armed struggle against imperialism, bureaucrat capitalism and feudalism. The armed struggle waged in by the basic Filipino masses the countryside and led by the Marxist-Lenin-Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines has intensified in recent years due to the CPP-led rectification campaign and increasing organized opposition to exploitation and oppression. Our task in the imperialist nations is to build revolution in the belly of the beast and to intensify the development of anti-imperialist mobilization to support our comrades abroad. NOTES: 1. Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 15, 1997. 2. Philippine Daily Inquirer, Letters to the Editor, July 5, 1997. * * * AMERIKA FIGHTS WAR OF STARVATION AGAINST IRAQI PEOPLE by MC45 By continuing to insist on United Nations economic sanctions agaist Iraq and sustaining provocative spy-plane flights in Iraqi airspace, the United Snakes of Imperialism is making every effort to goad Iraq into taking the first shot and giving Amerika the excuse it craves to launch an all-out war of aggression against Iraq. MIM opposes this and all other forms of U.$. war against oppressed nations as the most brutal type of violence of imperialism against the oppressed. U.N. chief Kofi Annan and members of the U.N. Security Council have tried to push a compromise of increasing the amount of oil Iraq can sell in exchange for war reparations, food and medical supplies. But Saddam Hussein has said that he does not wish to see the oil-for-food program continue because it is another excuse for continuing sanctions.(1) MIM agrees that continuing the food- for-oil exchange is a sick ploy. This compromise offers the illusion that imperialism cares about the health of the Iraqi people while attempting to shield the U.$. from international criticism of its ongoing war of attrition against the masses. Amerika is using its dispute with the Iraqi government to justify a policy of brutality and deprivation against the Iraqi people, and all anti- imperialist Amerikans are duty-bound to oppose this action unconditionally. MIM does not see the current Iraqi government as revolutionary, but we wholeheartedly support the right of the Iraqi people to national self-determination. U.$. imperialism in cooperation with U.N. collaborationists is today the principal barrier to the Iraqi people realizing national autonomy. Therefore it is our responsibility, working from within the heart of the imperialist beast, to oppose all U.$. military and economic intervention in Iraq. Through building opposition to Amerikan imperialism from within U.$. borders, we will make our most effective contribution to genuine liberation for the people of Iraq. SANCTIONS AND OTHER IMPERIALIST METHODS In a letter to the members of the U.N. Security Council on October 2, Ramsey Clark pointed out that by the U.N.'s own definitions this embargo is nothing more than genocide by trade policy. Clark writes: "Genocide is defined in the Convention [on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide], in part, as '... acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national group as such' by means including 'Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring its physical destruction, in whole or in part.'"(2) The mortality rate for Iraqi children under the age of five is now more than six times what it was in 1989, all as a result of the Gulf War and subsequent embargo. Child mortality was close to 600 in 1989 and had multiplied to more than 4,400 in 1995. 750,000 Iraqi children died as a result of the embargo alone by the end of 1996.(3) The language of sanctions, inspections and the need to secure U.$. interests in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait against the supposed threat of an Iraqi attack are all based on the imperialist assumption of Amerika's right to police Iraq. MIM continues to point out that it doesn't matter what Iraq has or hasn't done in Kuwait, and it doesn't matter what Iraq has or hasn't complied to in the name of subordinating itself to imperialist demands. No action on Iraq's part ever has or could justify Amerikan imperialist intervention into that country. MIM calls U.$. involvement in Iraq imperialist because it is rooted in the need of monopoly capital to eventually control people and resources all over the globe. Even the relief programs which have been extended to Iraq in the past are based on imperialist relations. The food-for-oil program, through which Iraq has sold $2 billion of oil to multi-national corporations over each of the last two years is based on the supposed imperialist right to Iraq's natural resources.(1) MIM does not advocate that Persian Gulf countries be graciously permitted to keep all their oil and starve, but it is a mistake to see the current oil-for-food program as a great humanitarian gift. Even if we discount the extraction of resources, the program does not only serve to benefit the Iraqi people, as a large percentage of proceeds from Iraqi oil are going to pay war reparations to Kuwait. DETERIORATING ECONOMIC SITUATION IN IRAQ The embargo, in effect since 1991, has forced the Iraqi government to continue privatizing state industries. Privatization started during the war with Iran in the 1980s. During and immediately following the Gulf War the dinar, Iraq's basic currency, became almost valueless for exchange as prices rose drastically on the black market. In the past two years, the government has legalized black market monetary exchange in an effort to restrain the exchange rate. Now there are two black market exchanges -- the legal one on which the dinar is worth a fraction of its former value, and the illegal exchange on which the dinar is worth even less.(4, 5) Another major effect of the privatization has been to amplify the wealth of the richest Iraqis while doing nothing to help the poor. Wealthy Iraqis who have capital to spend are buying government-sized businesses like hospitals, and becoming wealthier through this ownership. At the same time, the government is offering stocks in its operations to remaining workers so that a petty-bourgeois base of civil employees will remain on the job even while many educated petty bourgeois like lawyers and scientists are becoming small merchants, taxi drivers and other service workers because these jobs offer better pay than their trained professions.(5) DIFFERENCES IN IMPERIALIST OPINION A bright spot for Iraq in the inevitable rivalry among imperialists vying for exploitation rights to Iraqi oil is that Iraq is able to use this rivalry against the imperialists to some degree. Because of the following reasons, Amerika is hesitant to declare Iraq clean of illegal weapons and end the embargo.(6) The United Snakes has secure oil sources in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Amerika does not want to see Iraqi oil immediately on the market driving down prices overall. In an imperialist economy which creates no real value military build- ups are important to keeping money flowing. Amerika has attempted to get the U.N. security council to agree that Iraq has substantially violated the terms of the Gulf War ceasefire, which include inspections of Iraqi military facilities and weapons. If the U.N. officially agrees that Iraq has violated the ceasefire, Amerika can go ahead with a military attack on Iraq with international impunity.(6) France and Russia are holding back on supporting renewed sanctions because both countries are interested in future deals with the Iraqi state oil company, INOC. INOC is in charge of all oil extraction in Iraq and a necessary partner in any ownership of Iraqi oil resources. At the end of November, Russia attempted to have Iraq declared free of nuclear weapons in a meeting of a special U.N. body. Iraq must be declared free of nuclear, chemical, biological and missile weapons as one of the conditions to lifting sanctions.(7) Both Russia and France have fewer oil holdings than U.$. imperialism and are anxious to gain access to additional oil.(8) If important U.N. members want badly enough to get their grubby hands on Iraq's oil, they may be able to override Amerika and take some of the heat of weapons inspections and sanctions off Iraq. WHO DECIDES THE BRUTALITY OF A WEAPON? Since Amerika can't see the weapons and since it needs a reason for war, it has accused Iraq of having more chemical and biological weapons now than it did when the Gulf War ended in the winter of 1991. Much talk centers on the destructive potential of these weapons, and on the implicit inhumanity of storing and building these weapons.(9) MIM reminds readers that it is important first to interrogate the U.$. for the same crimes of which it is accusing Iraq. Amerikan policy towards bio-chemical weapons has been inconsistent and hypocritical ever since these imperialist snakes first refused to participate in the banning of chemical weapons in 1907. Demonstrating its hypocrisy even toward a single country and ruling party in different circumstances, the united snakes opposed U.N. action against Iraq in 1984 when Iraq was shown to have used mustard and nerve gases against Iranian troops.(10)Current warnings of the threat of biological weapons from Iraq continue to tell only the imperialist side of the story. In the Persian Gulf War, Amerika used such weapons as napalm and fuel-air explosives against both military and civilian targets, in violation of the Geneva Convention. A fuel-air explosive releases a "shockwave" whose "concussive force would surely rupture internal organs or eardrums of Iraqi soliders pinned down in their bunkers. This is not even to mention incineration and asphyxiation, as the fire storm of the bomb sucks all of the oxygen out of the area."(11) Even after the war was over, Amerikan armed forces used both biological and chemical weapons on the "Highway of Death," a road from Kuwait to Iraq along which retreating Iraqi troops and Palestinian, Jordanian, and other war refugees travelled at the end of the 1991 war.(12) And within united snakes borders police and prison guards continue to use pepper spray -- the main ingredient of which was outlawed for use as a weapon by the United Nations Biological Weapons Convention in 1972 -- against demonstrations and crowds, arrestees and prisoners.(13)MIM calls on all anti-imperialist activists and on those currently focused on the human rights of Iraqi civilians to join us in our efforts to prevent this war. It is not enough to oppose sanctions and respect the decisions of the United Nations. We must recognize that no imperialist intervention in Iraq can be justified. Amerika's crimes at home and abroad are recounted consistently in the pages of MIM Notes. Join us in our work to fight the imperialist monster, and to expose and oppose all forms of oppression. NOTES: 1. "Talk of the Nation," National Public Radio 5 December, 1997 2. http://www.Al-Bushra.org/iraq/clark.htm. 3. "Embargo Factsheet," http://www.Al- Bushra.org/temp/embargo.htm. 4. CIA World Factbook. 5. "Nation for Sale? In Iraq, War and Embargo have cleared the path for privatization," http://www.Al- Bushra.org/temp/aziz.htm. 6. MIM Notes 152 15 December, 1997. 7. New York Times 22 November, 1997. 8. New York Times 22 October, 1997. 9. New York Times 2 May, 1997. 10. "The pot calling the kettle black: A history of bio-chemical weapons," http://www.Al- Bushra.org/temp/grossman.htm. 11. Ramsey Clark and others, War Crimes: A Report on United States War Crimes Against Iraq. Maissoneuve Press (Washington, D.C.: 1992), p. 86. 12. Ibid, p. 18. 13. Michigan Daily 24 November, 1997 and MIM Notes #149 1 November, 1997. * * * U$ RESTRICTS WEAPONS TO INDONESIA by MC17 Today, December 7, 1997, marks the twenty-second year of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. On November 12, the u.s. house of representatives voted to block the use of u.s. weapons in occupied East Timor, restricting the sale of lethal weapons to Indonesia. The Senate had already approved the measure with stronger wording. The vote on the sixth anniversary of the Dili massacre in East Timor, came as the White House was offering a three billion dollar financial bailout for Indonesia.(1) The new legislation requires that any contract to sell lethal equipment to Indonesia "state that the United States expects that the items will not be used in East Timor." The Indonesian regime, led by General Suharto, has ruled over East Timor since 1975 when they invaded the country, with u.s. knowledge and approval and arms. Since then, the Indonesian occupying force has massacred close to 1/3 of the population, often using weapons bought from the united states. The Timorese people have been fighting for national liberation against the u.s. armed Indonesian regime. On November 12, 1991, in just one example of the atrocities of the Indonesian military occupation, more than 271 peaceful demonstrators were massacred in Dili, East Timor. According to the u.s. state department, about 90% of the weapons used during the Indonesian invasion of East Timor were u.s.-supplied. Amerika has provided Indonesia with hundreds of millions of dollars in military and economic assistance since 1975. The Clinton administration alone has provided almost $300 million in economic assistance and tens of millions of dollars in weaponry between 1993 and 1995.(2) The Indonesian government has stated repeatedly that it will not accept conditions on weapons sales, particularly conditions tied to its record on human rights. This spring, Suharto canceled a pending F-16 fighter plane deal because members of congress were talking about attaching human rights conditions.(1) This legislation from the u.s. government has gained praise from activists as a huge step in the fight against Indonesian occupation of East Timor. But while it does signify the first u.s. recognition of East Timor as a country separate from Indonesia, the legislation can only mean real change if Suharto acts based on words that bruise his ego. There is no method written into the legislation to assure that u.s. weapons are not used in East Timor, and it would be very easy for Suharto to agree to this stipulation and then do whatever he wants with u.s. weapons. Additionally, Indonesian occupation has been enforced with arms from other imperialist nations, like Australia, which could easily pick up the slack of arming against East Timor to protect Australia's oil interests off the East Timor coast. This is not the first u.s. restriction on weapons sold to Indonesia. A transfer of F-5 fighters was blocked in 1993, and in 1994 the State Department instituted a ban on the sale of small arms and crowd control equipment to Indonesia. The ban has since been expanded to include helicopter-mounted weapons and armored personnel carriers.(1) These concessions by the imperialists can be important to those fighting for self-determination in the Third World. If these lead to fewer weapons in the hands of the Indonesian military, the Timorese resistance has won a small battle in its fight to overthrow the imperialist occupation. It appears that this recent legislation was passed in the house and senate in response to strong public pressure over many years. Because the united states has little stake in East Timor itself, this token gesture of humanity will cost the Amerikan imperialists little while creating a better public image. The imperialists want to support fellow imperialists and imperialist lackeys like Suharto, but particularly when there is not significant direct investment on the line, it is possible to win battles like these. In the case of East Timor, its main interest in the country is through its relationship with Indonesia. This distinction between countries that the united states has financial or military interests in and those that are not as important to the u.s. imperialists is important. In the case of the Philippines, united states imperialists would not risk harming significant financial and military investments to condemn the atrocities of the dictatorship and make even token gestures at cutting off weapons supplies. Activists should take advantage of all situations in fighting to reduce imperialist involvement in the Third World. Our principal role in these struggles should be to support the national liberation struggles of Third World peoples. Reducing the supply of military weapons to the peoples' oppressors is a great contribution. NOTES: 1. Press release from the East Timor Action Network/US, November 13, 1997. 2. Los Angeles Times, 7 December 1995. * * * EAST TIMOR MASSACRE COMMEMORATION REPRESSED BY U.S.-BACKED INDONESIA by MC17 On November 14, 1997 Indonesian troops opened fire on East Timorese students in Dili following a clash with protesting students at the University of East Timor. More than 1,000 students commemorated the November 12, 1991 massacre. Following this commemoration, a peaceful demonstration was held on November 13 at which the military killed three wimmin and injured another three. At another demonstration on the 14th, according to witnesses, the police started firing at random to disperse the crowd. According to one source, at least two people were killed and 16 were injured. A number of students were arrested.(1,2,3) The numbers dead and injured have not yet been confirmed. After the attack university activities were suspended indefinitely. Activities around the world commemorated the November 12 massacre in Dili. In England an all night vigil was held at the Hawk factory where airplanes are manufactured that are used for carpet bombing of East Timorese people by the Indonesian regime. A number of people were arrested, including six Timorese who refused to identify themselves, claiming status as prisoners of war and demanding that the British government examine the crime of British companies selling weapons to the Indonesian dictatorship. The British Aerospace Hawk deals with Indonesia have been fraught with controversy and nonviolent action. Last July, four ploughshares wimmin were found not guilty by a Liverpool jury of causing criminal damage to a Hawk, arguing that they had been preventing the crime of genocide in East Timor. Despite such successes and massive popular concern, the incoming "new" Labour government decided not to cancel the deal.(4) NOTES: 1. The Weekend Australian, 15-16 November 1997. 2. Sydney, 17 Nov (Lusa) from east-timor@igc.org. 3. GREEN LEFT WEEKLY - Issue #298, 19 November 1997. 4. From: Peace News (Peace News - For Nonviolent Revolution 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DY, Britain.) 14 November 1997. * * * MARXISM- LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE BOURGEOISIE FIGHTS OVER INTERNET CONTENT CONTROL: SHOULD FEDERAL LAW, PARENTS OR THE PEOPLE CONTROL THE INTERNET? In the latest round of "should federal law or parents regulate the content of the Internet" -- the two forces in this paternalistic struggle to control youth's access to information seem to be locked in a close tie. Fortunately for the bourgeoisie, both sides agree on and support the direct involvement of law enforcement. On one hand, you have a new bill introduced in the Senate (S-1482) in the beginning of November "to amend section 223 of the Communications Act of 1934 to establish a prohibition on commercial distribution on the World Wide Web of material that is harmful to minors, and for other purposes." (1) "Under the bill, commercial online distributors of material deemed "harmful to minors" could be punished with up to six months in jail and a $50,000 fine. The definition of "distributor" could include the virtual bookstore amazon.com or a promotional site for a Hollywood movie, as well as Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Microsoft and America Online,² the ACLU said. ³And unlike the CDA, the statute applies only to web sites, not to chat rooms, e-mail or news groups."(2) On the other, you have a three-day summit in Washington, D.C. at the beginning of December where technology and media companies such as Amerika Online and Disney affirmed their commitment to filtering software -- arguing that through technology they can obviate the need for federal regulation. At the summit, participants agreed on the importance of working with law enforcement to trap online pedaphiles, and to report illegal activities in chat rooms or other components of their services to the police.(3) Vice-President Gore, a welcome speaker at the conference, unveiled a new 1-800 number for parents to report any objectionable content they come across on the Internet.(4) (And although the bourgeois newspaper and radio reports MIM consulted in writing this article all reprinted the 800 number, MIM opts not to do the pigs' advertising for them.) It has to be this way -- as everyone involved recognizes that children are way ahead of adults in navigating their way around the Internet, including around filtering software. Timed to coincide with the conference, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) released a report opposing the use of filtering.(3) The report stated that using such search terms as "American Red Cross," "San Diego Zoo," "Smithsonian Institution," "Christianity," the "Bill of Rights" and "eating disorders:"(5) "filtering software blocked almost 90 percent of the materials on the Internet containing the relevant search terms. We further found that in many cases, the search service denied access to 99 percent of material that would otherwise be available without the filters. We concluded that the filtering mechanism prevented children from obtaining a great deal of useful and appropriate information that is currently available on the Internet."(5) So far so good. But this is the same EPIC that is promoting a new report on spam called, "How to Complain About Spam, or, Put a Spammer in the Slammer." The report encourages people to report suspicious "spam" to the FBI and claims that "the attorney general of your state is your friend."(6) For their part, state legislatures are using the Internet more and more to crack down on non- Internet related crimes. According to a recent ACLU newsletter: "The St. Paul, Minnesota Police Department has launched a page on its official website posting pictures and biographical information of individuals suspected of prostitution or soliciting prostitution.(7) "The site includes a disclaimer stating that all persons are considered innocent until proven guilty, but includes no other information on whether the individuals have been indicted or acquitted."(7) The newsletter went on to report that: "A Michigan State Representative, Dave Jaye, has also recently launched a web page containing the names of 275 individuals from his county who are registered with the state Public Sex Offenders Registry. The site is linked to Rep. Jaye's official website and states that his office is 'not responsible for inaccuracies.'(7) "Despite the possibility of error and vigilantism on the site it provides names, addresses, and other personal information about registered offenders and is searchable by zip code."(7) MIM opposes government regulation, law enforcement involvement AND parental control of internet content through filtering technologies. We encourage all youth to visit MIM's web site for some revolutionary education -- http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM. Notes: 1. http://thomas.loc.gov 2. ACLU newsletter, Nov. 18, 1997. http://www.aclu.org 3. Washington Post, Dec. 2, 1997. http://www.washingtonpost.com 4. All Things Considered, National Public Radio, Dec. 2, 1997. 5. http://www.epic.org 6. http://weber.ucsd.edu/~pagre/spam.html#Police 7. ACLU Newsletter, Nov. 3, 1997. http://www.aclu.org * INTERNET GREETINGS FROM THE BASQUE RED NET Dear MIM, I am grateful to announce that, as a tribute to the Russian Revolution, on November 1997, we connected our web site THE BASQUE RED NET to Internet and to invite you to visit it. Our URL: http://www.basque-red.net The definition of our web site says as follows: The BASQUE RED NET is made up of persons who are radical communists, Basque independentists, feminists and ecologists and who are interested in information and communication. Most of them are Basques from birth, but there are some who are Basque due to their attachment or to international solidarity. For the time being our web site is written in four languages: Spanish, Basque, Catalan and English. The sections of our web site are: -Weekly analyses and news service: A glance at the (Basque) hidden face of the Spanish state. -The Basque Country: the oldest nation-people in Europe. -Is a Revolution brewing in the Basque Country? -Negación vasca radical del capitalismo mundial (Basque radical refusal to world capitalism) -Communism or chaos: capitalism kills -A reading guide to become a communist -The Marx-Engels-Rosa-Lenin-Mao-Ho-Che-Wallerstein- EZLN Archive in the BASQUE RED NET. -Ecology: how capitalism is destroying the planet. -The infamy of patriarchy worsened by the capitalism -Links page We made a link to: Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) -- http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/ in our links page. At the beginning our link page will only give in HTML the name of the pages and their URL. Since our aim is to enlarge it successively, we ask you to send as by e-mail a text of up to 40 words defining your web site as you like. And where appropriate a banner or logo. We are very grateful for your visit. Should you have any critical or suggestion to make please send it to us. * MIM RESPONDS: Thank you for alerting us to your new web site, and for allowing us to represent ourselves with text and a banner graphic with the link. We will return the link with your letter and the following review of your site, which we run in order to call attention on the Basque struggle for independence. MIM also presents our criticisms of the content of your web site as part of our investigation into the different political lines in this struggle. The site includes recent news from Spain about the Basque struggle, and points to histories of Basque nationalism and the birth of the ETA. These documents make it clear that BASQUE RED NET is calling for genuine self-determination from Spain, the parameters of which are to be determined by the Basque people themselves. But MIM was disappointed to see a text archive of Trotsky along with the correct lines of Marx, Lenin and Mao -- as if there is no distinction between the revisionist line of Trostky (which never led a successful liberation struggle) -- and the (proven) revolutionary proletarian line of Mao. We further disagree with the site's upholding of Fidel Castro's Cuba as "communist." MIM aruges that Cuba is a state-capitalist country which was formerly a colony of the ex-USSR and is now disproportionately dependent on Russia and other imperialist powers. MIM does not have enough information to know whether BASQUE RED NET is itself a revisionist organization, or whether it is just liberal in promoting the revisionist line in it recommended reading on communism. We welcome your response and further struggle. * * * FOSTER CARE PIGS PERPETUATE HETEROSEXIST PATRIARCHY by MC53 A child welfare supervisor ordered an emergency removal of a child under custody of a lesbian womyn in Dallas, Texas. The reason given was "We don't ordinarily license persons when we know them to be involved in any kind of crime on an ongoing basis." The supervisor, Rebecca Bledsoe stated that the foster parent "admits to criminal sexual conduct." Bledsoe is backed up by the 118 year old law which states that homosexual activity is a crime. Not surprising, the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services faked left and continued reactionary. It gave Bledsoe a liberal punishment and admonished her. The DPRS demoted Bledsoe to the status of caseworker, but allowed her to retain the salary of a supervisor. Amerikan legislation legally backs the action taken by Bledsoe, showing that this is not a case of one random heterosexist. In fact, twenty states still have anti-sodomy statues, six states define same sex relations as criminal sodomy and two states, Florida and New Hampshire, have made it formally illegal for homosexuals to adopt children. Even if pro-gay and lesbian activists were able to fully change the legislation which discriminates against people based on their sexual orientation, the patriarchy would continue to uncover new anti- people policies. As of now, it is not just the individual agents of patriarchy, but the legislative and legal system which deny privileges based on gender and sexual orientation. MIM argues that gender oppression, which includes oppression based on sexual orientation, is a separate strand of oppression from class and nation which must be struggled against. To overthrow the patriarchy and end inequality based on gender and sexual orientation the state must be in the hands of the people. NOTE: The New York Times 30 November 1997, p. A10. * * * MASSACHUSETTS CONTINUES PRISONER DEPORTATION & ROTATION TO TEXAS GULAGS Massachusetts Department of Corrections chained another 28 prisoners in a bus for deportation to Texas on December 3. These 28 hostages of the Amerikan injustice system were exchanged for other Massachusetts prisoners who had already been languishing in Texas gulags. The latest slave shipment to Texas preserved the contracted Massachusetts quota of 300 in the Dallas County Jail. The Massachusetts DOC began transferring prisoners to Texas in 1995. In the first shipment, 300 men were deported in the middle of the night to be taken far away from families and supporters. The deportation of Mass prisoners to Texas is a terror tactic in Amerika¹s war against the oppressed nations. This system can only survive by the strength of its military might and through keeping the masses afraid and beaten down. RAIL has been consistently struggling to build public opinion in favor of these prisoners and has contributed to the strong public outcry opposing the transfer policies. The Massachusetts DOC began rotating prisoners earlier this year in what appears to be a concession to the growing opposition to transfers. Though the DOC aims to quiet our protests, RAIL and MIM organize to stop the deportations altogether in this battle against the entire Amerikan prison system. The result of the new rotation policy is that more prisoners are subjected to the long slaveship journey, horrible conditions in Texas and tremendous alienating distances from families and supporters. Just recently we received a report that in addition to the unsanitary conditions, lack of heat, and lack of medical care in Dallas, at least one prisoners has had all his MIM literature seized and is now having his mail censored. We face these same problems in Massachusetts but activists and family members have an easier time holding the prisoncrats responsible as we are close by and can take our protests directly to the people responsible. RAIL has been organizing against these transfers to Texas since 1995 and we have gathered a significant number of petition signatures while getting the word out about why we oppose these transfers. We will continue to fight these transfers until all of the prisoners in Dallas are returned to Massachusetts. MIM leads RAIL in our intensified struggle against the current Amerikan injustice system. The Amerikan prison system is one of the most fascistic sections of the Amerikan system. The Amerikan prison system is a tool to perpetuate and strengthen national oppression and social control. Lack of representation for the oppressed in courts, denial of the right to a jury of peers, unequal sentences for similar crimes between whites and oppressed nationals, and greatly disproportionate imprisonment of members of oppressed nations are some of the characteristics of the Amerikan prison system. MIM organizes for revolution and fights for power to the people. Fighting the entire Amerikan prison system and its foul manifestations such as the deportations is a struggle RAIL can help you build in your area. NOTES: Boston Globe. Dec 4, 1997. p. B11 * * * BAR ASSOCIATIONS ADVOCATE MORATORIUM ON DEATH PENALTY November 25, the Pennsylvania DOC and district attorney's debated the death penalty. These agents of repression appeared to re-assess the use of the death penalty based on increased opposition to its disproportionate implementation in punishment against oppressed nationals and the poor. Public opinion as well as criticisms from Bar Associations and Amnesty International pushed the agents to at least pretend to address the issue. With a motion to support the moratorium, the Philadelphia Bar Association joined the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the American Bar Association in calling for "a moratorium on capital punishment in Pennsylvania until such time that fairness in its administration can be ensured."(1) These motions are significant advances in the struggle against the imperialist death penalty but are not binding in any legal sense and will ultimately only serve as means to build public opinion. Philadelphia Bar chancellor Clifford Haines explained before the vote: "It's incumbent on legal leadership across the country to look carefully at the way the death penalty is carried out and the way the people whose lives are taken from them are represented before any public official goes forward with the penalty."(1) The Bar's Board of Governors voted 18-10 in favor of the moratorium.(1) MIM welcomes the position of the Philadelphia Bar Associations and other Bar Associations in opposition to the death penalty in imperialist Amerika. However, decisions of Bar Associations, which are organizations of lawyers, are not binding upon the government. We encourage and organize further opposition to specific practices which worsen conditions of Amerika's oppressed. But MIM does not stop there. MIM continues the fight for more than mere temporary reprieves. We need progressive lawyers to take up the banner of Maoism to help in the fight to overthrow imperialism and build an entirely new justice system based on the needs of the people and not the interests of imperialism and its parasites. Of the 210 people on death row in Pennsylvania, 131 -- or 62 percent -- are Black, according to the Pennsylvania DOC.(1) Only 9.5% of Pennsylvania is Black(2). Of the 115 prisoners sentenced to death in Philadelphia, 96 of them -- or 84 percent -- are Black.(1) Only 39.9% of Philadelphia residents are Black(3) Pierre Sane, the London-based secretary general of Amnesty International, criticized the use of the death penalty in Pennsylvania as "one of the most racist and unfair" in the United Snakes. Sane is correct to address the implementation of the death penalty in this manner, but Amnesty International's analysis and criticism falls short. While from time to time, groups like Amnesty play a role in building public opinion against specific aspects of oppression, the analysis and direction from these organizations does not project an overall criticism of the Amerikan system of injustice. Amnesty's long history of reformism shows that the systematic analysis of oppression is still work that only the masses, its Party, United Front and Army are willing to fight. MIM opposition to the death penalty goes beyond the typical reasons which pacifists use. Specifically, MIM does not oppose the death penalty in principle. We oppose the way that it is used under imperialism because of its role as an extreme punishment in Amerika's war on the oppressed nations. It will never be possible for this disgusting system to carry out the death penalty with "fairness" because this system is unfair to its core. As the people's Party, United Front and Army hasten the death of imperialism, the people will seize the power to make decisions concerning the death penalty. In the hands of the people, the death penalty will be used to serve the interests of the masses. Carrying out the death penalty during the necessary armed struggle on the path to seizing power for the people or as revolutionary people's tribunals expose hard core enemies of the people who are not willing to reform are cases in which MIM does not oppose the death penalty under socialism. If you disagree, get real -- Amerikan imperialism enacts the death penalty daily against the masses throughout the world. While MIM works with pacifists now to oppose the death penalty, we are also pushing for the day that the people have the power to make decisions concerning this and every method to end oppression. NOTES: 1. Philadelphia Inquirer 26 November 1997. 2. Statistical Abstract of the United States 1996, p. 34. 3. Statistical Abstract of the United States 1996, p. 45. * * * SWITCHED VOTE KILLS EFFORT TO REINSTATE MASSACHUSETTS DEATH PENALTY On November 6, the Massachusetts house of representatives voted down a compromise bill from the house-senate conference committee that would have restored the death penalty in Massachusetts. As we previously reported, the house had narrowly passed a death penalty bill on October 29. The more solidly pro-death penalty Senate decided against accepting the House version. MIM is glad that the death penalty proponents lost in Massachusetts, and we are glad that in the process, the life-long torture alternative failed too. We must recognize that the death penalty in Amerika is used as a symbolic act of retribution and revenge in high-profile cases and as a weapon of terror in Amerika's war against the Black, Latino and First Nations within its borders. We must oppose the use of the death penalty by the imperialist state as part of our struggle against the injustice system itself. Influenced by the recent Louise Woodward case, rep. John Slattery switched and voted against the bill. The vote was a tie, but a majority is needed to pass a bill into law. Due to the way the House accepted the compromise bill, House rules prevent the bill from being resubmitted until 1999. When the house first passed the bill, the media was full of stories about a recent spate of brutal murders. But the media extensively covered Woodward's case in the week prior to the second vote. According to a Boston Herald poll, 91% of voters "disagreed with that verdict in one way or another." Many Amerikans can relate to the white Woodward and look at her sentence as a case of the justice system not working. White nation chauvinism is the basis of getting outraged at the Woodward case while much clearer cases of injustice -- such as the not guilty verdicts for the officers who beat Rodney King -- are accepted by the Amerikan settlers. The house was the scene of intense lobbying. The center of the pro-death forces were the family of 10 year old Jeffrey Curley, who was recently abducted, killed and then sexually molested. Curley's death is being used by the patriarchy to promote child abuse. The rabid frenzy around stranger molestation prolongs the life of the patriarchy, which treats children as property. The stranger-molestation hype distracts attention from the property relationship between parents and children, which is the basis for children being so vulnerable to adult violence. Going gung-ho after the very rare stranger rape cases only admonishes the more frequent situation of daddy raping daughter. By eliminating the patriarchy and the parental ownership of children we can stop all of this horrible crime against humanity. MIM struggles against the criminal injustice system because we recognize its use as a key weapon in Amerika's war on the oppressed nations. We propagandize against this weapon by pointing out that the imperialists' promises to stop crime with more prisons won't work. For that matter, there is nothing the state can do (length of sentences, death penalty, etc.) that will affect the crime rate. Crime is socially created and constructed. People who want to end so-called crime should work with MIM to create a society where such things no longer have a material basis to happen. Sentences imposed for crimes committed against the people must be in the hands of the people. NOTES: Boston Globe 7 November 1997, p. A1, A34. * * * UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS COMRADE IN HOLE REPORTS ON MISSOURI SWINE It has been a while since last I communicated with you mainly because I have been in the hole without my stamps and writing materials. It is a damn shame that a pig can lie on you and his word is taken as the truth. Since I have been in the hole, I have seen these out of shape pigs show their true colors in rare form. Like last night for instance, there was an inmate upstairs who was kicking the cell door because his cellmate was having a medical problem. When the pigs rushed into the unit, instead of getting the sick inmate medical attention, they sprayed their poison or pepper mace into the cell. Then they gave the two inmates conduct violations for creating a disturbance. Just yesterday a pig gave me a conduct violation for a minor assault because I wouldn't let him grab me by the arm and treat me like a little child. These people [guards] have lost their minds. They think just because you are in prison you have lost your god given right to be a man and a human being. Enough about these swine.... I hope to hear from you soon, at this time you are my only lifeline to what's going on in the struggle. -- A Missouri Prisoner, 21 October 1997 RETALIATORY TRANSFER OF MICHIGAN REVOLUTIONARY IN KKKAMPS Please note that i am no longer at the X Facility. i was systematically moved from X Facility because of my political / social activities. i was transferred from Facility X and they left all my personal property and legal property there. This includes my personal footlocker (with all my clothes, books, papers, cosmetics, radio, Holy Koran, etc. in it); legal footlocker (with all my legal books, court papers, briefs in it); typewriter and TV. Essentially, i have NOTHING! And to make matters worse ... i am in the Michigan Court of Appeals recently and got a letter from the Court telling me i had 22 days to come before them. Those 22 days are up October 22nd, and i have not begun to research the cases i need, let alone write up a draft copy of the brief, type it out and make 6 copies: one for the Attorney General, one for myself and 4 to the courts. My last word to you expressed how i was denied the materials you sent me and that i was fighting it. However, before i could have a hearing i was transferred. So i don't know if this hearing will resume at this kkkamp or not, but i plan to pursue it from this end and find out something -- and find out where and what they did with that material. This particular kkkamp is considered a Medium Security facility, but it is run as though it is a Maximum Security Facility. There is very little movement and very little yard time. And to make matters even worse ... Black People run this kkkamp. Black Overseers! Black House "Knee- grows" ... That's who runs this place. 99% of the pigs here are knee- grow black overseers oppressing other Black men. And out of the 99% Black run/pig infested kkkamp, only 1% of the administration is white. Now Ain't that a Bitch? Mighty Whitey has taught us well. Taught us to oppress and humiliate our own. Now get this - 65% of the black pigs and overseers who run this kkkamp are Black Wimmin! What's up with that Shit? The Warden is Black. The Deputy Warden is Black. The Assistant Deputy Warden is Black. All the nurses are Black. The doctor is Black and female, but i hear she is very professional and treats men as men and not as a dog.... -- A Michigan Prisoner, November 1997 MIM RESPONDS: It may seem like a contradiction to see members of oppressed nations in the oppressor's uniform -- but it happens. People believe in the Amerikkkan nightmare, that they can get a piece of the pie, or crumbs off the table. Just because a person is Black, does not mean that they are hip to the revolution. Nationality can tell us who has a material interest in revolution but the imperialists have succeeded in buying themselves a number of lackeys from among the oppressed nations both inside and outside u.s. borders. MICHIGAN SECURITY THREAT GROUP POLICY BURIES PRISONERS ... As of now I am still under lock down and currently being railroaded on trumped up charges by the facility to the outside courts. I supposedly spit on one of these oppressors, which is False to the greatest extent. I am being prosecuted for a "felony" assault, to which they are trying to include habitual penalty to carry a time statute of 8 years! A charge of such nature in the free world is at the highest, classified as a misdemeanor punishable at a maximum of 90 days. This is a prime example of corruption at this facility. At the moment several prisoners are being charged with this. The goal is to bury us prisoners. It is a small town and state police work with the facility. The institutional investigator's investigation consists of asking a guard if a prisoner committed the alleged charge, an answer of yes is reported to the same state police officer every time. Which is sent tot he same prosecutor downtown. They are very systematic and prisoners are guilty before tried. Since charged I have received bogus misconduct reports, receiving the maximum time per charge. My property is being taken and I'm refused receipts for several days, months in one incident. This gives oppressor easy time to lose and destroy property, which was done of course. MDOC [Michigan Department of Corrections] Internal Affairs supposedly investigated a complaint of corruption and harassment. Refusing to call or contact prisoner witnesses, only interviewing guards. The complaint was improperly investigated, and as a result held the complaint without merit. Due to this the Assistant Director of the MDOC in Lansing ordered a misconduct [report of the prisoners] for exposing the folly. These are only a few personal instances occurring. Strong comrades are singled out also. Michigan prisons recently, 12-14-96 passed a new policy: Security Threat Groups (STG I & II). Under this policy prisoners "suspected" of belonging to organizations can be placed on Faze I. Which automatically restricts family visits drastically and enforces repeated shakedowns. The supposed policy is to secure the facilities from gang or threatening movements. In reality it is a new wave of justifiable harassment. The facilities label whoever they wish. I can obtain this policy also. As many policies and laws, it is sugar coated justifiable oppression which targets Black Muslims, Revolutionary Students, and Latinos, which these facilities label as "Gangbangers." In all reality this is nothing more than a "Miniature COINTELPRO!"... -- A Michigan Prisoner, 14 September 1997 CENSORSHIP AND STG IN MICHIGAN KKKAMPS ... In answering your inquire concerning censorship here in Michigan prisons, the Department is kind of strict about what enters its prisons (literature etc.). Attached are copies of Michigan Policy Directive in dealing with mailing etc. This covers what is allowed in the prisoners via mail. Also, the Department has just implemented a new Policy entitled Security Threat Gangs (S.T.G). It is designed to stop gang activity within the walls of prisons here in Michigan. But we fully well know its interior motive, which is to prevent brothers like me from demonstrating our Revolutionary concerns. This policy is basically a utensil that the Department is using to prevent non-religious material from entering the prisons that they deem is a threat to the order and security of the Institution. However, to the order and security of the Institution. However, they cannot stop the entering of newspapers, newsletters, etc. due to the effect of prisoners' first amendment rights.... -- a Michigan prisoner, 16 September 1997 REPRESSION AGAINST 5%TERS CONTINUES ... I am a poor righteous teacher of the 5% Nation. I have been studying Islam for over 10 years. And the struggle we had to fight in New York is nothing in comparison with the state of South Carolina. I have been down 3 years, and during the first 6 months of my fist year, I was placed on lock-up (Administrative Segregation) for being a part of a threat group. This threat group was later found out to be the 5%ters. The SCDC [South Carolina Department of Corrections] states that we are a gang and that we hold cipher in place of congregating something violent to manifest. I must stress that fact that the poor righteous teachers of the Nation of Islam are not a gang, nor an enemy to SCDC. Our prime goal is to teach freedom, justice and equality to all the human families of the planet earth. I have been on lock-up for over 2 years now. I feel teaching the truth to the blind, deaf and dumb is the duty of a civilized person. So why must we be oppressed? ... -- a South Carolina prisoner, 25 August 1997 MIM RESPONDS: We too advocate educating people about the truth. The truth is that teaching freedom, justice and equity is not in the interests of the imperialist pigs. That is why they seek to oppress and dominate any groups that are progressive. Keep exposing the truth and work with MIM to overthrow imperialism and put an end to this system that is build on oppression and exploitation. VIRGINIA GULAG CONDITIONS ARE ROTTEN ... After reading the section called "Under Lock and Key" and learning of those things that have been going on at other institutions, I feel that I should let you know of the things that are happening with Virginia Department of Corrections, especially here at Nottoway Correctional Center. Since there are so many deliberate and disregarding actions against prisoners here at Nottoway Correctional Center, I will limit my account to events that have effected me over the past few years. In June of 1995, I was charged with possession of a weapon and sent to what is called Pre-Hearing Detention (PHD) to await an adjustment hearing. When the date of my hearing came, I was not allowed to attend the hearing by way of a lie and an act of deliberate denial by one Sgt. L. Evans. Although this was made known to the administration of the institution, as well as the administrative heads of the Department of Corrections, and yet nothing was done. And really everyone has seen fit to lie and deny that it ever happened. On top of that, while in isolation, after being found guilty because of the deliberate lie by Sgt. L. Evans, I was denied access to the courts. I gave an officer legal documents to be mailed, per legal mail, only to find out some time later that the courts never received the documents. Not only has the above been a source of complaints and problems for inmates, but there is more. Such as the fact that Operations Officer M. M. Hill has openly admitted that she not only reads prisoners' legal mail, but she also has admitted to copying prisoners' legal documents and has stated that she has no intentions of stopping these wanton illegal actions. As for the medical care of inmates here at Nottoway Correctional Center, it is poor to say the least. To give you some idea of what I mean, there is an individual here who calls himself a "doctor" by the name of L. Thompson. This individual does not only have no respect in the medical community, but according to court records he has allowed by way of negligent medical care, three people to be injured or die. And the only rebuttal to this by the Department of Corrections and the Administrators of Nottoway Correctional Center is "as long as `Dr' L. Thompson has his license we won't question his decisions." This man deliberately changed prisoners' medication without any authority, refused to sent prisoners to competent doctors or doctors who specialize in the conditions or problems that the inmate has. He has also given instructions to medical staff not to treat inmates. And the prevailing attitude among the medical staff is that it doesn't matter weather "Dr" L. Thompson is wrong or not, they are going to do what he tells them. As was stated to me by one of the nurses when I asked her about following "Dr." L. Thompson's instructions even when she knows that they are wrong. "I'm still going to do it whether his is wrong or right." This is the prevailing attitude of the medical staff here at Nottoway Correctional Center. And it has proven to be harmful to the prisoners here at this institution, with no one in an administrative position even caring. ... I am Muslim and because of my religious beliefs I have been punished, bothered and even told by the Assistant Warden of Operations that "this institution will not provide you with your job and your religious practices." Because of my religious beliefs, I have also received a charge for performing prayer and was told that I could not pray when free from work by the Food Service Supervisor, M. R. Davis. Which I have been prohibited from proceeding court actions because of documents that are not in my possession. This denial of religious beliefs goes further than just the incident with me. It deals with the whole administration's effort to stamp out Islam at this institution.... ... This DOC has the full requirements to provide inmates with due process as required by the constitution, yet this institution, sanctioned by the Department of Corrections, has seen fit to exact a policy called IOP 834 which effectively denies inmates due process. And subjects them to penalties that are only enforceable after the proper due process has been afforded to the inmate. In short prisoners' constitutional rights are being violated and ignored by a system and people that are not less than tyrants. The above are only some of the troubles that myself as well as other have experienced at this institution. ... It is so tyrannical here that ... inmates are being locked in the mess hall while eating, as per instructions from the Warden, A. D. Robinson. [This shows] little or no regard for prisoners' safety and is being shoved off as a safety precaution. What I am trying to convey ... is that prisoners' lives, rights and liberties are being put at risk deliberately by the Virginia Department of Corrections. Knowingly lies upon lies are being used to cover up what is happening. There has been a deliberate refusal to correct these problems because in the DOC's eyes inmates are less than human beings.... -- a Virginia prisoner, 19 September 1997 GEORGIA WARDEN CENSORS MIM NOTES AND GUARDS BRUTALIZE INMATES MIM is being censored in Georgia by Warden Patricia Hicks at the authority of a proven madman Commissioner, Wayne Garner. Whose prison guards latest revelations suggest a statewide belief that beating prisoners is OK. Additional testimony from employees of the Georgia Department of Corrections paints an ever clear picture of prison guards engaging in unprovoked brutality during a July 1996 Shakedown at the Hay's State Prison in Trion. The latest employee depositions confirm previous eyewitness accounts, both in general terms and specifics. For example earlier testimony of a corrections officer describe a brutal confrontation between an inmate and Sargent Joe Johnson. The inmate was standing HANDCUFFED behind is back, facing the wall. According to the officer, an angry Johnson slammed the inmate's face into a wall. "Blood went up the wall." The officer testified, "Blood went all over the ground, all over the inmate, I heard it ... a sickening, cracking sound." Now that the gory scene has been corroborated in telling detail by sworn testimony from a lieutenant who also witnessed that incident. The story is the same: a handcuffed inmate says Johnson, angered by something, slammed the inmate's head into the wall. Johnson, with the State of Georgia and state officials has been named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of inmates. Despite the testimony against Johnson, the department has NOT disciplined him or even suspended him with pay. No employee has been disciplined for participating in, what one officer has described under oath as, a dud- gummed shark frenzy. In fact, corrections commissioner, Wayne Garner and his department have taken the position that nothing out of the ordinary occurred that day at Hays. Only necessary and appropriate force was used against inmates. Department mouthpiece, Mike, the Lie, Hight says in response to criticism, "Garner has stressed his willingness even eagerness to discipline employees who do mistreat inmates." Nice Line Wayne! Sgt. Joe Johnson stated in a deposition in regards to a retarded inmate, "He's an idiot. I don't mean that the bad way. He's mentally retarded. He can't comprehend anything. He was just down there crying, didn't know what to do." When asked how Sgt. Johnson felt seeing that he was responsible, he said, "It was nothing to me. I have no use for any of them. I don't care." When asked how he feels in general about the inmates he deals with, his statement was "I have no us for them at all." This man is a lieutenant and in a responsible position and he acts like this. This should bring some light about what kind of people Wayne Garner has working within the department.... Comrades once again I ask you all to stand together as one. Struggle with your brothers... your hard work makes a difference. In Struggle, -- a Georgia prisoner, 15 September 1997 DOC BIGGEST EMPLOYER IN NORTH CAROLINA ...Being incarcerated in the State of NC (Notorious Corruption) brings out the best of you or destroys you entirely. The Department of Corruption is the biggest employer in this state. Yes, it is all about money and what hurts me is that they don't give a damn about helping you. Their jobs are to make you think you're a criminal, but in actuality their intent and purpose are criminal. But as sure as I reap what I sow, so will they. I'm a firm believer in paying the cost to be the boss. ... Now the system has begun to charge for medical and dental care. Their reason, they say is to cut down or prevent people (prisoners) for signing up for sick call. All personnel are low caliber, the inmates teach officers how to do their jobs. A lot of female guards have been hired, which has really added fuel to the fire. The females are using their bodies to move up the ladder. They allow inmates to masturbate. It's sickening to walk into a block or rest room and see 90% of the inmates masturbating without any shame. I call it like I see it. It's damaging their mentality. They are so sick.. They make statements like, "Damn that pussy was good." Boy she can throw that Pussy." etc.... The legal system is very corrupt. It's also designed to maintain bondage. I'll keep you briefed on the things in my environment. But before I close, I must say, my present disposition doesn't define who I am. And in the future we shall unite to fight this oppression and tyranny. But first we must become economically secure. We must start businesses in our communities. Then nationally we must support those who support us.... -- a North Carolina prisoner 16 October 1997 MIM RESPONDS: The above account is good example of how prisons are used as social control. Prisons make money for the imperialists while keeping potential revolutionary's bonded. The hiring of female officers may be a tactic by the pigs to use sexual stimuli to distract prisoners from revolution. Masturbation in itself, as a form of release and relaxation is not a bad thing. In contrast masturbation that is used to imitate sex, the domination of men over women in this case, is less tolerable. Especially in this context of a public setting, where people may be encouraging each other to be sexually aggressive and dominant. And where sex is serving to pacify the prisoners and keep quiet their opposition to the pig guards. We agree that the masses should be economically independent. This is why we encourage people to work with MIM in building independent institutions of the oppressed. PENN PRISONER BATTLES CENSORSHIP & WINS I just received the latest issue of MIM Notes. I apologize for taking so long to respond but the powers that be stopped letting MIM Notes in for a short time. But now after some paperwork and long conversations with the administration they will allow MIM to continue to come in. So please continue to send your publication. The Struggle Continues!! -- a Pennsylvania prisoner, 20 October 1997 ANOTHER PENNSYLVANIA GULAG PRISONER STILL CENSORED ... I am writing to inform you to inform you that your last 4 issues of MIM Notes have been deemed a "threat to the government and its institutions", see documents enclosed. My present status in Ad Seg (Administrative Segregation), Death Row. ...I now have a pending Petition for Review in the Commonwealth Court against the DOC [Department of Corrections]. And this is why the racist pigs keep denying me my MIM Notes. If you can offer any assistance with releasing the pigs racist restriction, please do so. I do appreciate receiving my comrades' papers. We will win! Please write or fax you letters of protest to the following address: Superintendent, Ben Varner, 1030 E. Roy Furman Hwy, Waynesburg, PA 15370-8090, Tel. (412) 852-2902, Fax (412) 852- 2909. Your Comrade, Dying But Fighting Back -- a Pennsylvania prisoner, 28 September 1997 AMERIKAN CENSORSHIP OF MIM NOTES CONTINUES IN FLORIDA For the last 60 days at Washington Correction Institution, I have been denied the MIM issues by the Superintendent, Charles Germany, P.O. Box 628, Vernon, FL 32462. I did file grievances with the Florida Department of Corrections: 2601 Blair Stone Rd, Tallahassee, FL 32399-2500. I have received MIM Notes at prior prison. Mailroom officer, B. Singer has been retaliating and hampering with my mail and other prisoners' mail.... I have been victimized by Florida Department of Corrections Staff.... If you would write to support my claims in retaliation by denied MIM Notes, write to: ...Karen Stanford, Executive Director, Florida Commission on Government Accountability to the People, 154 Holland Blvd., Tallahassee, FL 32399 -- a Florida prisoner, 21 October 1997 * * * 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. ***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.