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 171 October 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. COLOMBIAN REVOLUTIONARY FORCES GAIN GROUND: U.$. MILITARY BACKS UP COLOMBIAN REGIME 2. LEWINSKY RAISES CONTROVERSY FOR FEMINISM 3. LETTERS 4. NATIONALIST & COMPRADOR BOURGEOISIES VIE FOR MINDS OF BLACK NATION YOUTH 5. NORTH AMERICAN PETIT-BOURGEOISIE STRIKES FOR MEANS OF PRODUCTION 6. IMPERIALIST MEDIA STILL BEATS WAR DRUMS IN KOREA 7. INTERVIEW WITH SOUTH KOREAN STUDENT 8. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PANDERS TO CRIME FEARS 9. NO IMPROVEMENT IN MATERNAL MORTALITY RATES IN THE U.$. 10. DC-RAIL ENDS PRISON TRANSFER PETITION DRIVE, TURNS TO EDUCATION 11. ONE CALCULATION OF PRISON LABOR PROFITS 12. INJUSTICE FIRST, DRUG TREATMENT LATER-TO-NEVER 13. UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS * * * WHAT IS MIM? The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a revolutionary communist party that upholds Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, comprising the collection of existing or emerging Maoist internationalist parties in the English-speaking imperialist countries and their English-speaking internal semi-colonies, as well as the existing or emerging Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish- speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM. MIM is an internationalist organization that works from the vantage point of the Third World proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans, but world citizens. MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM knows this is only possible by building public opinion to seize power through armed struggle. Revolution is a reality for North America as the military becomes over-extended in the government's attempts to maintain world hegemony. MIM differs from other communist parties on three main questions: (1) MIM holds that after the proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution, the potential exists for capitalist restoration under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within the communist party itself. In the case of the USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in 1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural Revolution as the farthest advance of communism in human history. (3) MIM believes the North American white-working-class is primarily a non- revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in this country. MIM accepts people as members who agree on these basic principles and accept democratic centralism, the system of majority rule, on other questions of party line. "The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is universally applicable. We should regard it not as dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not merely a matter of learning terms and phrases, but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of revolution." -- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208 * * * COLOMBIAN REVOLUTIONARY FORCES GAIN GROUND: U.$. MILITARY BACKS UP COLOMBIAN REGIME In early August guerrillas in Colombia carried out a nationwide offensive that demonstrated the weakness of the government and the strength of the revolutionary forces. One of the Colombian government's main anti-drug bases at Miraflores was destroyed and many police officers and soldiers were killed or taken prisoner in an attack by the largest rebel group in Colombia, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).(1) FARC, as well as the second largest rebel group in Colombia, the National Liberation Army (ELN), has carried out a series of offensives this year which have meant embarrassing defeats for the government's military and serious interest from the United Snakes which does not want to lose a valuable colony like Colombia. As a result of these military victories for the rebels, the imperialists are getting nervous and beefing up their defenses. Military gains by rebels "This is one of the worst military catastrophes against the insurgency," said security analyst Alfredo Rangel. "It's one more loss in a chain of defeats for the armed forces in the last three years." "What we know is that the offensive was a complete disaster from the military point of view," a U.$. official said. "The army got its butt kicked again. It is the worst in a long string of defeats, and the guerrillas just seem to be getting stronger and stronger while the army just does not seem to be able to turn it around."(1) In early August the rebels carried out at least 42 attacks in more than half the country's 32 provinces.(1) This offensive was carried out in the few days before the end to President Ernesto Samper's reign and the entrance of Andrés Pastrana as newly elected President of Colombia. In March, a force of 400 to 600 FARC guerrillas crushed an army unit near the southern village of Billar, killing 67 soldiers and capturing about 30 more. This battle was considered the most serious defeat of government forces since the guerrillas began armed struggle in the mid-1960s.(2) New president and peace negotiations In late June, Andrés Pastrana was elected the next president of Colombia with a platform giving priority to negotiating an end to the on-going war between leftist forces on the one side and the government and paramilitary right wing forces on the other.(3) Pastrana won the presidency with the largest margin in Colombia's history. Clinton praised the election of the new president and lifted economic sanctions that had been imposed on Colombia for two years out of dissatisfaction with former President Samper.(4) After winning the election, Pastrana met with leaders of the FARC and promised to remove security forces from five municipalities and start peace talks with rebel leaders within 90 days of taking office. Pastrana offered to dialogue on "the national problem of reaching peace with social justice."(5) It appears that both the FARC and the ELN are prepared to enter into peace talks with the government although it remains to be seen how far they will take these talks. The FARC had called the government of former President Ernesto Samper "illegitimate" and refused to negotiate with it.(5) It is not clear what they hope to gain from negotiations with Pastrana and MIM does not have access to any public statements by FARC or the ELN on this question. Revolutionary forces can sometimes negotiate with the imperialists from a position of strength without putting down their arms and without compromising their ideology. But these negotiations will not bring about a just and lasting peace for the people. The best revolutionaries can hope to gain from negotiations with the imperialists are a few concessions to make their organizing work and the lives of the people easier. In addition, such negotiations often give the people clearer understanding that the government does not really care about peace as they carry out their usual treachery while pretending to negotiate in good faith. The FARC-EP (FARC popular army) has captured a large number of prisoners of war in the past few months and offered to exchange these soldiers for members of their organization held in government jails. There are approximately 720 guerrillas who have been or will be sentenced. As a part of their planned negotiations with President Andrés Pastrana they are using the change in government and the popular outcry from the families of the army members held prisoner to strengthen their position.(6) Cocaine production Estimates suggest that FARC controls close to 50% of the country in Colombia. Much of the area they control includes coca production fields (coca is the raw material for cocaine). The government has used this fact to put out propaganda suggesting that FARC is just an army protecting drug production. While FARC does not deny collecting taxes from the drug producers, they make clear that their goal is to protect their territory and the peasants who have allied with their struggle, not to promote drug production. A FARC spokesman stated that the rebels do not protect coca fields to make money so much as to defend peasants with whom they are allied. "The idea is simply to label us as delinquents, to reject us as people with a political struggle," the spokesman said in an interview in New York. "It's a way to legitimize a military intervention."(2) Similarly, the ELN makes clear that they do not support drug trafficking at all: "For a long time, the Colombian government (yes, the same one that received millions of dollars from the Cali Cartel for its election campaign) has been trying to associate the ELN with drug trafficking. The contrary is true: The ELN fundamentally rejects drug trafficking and cultivation for moral reasons and on principle."(7) The preponderance of drug crops in the remote regions controlled by rebel forces has provided a convenient excuse for military attacks against the people and the rebels and for increased U.$. aid to the military. Colombia's fight against the production of the coca leaf receives strong U.S. logistical support in Guaviare province, where the coca crop is concentrated. American pilots who perform surveillance and coca-spraying missions rotate through Colombia's principal anti-drug base at San Jose del Guaviare, and U.S. military personnel conduct training missions there.(1) In a country where other options are hard to come by, it is no wonder that one of the few cash crops is a popular choice for farmers. After long refusing to pay for programs to help Colombia's coca growers switch to legal crops, Clinton is now proposing increasing assistance for an "alternative development program." Some of the money for this program would go to helping coca growers find other jobs. But rather than focusing on crop substitution, some U.$. officials have suggested this will involve getting these farmers involved in industry. This is important because imperialist economic involvement in Colombia destroyed the market for traditional domestic crops so there are few realistic alternatives for these farmers. Rather than encourage self- reliance and agricultural development, the U.$. will likely encourage multinational corporations to take advantage of the cheap labor displaced by the removal of the last cash crop available to these peasants. This program would give aid only to areas where the government has firm control and would strengthen the state presence as another front in the war against the rebels.(8) In spite of the insidious intent of this alternative development program the imperialists are pursuing, the very existence of the program reveals the fear of the imperialists. Ordinarily they would prefer to deal with the threat of revolution strictly with military force, but they now recognize that this force, being used against the coca growers and the rebels, has created an obvious alliance between the two. And between the peasants and the rebels there exists a force strong enough to defeat the Colombian military. In the past the Colombian government has had little interest in eliminating the coca leaf production in their country since it brings in a significant amount of cash. But in recent years the U.$. threats to cut off aid and the political control the u.s. wields over it's Latin American colonies in addition to the growing power of the rebels in the coca production areas has led to a significant expansion in the fight against drug production. The U.$., of course, has never minded drug production or importing drugs into the united snakes so long as the profits are going into its own hands. But the instability of a country so close to its borders and the existence of such a large economy (coca production) outside of imperialist control is enough to raise the importance of this so-called war on drugs. U.$. military aid For many years the U.$. government has been aiding the Colombian military in the name of fighting drug trafficking, but even the Pentagon acknowledges that the training and equipment is being used to fight insurgents unconnected to the drug trade.(3) A classified Defense Intelligence Agency assessment first reported by The Washington Post speculated that if current trends continued unchanged, the armed forces could be defeated within five years. "The frightening possibilities of a narco-state just three hours by plane from Miami can no longer be dismissed," Rep. Benjamin Gilman of New York, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, said at a recent hearing. In response to these fears, the State Department plans to add at least $21 million to its "anti-drug" aid program to Colombia this year.(2) Over the past few months the Clinton administration has significantly expanded support for government forces fighting the guerrilla war in Colombia. More U.$. training and equipment is being sent to the Colombian military and U.$. generals are working to reorganize the Colombian army to make it a more efficient and effective killing machine in service to the imperialists.(2) In a letter to Pastrana, sent hours before his inauguration, President Clinton pledged $2 million to help internal refugees, and promised to seek congressional approval for further stepping up aid to the military and police.(8) According to senior U.S. officials, the Clinton administration has also been considering options that officials said include additional military training, provision of more sophisticated helicopters and materiel, and creation of a high-tech intelligence center that would be run by U.S. officials on Colombian soil.(2) The U.$. currently spends over a hundred million a year in aid to Colombia making that country the largest recipient of U.$. military assistance in the Western hemisphere.(2) The aid first began to increase in 1990 when the Bush administration initiated a 5 year, $2.2 billion funding effort targeting cocaine trafficking.(2) Attacking the drug trade became a code for attacking the guerrillas as the government began to put out propaganda about guerrilla fronts involvement in the drug trade. This served as the perfect justification for U.$. aid to go to Colombian units fighting the guerrillas. In 1994 Congress began requiring the Clinton administration to prove that U.$. military aid would only go to troops that "primarily" carried out anti-drug operations. But the Pentagon found creative ways around these restrictions. Overall, U.$. "anti-drug" aid given to the Colombian military rose from $28.8 million in 1995 to at least $95.9 million in 1997. And military sales during that same period rose from $21.9 million to $75 million.(2) The Pentagon estimated $207 million in sales to Colombia and an additional $40 million in grants of equipment in the 1996-97 period alone.(9 Another condition of U.S. aid is that it can only be used in regions of Colombia specifically designated that the ties between drug producers and the guerrillas are considered to be so close that they can be treated as one. But this is meaningless since U.S. diplomats described this zone as currently encompassing the southern half of the country and in reality having no firm limits.(2) U.$. trained murderers Another way the U.$. military uses the "counter drug" fight as a guise for aiding the Colombian military is through training courses. U.$. army trainers lead the Pentagon's Joint Combined Exchange Training, or J-Cet program in Colombia, preparing many Colombian army units before they go back into battle against the rebels.(2) According to a 1991 law, programs such as the Pentagon's Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) are allowed only if the primary purpose is to train U.S. troops.(10) But clearly skirting these rules and regulations is a specialty among the united snakes armed forces in their devotion to defend imperialism. In 1996 officials "discovered" that anti-drug aid had gone to seven Colombian brigades and seven battalions that had been implicated in abuses or linked to right-wing paramilitary groups that had killed civilians.(2) This is just the official count, the reality is that these practices are common for the Colombian military. Congress cut off aid to any Colombian units involved in human rights violations after this discovery but U.$. trained forces continue to be accused of abuses.(2) In August an agreement was signed which requires Colombian military units to have their rosters screened to prove they don't have troops known to have violated human rights before they can receive U.$. aid. Not surprisingly, only two battalions of the army have qualified so far and both of these had to be assembled from other forces.(2) Two senior officers in the Colombian military are under investigation for ties to right-wing paramilitary death squads, which traffic in drugs. A third, Gen. Ivan Ramirez, lost his U.S. visa because of his ties to the death squads.(8) Ramirez was also a paid informant for the U.S. CIA.(11) Colombia's armed forces have one of the worst human rights records in the hemisphere, and have been frequently accused of close ties with ultra-right death squads.(12) The paramilitaries were responsible for 70 percent of the political murders in Colombia in 1997, according to the State Department's own annual human rights report. Intelligence sources in Colombia and the United States say paramilitary groups are now operating large cocaine laboratories in Casanare and Meta provinces in central Colombia.(12) Yet the anti-drug fight aids these same paramilitary groups and focuses its fire on the anti-imperialist forces, and in the ultimate irony, calls the rebels murderers and criticizes them for abusing the people of Colombia. It's clear that the so-called humanitarian requirements placed on U.$. aid to Colombia are just a smoke screen Congress is using to make the united snakes look good. In fact, U.$. aid is training abusive right-wing military squads who are fighting the rebels, often by indiscriminately killing peasants and workers, families, and anyone who might get in their path. What are we fighting for? The two main rebel groups in Colombia are both fighting against imperialism and MIM stands in firm support of their struggle. But we will point out our ideological differences with the FARC and the ELN because we believe that it is essential that a revolutionary movement have a clear vision of what it will construct once it has defeated the imperialists or it will quickly lose in an imperialist counter-offensive if it ever succeeds in seizing power at all. The history of revolutionary struggle has demonstrated that only the strongly defended and self-sufficient governments led by the ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism have succeeded in building a socialist society. The focoist and anarchist movements which focus only on the militarist uprisings without a plan for how to retain power and build an egalitarian society have been quickly defeated by imperialist and social imperialist economic and military intervention. But yet it is these movements which hold such romantic appeal to activists in the First World. The ELN states "We fight for self-government replacing the authoritarian, repressive and pseudo-democratic system existing in Latin America nowadays." Clearly they are an ally of the anti- imperialist struggle. But their program does not go much further than this in analysis of what they are fighting for and how they will achieve it. They state that they support socialism but this is with a very broad definition which could just as well apply to economic justice: "Socialism means housing, health and education for all, social justice, solidarity, exploitation of a country's wealth in favor of the people (not the elites) and an end to the exploitation of those working."(7) From what MIM has read of the FARC, their program also lacks a clear analysis of history and what has worked in revolutionary struggles and what has failed. MIM took up Marxism-Leninism-Maoism not as dogma, but because it is a method of analyzing the world and learning from history. And these lessons are of essential importance if we are to avoid repeating past mistakes and end the needless suffering and deaths that result from imperialism every day. Notes: 1. Washington Post, Aug 6, 1998. p.A24. 2. New York Times, June 2, 1998. 3. NYT, June 28, 1998. 4. NYT, Aug 11, 1998. 5. NYT, July 10, 1998. 6. Agencia de Noticias Nueva Colombia, August 22, 1998. 7. ELN statement on web 8. NYT, Aug 14, 1998. 9. Graduate Voice of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, September 1997, Vol 11, No. 1. 10. Washington Post, July 13, 1998. 11. Washington Post, August 11, 1998. 12. Reuters, August 1, 1998. * * * LEWINSKY RAISES CONTROVERSY FOR FEMINISM "NOW Demands Public Officials Reject Aphrodisiac of Power" is the title of an article on the National Organization for Women (NOW) web site.(1) It is in response to the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Overall the NOW reaction to the Lewinsky scandal was restrained: "Consensual sex with a White House intern is an abuse of power by the president; but consensual sex is not illegal harassment and it is not an impeachable offense. Nor is it in the best interest of our country for the president to resign. "Whatever Congress decides to do, in all fairness the only ones who should vote on this issue are members who themselves have never had sex outside of marriage and never lied about their sex lives -- either denying or exaggerating!"(1) The NOW press releases went on to claim that Clinton has had the support of a majority of wimmin and he also has a list of legislative accomplishments favorable to NOW. MIM believes that moderate pro-capitalist men and liberal men who want some reforms of capitalism like Clinton and Ted Kennedy receive special favors from the so-called feminist movement in the United $tates, mainly because they hold power. The real wrath of phony feminism falls on the relatively powerless, especially the oppressed nations. The inconsistency of Amerikan feminism stems from a failure to break with individualism, national chauvinism and class oppression. According to NOW, "Whether the boss is a county supervisor or the president of the United States, no public official should take advantage of the aphrodisiac of power. We must demand that public officials, at all levels and in all branches of government, pledge to reject sexually intimate relationships with employees and/or interns."(1) Power corrupts all gender relations MIM agrees with NOW that power must be an aphrodisiac in the currently sick system of patriarchy we have. There is no other way to explain the patterns of sexual interactions. On the other hand, MIM does not believe the only problem stems from relationships where men have direct power over wimmin, as in the situation where wimmin are employees or interns of male supervisors. Likewise, on campuses, the problem is not just professor-student relationships. Ranging from the wealth of millionaires that can be converted into power over most wimmin to the power of high-ranking government officials, power colors all gender interactions. Only communism eliminates the power of groups of people over others. All other piecemeal approaches are bound to be hypocritical and racist. In profit-driven capitalist society, a luxurious consumer lifestyle is the goal of millions. Even if supervisor-employee relations and professor-student relations are banned, there will still be other inequalities behind what we call romance. Wimmin will still seek men who guarantee a life of luxury. Paula Jones case Individualist reformism typically fails to address all the inequalities involved in gender interactions. Moreover, typical pseudo-feminist reformism ends up discrediting itself, because oppression is difficult to prove on a case-by-case basis. This leaves the pseudo-feminists in the position of looking like they let Clinton "get away" with something for example. Just being someone's boss does not mean one is harassing female subordinates by the current legal and individualist definitions in vogue. It may be true as the court decided that Clinton did nothing to damage Paula Jones's career, and perhaps he never even cared about her job performance. It is not likely that as Arkansas governor he evaluated every state employee. Paula Jones may have been embarrassed by Clinton's sexual advances, but such embarrassment should not be turned into the substance of feminism. Embarrassment is highly subjective. Some wimmin were delighted by Clinton's advances; others were not. There was no way in advance that Clinton could know. True lesbian separatists or asexual females could avoid contact with men completely and there would be no issue. Unfortunately, many pseudo-feminists talk as if the majority of society is not heterosexual. These pseudo-feminists then fixate on one kind of sexual advance that they do not like personally, but which is inevitably well-liked by somebody somewhere. No to paternalism What NOW left out entirely in its apt phrase "aphrodisiac of power" is the role of Monica Lewinsky in the matter. Contrary to the outrage from Congress about Clinton's having sex with a 21- year-old, MIM believes 21-year-olds are at least eight years beyond the age required to make sensible sexual decisions. The failure to point this out is part of the control of young people and their sexual lives -- a part of patriarchy. Monica Lewinsky was not a starving proletarian bartering her body for survival as does happen in many parts of the world. MIM refers to Lewinsky's level of gender power as "gender aristocracy." If it is true that she should have picked a younger and better- looking sex partner, then Lewinsky chose Clinton, because for her power is an aphrodisiac. MIM says this not to blame Lewinsky in particular, since it is universally true, either more or less consciously. Pseudo-feminism finds itself in paralysis and contradiction because if Lewinsky's having sex with Clinton is some kind of oppression, then Lewinsky and the like are willing participants. Criticizing such a sexual interaction would require that wimmin universally unite or that individual consent as an issue be dropped. MIM agrees with some wimmin interviewed by the New York Times that Lewinsky was being opportunist or knew what she was doing. We do not agree with the Manhattan author writing about Hillary Clinton's classmates at the pseudo-feminist hotbed known as Wellesley College. According to Miriam Horn, she originally felt that Monica consented, but now "'thinking back to my own 21-year- old-ness, I guess that feeling has changed.'"(2) "'At this point, I think he's completely responsible, almost no matter what she did. . . The gap is unfathomable between a 21- year-old intern and a man more than twice her age who is not only the President but a man of famous charisma. I think his obligation to exercise restraint is obvious.'"(2) Miriam Horn makes everything a matter of simply exercising restraint -- an easy change of lifestyle. In contrast, MIM is more interested in making it impossible for the situation to arise in the first place through the achievement of real communism. We do not agree with making Lewinsky into some sort of idiot just so pseudo-feminists can criticize men "no matter what she did." Even in the NOW position, "no matter what she did" is implicit, because there is no mention of Lewinsky. It is a strain of extremism that is incoherent. When the scandal first broke, NOW took a very similar position to MIM's on court cases by acknowledging that NOW does not have all the facts. Such restraint does not go along with a position that says wimmin are correct no matter what they think or do. Disunity of wimmin The bottom line is that there is a great diversity of wimmin in the imperialist country romance culture. Although most wimmin will not pursue sexual interactions with men more than twice their age, there is a substantial minority that does. Only anti-Liberals have the right to talk about wimmin as a group. Individualists upholding the notion of "consent" should keep their mouths shut. Either sexual interactions with men twice a womyn's age should be banned or they should not be. In pseudo-feminist bastion Cambridge, Massachusetts, Anne Bernays told the New York Times, "I think it's gross." No doubt that is most of what is behind the pseudo-feminist reaction to Clinton's having sex with Lewinsky and much of what is called sexual harassment. In other words, something completely subjective, unmeasurable and vague is behind most pseudo-feminism, which is what makes it so useful to the status quo to manipulate. MIM does not agree with the Liberals that sexual harassment or oppression is simply a matter of "unwanted advances." That is too subjective. An older man seen as undesirable by the majority of wimmin will on occasion in the current society succeed with a womyn who is much younger. That is supposed to be the beauty of individualism -- that people can "think for themselves" and make their own decisions. People who are true individualists should not bother voicing disgust with Clinton or Lewinsky. Individualists should simply admit that other people might have different tastes and tolerate those tastes. We communist feminists are a different matter. We see a lot of feminist energy wasted and a lot of energy going into disputes that have nothing to do with feminism at all. The Monica Lewinsky scandal occupies the time of the public when real issues of feminism could be discussed. MIM would like to consider banning various sexual relations under a feminist dictatorship of the proletariat. Such bans would only be conceivably necessary in the interim stages on the way to communism. We will not hide our considerations for banning certain sexual interactions behind vague individual opinions of case-by- case sexual interactions so fit for pornographic consumption. Men with more power, money, age, strength, weight etc. will either be allowed to interact sexually with less powerful, less wealthy, younger, weaker and smaller wimmin or they will not be. There will be no exceptions for powerful politicians, white people or those considered more or less desirable by social convention. Under feminist dictatorship of the proletariat, some sexual interactions -- especially between adults and very young children -- will have to be banned. The more categories of sex are banned, the more there will have to be court cases to prosecute individuals. That is a drawback of having more bans in the transition to communism where there is no court or government at all. On the other hand, court cases under feminist dictatorship of the proletariat will not depend on anything subjective. We will not concern ourselves in trying to understand whether sexual advances were "wanted" or not. Nor will we examine "intentions." Thus, the feminist dictatorship will be simpler and more fair than the patriarchy we have now. Notes: 1. http://www.now.org/nnt/03-98/power.html 2. New York Times 28August1998, p. a14. * * * LETTERS expand distribution of MIM publications Dear MIM, I just received your package today. This is great stuff and I'm sure that my people will be very interested. I noticed that the strike during the summer here in P[uerto] R[ico] made the headlines of most of the newspapers. Notas Rojas is a great paper that would be a great success if we distribute it here in PR. Thank you for everything, Your sister in struggle, -- a Puerto Rican friend MIM responds: We're always trying to expand the distribution of MIM Notes and Notas Rojas (our Spanish language publication). If you live in an area where you don't see hundreds of distributors on the streets every day and copies of the publications in all the local stores and schools, we need your help. Contact us to get a bundle of papers to distribute in your city. Dear MIM: I received your letter and the MIM Notes for distribution. I would like to continue this distribution. Enclosed is $25 for the September issues. I will send that amount monthly. I have appreciated the articles on independence and initiative in the united front. They are excellent examples of clarity in the teaching of politics in command. --a comrade in the south MIM responds: We need distributors in all areas of this country to expand access to MIM Notes. We ask our distributors to help with a donation for the cost of printing. If you are interested in helping get MIM Notes into the hands of more people, contact us at the address on page 2. Islam and Afghanistan Assalam Aleikum, This analysis isn't too bad, the Afghanistan analysis looks pretty good, but the author fails to mention the warm relationship between the U.S. and Sudanese armed forces. Furthermore, the author erroneously dismisses Islam as nothing more than a mere religion, and not the target of the attacks (understandable from a Communist point of view) nevertheless overall it's pretty good. Compare this response and condemnation with some of the press releases of some garbage-ass groups which claim to represent Muslims and Islam both in the U.S. and the world and there is no contest (I guess Gulf money is good for something after all). Salaam Aleikum, --a reader MIM responds: The letter above is in response to our article covering the u.s. bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan. We do this work (writing articles, publishing a newspaper) to increase the level of discussion and agitation in opposition to U.$. imperialism, so we are always happy to receive criticism that can help make our coverage more complete. In light of the very correct statements by some Sudanese officials that have come out in the U.$. press (as a way of demonizing Sudan, of course), it's always good to talk about the closer relationships. MIM plans to continue its coverage of this aggression as it is necessary to keep the flow of the anti-u.$. perspective going. In relation to the centrality of Islam, like the writer says Muslims and Communists come at this question from different directions. But in this case we both categorically oppose u.$. efforts to dominate other countries. In the last paragraph of the article in question we point out that one Hamas leader and MIM say the same thing, that Amerika is sowing the seeds of its own destruction. In this way we choose to focus on the points of anti- imperialist unity that we have in common while maintaining that an ideology of Maoism will lead the people in their struggle for the liberation of humanity from the claws of imperialism. Prisoner opposes language assimilation Dear MIM, I am writing to inform you that I have received the latest issues of MIM Notes and as always they were very informative. However, I would like to expound on the article on Bilingual Education crushed in California (Proposition 227). This forced language assimilation requires students to wait until they learn english before learning other subjects. If enacted however, it is doomed for failure and will hurt the ability of immigrant children to learn, isolate them, and punish the teachers who reach out to them. Researches of bilingual education indicate that when bilingual programs include small classes, qualified teachers, adequate funding, and full acceptance students learn more english and get higher scores on achievement tests than those taught without bilingual instruction. The Unz proposal, like other such policies throughout u.s. his- story, is another dogged effort to wipe out diversity of language and culture and will immediately affect 1.3 million children. This racism is our crime of the year. Also, in my last letter I asked if you could send me some books on the Black Panther Party, George Jackson, and Malcolm X. I'm trying to start a study group and self-awareness class and like to review the book for MIM theory, "The Struggle For Zimbabwe". In Struggle From the Barricades, --A PA prisoner * * * NATIONALIST & COMPRADOR BOURGEOISIES VIE FOR MINDS OF BLACK NATION YOUTH In respective attempts to galvanize and divert the revolutionary political spirit of the Black nation youth, the Million Youth March in Harlem and the Million Youth Movement in Atlanta each staged events over the Amerikan Labor Day weekend. The Million Youth March, on September 5, was led by forces that appear to be national bourgeois -- the section of the bourgeoisie that is revolutionary in its relationship to imperialism as it fights against imperialist domination of its national economy. The Million Youth Movement, with w weekend-long focus on getting out to vote in Amerikan elections, had a distinctly more subservient character. In their own demonstration against the New York State court that granted the Million Youth March Organization permission to use New York City's streets on September 5, NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner Howard Safir agreed to storm the peaceful demonstration as it was ending. A day of obstructing the legal demonstration -- by blockading streets to the point of interfering with pedestrian traffic to the rally, and by interspersing a Thick Blue Line between the official rally participants and observers in the streets of Harlem -- capped months of official attempts to stop the march from happening. The New York City cops' action at the Million Youth March demonstrates the need for Black nationalism rather than integrationism. MIM argues, as the Black Panther Party did, that Blacks are a distinct nation, occupied and constrained within U.$. borders. As such, the Black nation has the right to self- determination and liberation. Just and peaceful integration is not possible when Blacks are forcibly prevented from demonstrating in support of their basic human rights -- even while public assembly and free speech are ostensibly rights under the Amerikan constitution. We approach both the New York and Atlanta demonstrations from the perspective of the international proletariat, with a deep respect for the right of nations to self- determination. Both the March and Movement organizations spoke out against the NYPD. The March leader, Khallid Abdul Muhammad, was closing the March as New York City's most vicious massed behind the speakers' platform. He admonished the crowd to go as they had come, in love and unity, but to defend themselves against the attacks of police officers. Reverend Jesse Jackson, a leader of the Movement in Atlanta, also criticized the police for their excessive force. But co-organizers of the Movement were also quoted in the bourgeois press as saying that they had rejected invitations to work together with the March organizers because of their "nationalist rhetoric." In helping to paint nationalism as dangerous, integrationists contribute to the Amerikan political climate that makes attacks on revolutionary nationalists acceptable. Bourgeois press distorts political reality News about the March and the organization behind it since the demonstration was forcibly ended has been diluted through bourgeois news media. These mouthpieces of imperialism have used incomplete quotes and paraphrases to confuse the marchers' political line in the minds of readers, and have painted the Harlem Marchers as dangerous firebrands compared to the ever-more- civil Reverend Integrationist's Labor Day weekend event in Atlanta. A vile report in the New York Times titled "Atlanta Rally Unburdened by Ills of Harlem's" goes so far as to attempt to split Black youth from the Million Youth March and direct them towards the Jackson flock. This article reports that organizers of the Atlanta Million Youth Movement rejected Khallid Abdul Muhammad's proposal to unite their demonstrations "because of concerns about his exclusionary black nationalist rhetoric." MIM prints its own newspapers because we never want our political line to be in doubt -- the people should always be able to come to our newspaper and find our genuine position on events that we have held. Similarly, we look to the March and Movement organizers' publications to learn more about their politics. Million Youth March raises revolutionary demands The basic positions of the Million Youth March include: "release of all political prisoners, full and complete reparations for the descendants of slaves, Black Power, Black Nationalism and Pan Africanism, the establishment of Black power conscience cadres and study groups to meet the needs of our people nationally and internationally, the establishment of Black Liberation/Self- defense and security units to patrol and control Black communities, [and] the Holding of a Plebiscite." The March platform also includes opposition to "police brutality, conspiracies to permanently criminalize Black Youth, government- sponsored drug dealing [and] Supreme Court decisions and state propositions that destroy attempts to remedy past discrimination." While some of the March's goals touched on reformism, like the call for "White corporate responsibility," the tenor of the demands as a whole is toward Black nationalism. While the practical program of the Million Youth March is not clear to MIM from materials that we have seen published or from the event's speeches, the platform of the March is clearly stated on the organization's website and there is nothing in it that precludes revolutionary nationalism. This is not proletarian nationalism -- as the positions include support for Black businesses. MIM also does not join in the call for Pan Africanism, although we firmly stand by the importance of revolutionary internationalism and cooperation where possible among revolutionary nationalist movements. But the platform includes all most important basics of calling for Black economic and territorial self-determination, including sovereignty in the face of police, reparations and a plebiscite. Million Youth Movement -- progressive demands cushioned in integrationism The basic positions of the Million Youth Movement, which held its events in Atlanta, also include working to free political prisoners and a belief that Blacks are entitled reparations as "a matter of international law and justice [that] acknowledges formally that a wrong has been committed." Yet the discussion of reparations goes on to talk about Blacks and whites as being of the same "society," which undermines the assumption that relations between the two groups are international. The Movement website states that it "is being planned and organized by young people that is; students, youth leaders, and community activists with the guidance of elders. There is no one leader or organization spearheading this effort." While the Million Youth Movement's website calls for "liberation," there is no clear platform on how this will come about or what liberation entails. The Movement also calls on people to vote and suggests vaguely that youth should mobilize themselves into government positions so that they can make "policy." This is a garden path for young people and no responsible leaders should be trying to get them to take it. The Million Youth Movement's basis for organizing young people is that "there has been no movement throughout the annals of history which did not involve the active participation of young people. As time dictates agenda, we recognize the time is ripe for young people to carry on the legacy of our struggle." Adopt a revolutionary program to organize the youth Young people are drawn to revolutionary and progressive politics because they can see the hypocrisies of the political system in which their elders participate. For this reason, young people are an important organizing base for any progressive movement. But politics must come first. If the politics claim to be progressive but are really only a continuation of the current system of national oppression, political imprisonment and imperialism, the youth will see through this and will seek out something genuine. Youth should not be conned into thinking that if they get into politics while they have few enough wrinkles and grey hairs that will make the difference. The Amerikan government is at the head of a system that enforces oppression. Funneling more young people into that system will not change it. Young people need organizing to overthrow the system. The Million Youth March addressed youth in more thought out way than the Movement did. Throughout the March rally, organizers called out to the hip hop generation, in recognition of the fact that Black youth in tremendous numbers already show their concern for the issues of drugs and gangs and pigs and reparations through cultural expressions. As organizers correctly pointed out though, it is necessary to channel this concern into political action. Giuliani and his kops showed that imperialists will quickly run over potential revolutionaries who are attempting to organize. The people need strong and serious organization to overthrow imperialism. While MIM is impressed just with the list of demands we've seen from the organizers of the Million Youth March, we look to learn more about their level of organization and their programs for genuine and thorough social change. We welcome comments or additional information about all organizations claiming revolutionary nationalism. Sources: New York Times 6 Sept., 1998 and 8 Sept., 1998. All information about the Million Youth March was taken from its website (http://www.millionyouthmarch.com/) and speeches at the rally. All information about the Million Youth Movement was taken from its website (http://www.millionyouthmovement.com/) * * * NORTH AMERICAN PETIT-BOURGEOISIE STRIKES FOR MEANS OF PRODUCTION by MC45 In late August and early September, the pilots of the Northwest and Air Canada passenger airlines have gone out on strike against their companies. With slightly differing sets of demands, each pilots' union is demonstrating for what it refers to as "job security." The pilots of each airline have been flying planes without a contract -- at Northwest for the past two years and at Air Canada for the five months since April, 1998. MIM calls these strikes cases of the imperialist nations petty bourgeoisies negotiating for a bigger piece of the imperialist pie. With University educations and salaries generally in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (the average pilot's salary at Northwest is more than $200,000, at Air Canada it is $100,000), these so-called workers have all the security they need. In salary alone these petty bourgeois have enough money to own their own homes, and to buy stocks -- on top of feeding themselves and their families at a high and decadent First World lifestyle. Even without their new contracts, the airline pilots are paid more than their salaries alone. As is typical of First World professionals, the pilots are also paid chunks of the means of production in the form of stock options in the companies they work for. This means that without laying out any of their salaries to buy stocks, they own a portion of the company that employs them and can sell that portion at any time, or buy the stocks well below market prices. First World corporations also butter their professional employees with hefty benefit packages. Benefits are free or very cheap health care, and a retirement "plan" -- which enables imperialist country paper shufflers to stop working long before they are old and infirm, and to spend a continuing salary on vacations and other decadent luxuries. The Air Line Pilots' Association (ALPA, an umbrella union that represents 50 airlines' worth of pilots) reports that most airlines require pilots to have a four-year college degree.(1) Of the seven Northwest union officers whose biographies are printed on the pilots' association website, all have completed a four-year college degree and four have a master's degree as well.(2) In a global economic system in which education is a predictor of personal wealth, the airline pilots are a highly educated, highly privileged group of people. In a country where more young Black men are in prisons than colleges, Northwest pilots would be correct to recognize their position of wealth in Amerika and demonstrate on behalf of people who suffer genuine oppression. Instead, the pilots belong to the AFL-CIO, whose president John Sweeny had the gall to claim that "our hands built this country, our unions put this country on the high road, our votes keep it there and we can rightfully say, 'Everything good about this country was, and is, UNION MADE!'" and that "American workers are the most productive workers in the world!"(3) The Prez seems to be saying that kidnapped Africans brought to this country as slaves were unionized. Any Amerikan who does not remain forcibly ignorant of their own country's history, or who is willing to look at history objectively can see that wealth in this country was built by Black hands, and on First Nation land. Into this century, Amerikan wealth continues to be bled from the hands of any peoples but those in the white nation. Ironically, AFL-CIA Prez went on in his remarks to argue "When employers respect free choice, we are all raised up. When workers are free to join unions, living standards rise for everyone." (3) MIM says this is ironic because Sweeny's union has earned its derisive nickname from Third World workers, who have seen AFL-CIA union "freedom" in action. The Amerikan-grown organization has a practice of forming yellow unions in Third World countries to compete with and split the genuine unions that represent the workers. The Air Canada Pilots Association claims a similar sense of entitlement to its members' high standard of living. A spokesperson for the pilots said: "I can tell you that our CEO and President told us recently that the Air Canada pilots played a pivotal role in turning this company around. Having shouldered some of the burden, all we want now is to have our fair share of some of the benefits as well."(4) But there is no "fair share" of imperialist plunder to be had by First World workers, because the profits their employers make are all in goods stolen from the Third World. Liberals, Trotskyists and other apologists for the petty bourgeoisie will put "labor" disputes like the ones at Northwest and Air Canada in terms of choosing sides. Liberals have said to MIM that "if you have to choose a side, then the pilots are the better side to pick than the big corporations." The Trotskyists are so confused by years of tailing First World union struggles that they believe anyone who works for a salary instead of signing the salary checks is the proletariat. There is also a third apologist position, proffered by the pilots' union, that commercial pilots are noble individuals who spend years and thousands of dollars training to fly large jet aircraft and then graciously assume responsibility for hundreds of lives every time they step into the cockpit. In exchange for their tremendous sacrifices, the union argues, pilots are "worth" their fat salaries. MIM responds to the liberals that we do not have to pick sides in these pissant disputes among privileged First World peoples squabbling over what percentages of the means of production they can own. To the Trotskyist and pilots' union arguments, our response is the same. Marx's labor theory of value is the only correct and scientific tool for studying the exploitation of the working class. And the exploitation of the proletariat -- the embodiment of class struggle under capitalism -- is and must remain the fundamental concern of communists. Under imperialism, airline travel is overwhelmingly restricted to the exploiting classes. Rich people use airplanes both for business and leisure. This business travel does not involve productive labor, and leisure is unnecessary to life -- a perk of those who make enough money to take time away from work and use that time to spend money. Marx pointed out that labor must be the source of all value; no value can be extracted, packaged or realized without labor. While they do take on great immediate responsibility for human lives when they fly commercial jets, airline pilots cashing in on one of the many service industries developed out of extraction of superprofits can hardly be said to be creating value. In building a party and its anti-imperialist mass organizations for the overthrow of imperialism we must stay focused on our central goals. We must consistently build public opinion in favor of the just struggles of the oppressed and build independent institutions of the oppressed. Building public opinion in favor of the wholly gratuitous struggles of the petty bourgeoisie is anathema to our goals. Communists must consistently remain true to the goals and the interests of the international proletariat. Through this revolutionary activity, we will create a society in which airplane technology -- and all other transportation technology, communications, medicine and many other fields currently dominated by the bourgeoisie -- is used to its fullest capacity, in the service of the broad masses of people. We call on all people who seek justice and self-determination for the world's people to unite in the goal of restoring the earth's resources to the people. Long live the struggles of the Third World Proletariat against the imperialists! Notes: 1. http://www.alpa.org/ 2. http://www.nwaalpa.org/ 3. John Sweeny, Labor Day Remarks in Seattle, http://www.aflcio.org/publ/speech98/sp0907.htm 4. http://www.newswire.ca/releases/July1998/02/c0238.html * * * IMPERIALIST MEDIA STILL BEATS WAR DRUMS IN KOREA Two recent stories in the imperialist media raised the bogus specter of north Korean support for "nuclear terrorism." First, an article in the New York Times on 17 August claimed that north Korea was building a secret underground nuclear reactor in order to develop nuclear weapons. Second, the launch of a rocket from north Korea was widely reported in Amerika and Japan as a test of a warhead-bearing ballistic missile. Both of these stories have turned out to be ill-founded and rash. The Amerikan government itself has downplayed stories about the north Koreans building a secret reactor. "Defense department" spokespersons including "Defense" Secretary Cohen have said there is no evidence to support the claims that the north Koreans are expanding their nuclear program.(1) Of course, the NYT's accusations were widely publicized, while the Department of Defense's retraction was not, so the net effect is dangerous rumor-mongering. The imperialists figure that if you throw mud at a wall, some of it will stick. Initial reports on the rocket firing claimed it was a missile test which landed in the sea between Japan and mainland Asia. Later it became clear that the rocket had at least two stages, the second of which splashed down off of the eastern coast of Japan. North Korea says that the rocket was a satellite launch, its first ever.(2) Imperialist media have quietly dropped the story while the imperialists' intelligence services seek to confirm the satellite launch (if they haven't already). Of course, even if north Korea was building a nuclear reactor and testing ballistic missiles, the Amerikan imperialists and their partners in Japan have no right to criticize. As a MIM correspondent and a south Korean student recently discussed (see article on this page), the imperialists are incredibly hypocritical when it comes to north Korea (or other so-called "rogue states"). After all, there are nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula right now -- and it was the u.$. who put them there and controls them! The u.$. continues to develop new nuclear weapons and conventional missiles, and last we checked it was the u.$. who terrorized peoples from the Sudan to Iraq to Afghanistan with them, not north Korea. Notes: 1. "Clinton Adm. Downgrades NY Times Story on DPRK Nuke Complex," People's Korea website, http://www.korea-np.co.jp/pk. 2. Korean Central News Agency press release, 4 Sep 98. * * * INTERVIEW WITH SOUTH KOREAN STUDENT A correspondent for MIM Notes recently talked at length with a south Korean student activist visiting the u.$. The student agreed with MIM's positions on many topics: from the united $tates' military's unjust and destructive presence in Korea to the political economy behind the IMF's record "bailout" loan to south Korea. This article sums up some of their discussions. Kim Dae Jung There has been a lot of hooplah over south Korea's new president, Kim Dae Jung, who was a critic of earlier military dictatorships. Bourgeois apologists praised his election as a sign that south Korea had truly broken away from dictatorship and crony-ism. To boost this image, Kim granted a sweeping amnesty earlier this year and released many political prisoners. However, many of those who were released were reactionaries who had been imprisoned because of corruption or even bloody crimes against the people. (See MIM Notes 154). Kim released these anti-people creeps under the slogan of "national reconciliation." The south Korean student could not confirm or deny that there were still some prisoners being held because of their socialist or anti-imperialist principles. But s/he did say that Kim's offer of amnesty was merely an attempt to put a new, happy face on a regime that had not fundamentally changed. The MIM correspondent pointed out that Kim is the latest in a line of "democratic" puppets who have followed on the heels of open fascism. E.g. Aquino in the Philippines, and Mandela in South Africa. "Democratic" puppets like these do undertake some bourgeois democratic reforms, but they remain mostly on paper, and do not address the fundamental problems of the people. Slogans like "national reconciliation" paper over the fact that the these "democratic" toadies place the interests of the powers that be (and even the former ruling cliques) above any true democratic advances. Hence the impotence of South Africa's truth and reconciliation commission; hence the fact that human rights abuses in the Philippines actually increased under Aquino. North Korea The MIM correspondent also asked if the south Korean student had any information about reports of famine in north Korea. MIM is suspicious of these reports, since they are being used both to vilify north Korea and stoke up support for more u.$. military aggression in Korea and as tool to put political pressure on north Korea (e.g. "We'll give you food 'aid' if you do as we wish.") The Korean student told the MIM correspondent that accurate information was hard to come by in south Korea as well, and added that even if the stories of famine were true, north Korea is not the only place in the world short of food -- although that would be hard to tell from Amerikan or south Korean media. In fact, the majority of starvation deaths occur in the Western-style capitalist world, but the Amerikan media isn't complaining that Amerikan farmers are subsidized not to grow food or that billions of dollars which could be spent on food are going to the bloated and oppressive u.$. military. It's a double standard: If the u.$. imperialists want to take the speck out of north Korea's eye, they need to take the log out of their own, first. The IMF "bailout" The south Korean student mentioned homeless people are now common in Seoul, which is a big change from even a year and a half ago. The government estimates that four million people (out of a workforce of less than 21 million) will be jobless by the winter. This does not count people who are forced to work part-time. Even white collar workers have been affected. There is no unemployment insurance or official "social safety net" in south Korea. The south Korean student said that the IMF "bailout" was basically a bargain basement sale for foreign monopoly capitalists. The conditions on the IMF loan robbed many Korean firms of any chance to compete with the big foreign monopolies, while at the same time ending restrictions on foreign ownership of Korean enterprises. (See MIM Notes 154). The end result is the further impoverishment and oppression of the Korean proletariat. * * * UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PANDERS TO CRIME FEARS Ann Arbor, MI-- The United $tates is the world's leading prison- state per capita, and contributing to the problem are towns of 100,000 like Ann Arbor, where Mondale beat Reagan 60% to 40%, smoking pot is a $25 fine and libertarians make it on to the city council from time to time. The University of Michigan has taken back its admission of Daniel Granger after it learned he is facing statutory rape charges involving 14-year-old girls. MIM is in favor of reducing the age of consent to 13. Older adults spread mysticism about sex to younger people in order to increase their control of the younger people. There is nothing about sex that older people do better than younger ones. Both older and younger people often have ordinary sexual relations, sometimes expect too much from sexual relations and sometimes damage social relations while having sex. The University of Michigan Provost informed Granger that the University of Michigan was revoking his admission for this fall and changing it to 1999. If convicted Granger will face 15 years in prison. The upper echelons of the university administration were not the only ones on the wrong side. Proving MIM's theory about the gender bureaucracy, Sarah Heuser of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAPAC) also supported the patriarchy's delay of Granger's admission into school: "'Common sense dictates that the university community will rest easier knowing that he's not coming.'" The root word of "patriarchy" is a word meaning "father." The system of fathers' control of young people in this country and others has spread all kinds of mystical and sometimes outright religious rubbish about why teenagers cannot have sex. When teenagers have sex, grumpy patriarchs tell them they were "out of control," "drunk" or "drugged" and then they stigmatize the whole event, to such an extent that inexperienced young people believe their elders sometimes. While forced drugging of people is one thing, it is a rare occurrence. People who had a good time should shut out the voices of the patriarchal Establishment. The patriarchy's control of young people is not the only motive in this case. It also contains an element of pandering to crime fears of the redneck population that loves being the world's leading prison state. Whether or not fearful patriarchs will worry less now that Granger is not at the University, the University of Michigan has demonstrated its second-rate intellectual nature once again. In recent years, the University of Michigan has switched to its own police force. Doing so, it never showed (and it cannot show) that police deter crime. Instead of proving its point scientifically as one might expect at a university, the administration caved in to irrational parents and wannabe police lobbyists. MIM considers crime hysteria at the University of Michigan to reflect poorly on the teaching at the University of Michigan, because education and truth are not a matter of what is popular. Although there are many non-faculty members hired into lower- ranking administration jobs, the highest ranks of the administration are faculty members. Apparently the faculty cannot yet discern that education should not be something like boosting television ratings or selling newspapers. The delay of Granger's admission reeks of the patriarchal reasoning that caused students to back the formation of a Sexual Assault and Prevention Awareness Center (SAPAC) bureau of the administration. Students initially held a sit-in to draw attention to rape when administrators tried to downplay the existence of rape at the University of Michigan out of fear of what talking about it would do to the University's image. Here again, Granger is being denied by the patriarchy essentially to control the sex lives of young people and to protect its own image. Because the SAPAC was not created as an independent institution of the oppressed, but instead is a wing of Michigan state government, MIM expected this negative but dialectical development. An agency formed with popular input putting substance above image is now supporting putting image first and issues second. In the coverage of the issue, it was only the student newspaper called the Michigan Daily that even mentioned that the rape charge was "statutory": "'He's been charged with statutory rape and there aren't any 14- year-olds on this campus,' Mayk a Grosse Pointe native, said." It was the only sensible thing said in all of the Ann Arbor News's hysterical front page story. Note: Ann Arbor News 2 Sept 1998, p. a1, a10. * * * NO IMPROVEMENT IN MATERNAL MORTALITY RATES IN THE U.$. New statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the proportion of wimmin who die from pregnancy or childbirth has remained the same since 1982, despite medical advances that could prevent half of maternal deaths. The large disparity in maternal mortality between Black wimmin and white wimmin remains as well. Black wimmin are four times as likely to die of complications from pregnancy as white wimmin. The striking risk of maternal mortality for Black wimmin relative to white wimmin is evidence that the problems facing Black and white wimmin are qualitatively different. The principal struggle for Black wimmin today remains the national struggle -- which includes the struggle for access to and control of health care facilities and the money and other resources to run them. Partly because of the high maternal mortality rates in the oppressed nations within u.$. borders, and partly because of the anachronistic individualism and naked profit motive in the Amerikan health care system, more than 20 countries had lower maternal mortality rates than the u.$. in 1990. "We estimate that 50 percent of maternal deaths are preventable given the technology that we have today," a researcher from the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion said. Under socialism, economic resources will be allocated according to human needs, not profit. This means that technology and human resources could be used to save people's lives, not build "smarter" bombs. Furthermore, socialist North America will be able to pay reparations to the oppressed nations in the world for decades upon decades of Amerikan imperialist super-exploitation. Part of these reparations could come in the form of pharmaceutical and medical products, from industries which currently ignore the medical needs of the majority of the world's people, whether by selling their products at outrageous prices or by ignoring the basic medical needs of the oppressed masses altogether (starving people don't need plastic surgery or Viagra). The lifetime risk of maternal mortality in Africa is about 1 in 16, while the lifetime risk of maternal mortality in North America (Canada and the u.$.) is 1 in 3700. In other words, wimmin in Africa are more than 200 times more likely to die in childbirth or because of complications from pregnancy than wimmin in Canada and the u.$.(1) Note: All facts from Reuters, 3 Sep 98 except (1), WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record, 19 April 1996. * * * DC-RAIL ENDS PRISON TRANSFER PETITION DRIVE, TURNS TO EDUCATION Private prison drive comes to D.C. in the name of "the family" With more than 600 signatures collected, DC-RAIL has concluded its petition drive to oppose the transfer of D.C. prisoners. Judging from the very positive response, we think most people agree that the policy of transferring prisoners to distant prisons is cruel and runs counter to the supposed goals of rehabilitation because it cuts people off from their families and other sources of community support on the outside. The reason we are stopping the petition drive now is that the argument for keeping prisoners close to their families and communities, which DC-RAIL helped to popularize in the city, is now being used to justify building a big new private prison in Southeast D.C., to be run by the Corrections Corporation of Ameri[k]a, the same company that runs the Youngstown Ohio prison where several D.C. prisoners died, and where guards routinely use mace and electric shocks to control and torture prisoners. Supporters of the CCA prison include City Council member Jack Evans, a white candidate for mayor, who got $7,000 in campaign contributions from CCA officials and their law firm this year. Evans has used the close-to-the-family argument to justify the private prison, which is probably going to get final approval this fall, as CCA beats out Wackenhut for the deal.(1) A lot of politicians are on the close-to-the- family bandwagon. Mayor Marion Barry recently took credit for a deal to send more than a thousand prisoners further into Virginia on the argument that it was closer than Ohio, "so the families of these inmates will be able to visit them in a relatively short period of time," a three-hour drive.(2) The point of this deal is to help out Virginia, which went on a poorly-planned prison building binge for hundreds of millions of dollars, and now has empty cells because "crime" and arrest rates are lower. Shipping prisoners down to Sussex, Va. will also hasten the day when D.C.'s old Lorton prison can be closed and the prisoners moved into the new CCA prison to be built. DC-RAIL doesn't regret the work we did to help build opposition to the prison transfers, because that was part of the task of building public opinion against the injustice system in general, and the D.C. machinations in particular. But we don't want to become advocates for the expansion of the private prison industry, and the ever-closer bonds between the repressive state and capital which are on the cutting edge of the growing fascist trend in Amerika. In fact, we struggled with some people on the street over this, when they responded to our petition by saying they wanted a new prison built in D.C. Now instead, DC-RAIL is developing a new petition drive to build public opinion for free, voluntary, and complete access to all levels of education for prisoners in the Washington, D.C. area, including access to outside college and university programs and uncensored access to all reading materials inside prisons. We will also call on regional schools, colleges, and universities -- including teachers themselves -- to cooperate in providing educational support for prisoners. With the number of prisoners in this country at more than 1.7 million and growing, governments are cutting back on education programs for prisoners, including prisoners in the Washington, D.C. area. The injustice system already unfairly imprisons those with less education, especially members of the Black, Latino, and First Nations. Now they are making it even harder on prisoners, and eliminating one of the last "rehabilitation" aspects of the system. In a just society, all prisoners would be engaged in some sort of education and reform program - because the society would want to solve the problems that led people to commit crimes against other people. On the other hand, in a just society the prisoners would not be filled with people from oppressed nations and the relatively poor and uneducated groups in society, imprisoned for property and drug crimes - while the worst criminals, like the people who bomb medicine factories in Africa, wield state power and ride around in limos all the time. We can tell a lot about a society from looking at its prisons. In 1995, just 23% of state and federal prisoners were enrolled in some type of education program, even though a majority of prisons say they offer some type of program.(4) Only about half of all prisoners in 1991 had ever gotten any academic education during their time in prison.(6) But education programs are being cut across the country. From 1990 to 1995, while the number of all state and federal prison employees increased 31%, along with the number of prisoners, the number of education employees increased less than 1%. As a result, educational employees fell from just 4.2% of prison employees in 1990 to an even lower 3.2% in 1995. In 1995, there were 4 prisoners per guard in state prisons, but 93 prisoners for every educational employee. Federal prisons were a little better, with 8 prisoners per guard and 70 prisoners per educator. Now, we're not champions of any one group of prison employees, but in general we think a prison system is better with more educators and fewer guards, so this is just evidence that things are getting worse, not better.(4) About 25% of the adult population in the country has completed college(5), compared to only 2% of state prisoners; 82% of all adults have finished high school, compared to 59% of state prisoners. (Federal prisoners have higher average education levels because the federal system pursues more white-collar types.) In the year before their arrest, one-third of state prisoners were not employed, and more than half had incomes less than $10,000 per year.(6) It's not news that the relatively poor are over-represented in the injustice system. The point here is that the state takes people who have lower education and lower income, and then imprisons them in a way that reduces rather than increases their chances of success when they get out. This isn't just devastating for the prisoners. There are also about 900,000 children whose parents are in state and federal prisons, children more likely to end up in poverty and prison themselves as a result of the oppression of their parents. Further, in 1991, 750,000 prisoners had immediate family members in prison also.(6) The injustice system thus simply increases inequality and oppression, for prisoners, their families, and their whole communities and nations. DC-RAIL's new education campaign supports MIM and RAIL's books- for-prisoners program, which is constantly being confronted with reactionary censorship policies that deny prisoners access to political reading material. We are doing all we can to build the books program, including sending any prisoner MIM Notes subscriptions for free, but we can't offer complete education to so many prisoners. If prisoners can have access to education programs on the outside, it will give them the chance to develop their political education, too. We don't expect prisons to provide revolutionary educational opportunities, but by building public opinion for expanded education access, we hope to increase the chances that prisoners can get ahold of more of the resources they need to build the revolutionary movement. * * * SIDEBAR 1: ONE CALCULATION OF PRISON LABOR PROFITS To add insult and exploitation to the injury of punishing the poor with prison, the injustice system imprisons these peoples, and then gives them "jobs" at an average "pay" of $.46 per hour in the federal system and $.56 in the state system (in 1991).(6) And increasingly, as we and others have reported elsewhere, prisons then charge prisoners for their necessities, such as health care and even food. Let's do a little calculation, assuming these statistics are accurate (they're the best we have). In 1991, 481,979 state prisoners worked jobs in prison, at an average pay rate of $.56 per hour. Some didn't get paid, or got only "nonmonetary" compensation (such as good time or other benefits), but we don't know the details of that so we assume it averaged out to $.56 per hour, the paid wage rate, though it might well be even less. From the figures in the report, we can estimate how many paid hours these prisoners worked in 1991: 10,278,194 per week. At $.56 per hour, that would be $299 million per year in wages. If those workers had been paid even the minimum wage of $4.25 in 1991, it would have been $2.3 billion, or a "savings" for the states of $2 billion. In fact, the average wage in 1991 for the whole country was $11.41 per hour.(8) Compared to that rate, the state governments saved $5.8 billion. Because prisoners are doing work that doesn't pay as much as most work on the outside, we can maybe split the difference, so the state governments saved $3.9 billion in 1991 by paying prisoners $.56 per hour instead of a wage rate halfway between minimum wage and the average wage. That's just one year, and it's just state prison inmates. Back then, there were only 700,000 state inmates altogether. Now, as of 1997 there were 1.1 million state prisoners (and 1.7 million including federal prisons and jails).(7) If this were the same every year, that $3.9 billion in 1991 would be $27 billion from 1991 to 1997. But if we assume a steady annual increase from 700,00 to 1.1 million over these years, and nothing else changes, the total would increase to $35 billion from 1991 to 1997. And that's just for seven years. That state-prison $.56 per hour works out to $1,120 per year if you assume 50 forty-hour weeks, which is more or less in line with Third World wages in most of the world. Of course, these work conditions are very different, but there are some similarities. State governments have to spend a lot of money to get these conditions. They have to staff police departments to grab prisoners, and build and run prisons, and so on. They do this, even though it costs more than the profits they get from prison workers, because the capitalist system gets other benefits from it, such as ruined communities and lots of future lower-wage workers with less political power. This is not too different from conditions in the Third World outside North America, where the imperialists have to spend billions of dollars on military budgets and "aid" to keep the labor conditions the way they are, and the imperialists benefit from these conditions many times over. * * * SIDEBAR 2: INJUSTICE FIRST, DRUG TREATMENT LATER-TO-NEVER In Washington, D.C., the federal government and their local government enforcers would never dream of allowing large numbers of prisoners out of prison just because they didn't have enough money or space to humanely care for them. Instead, they just pack them into a giant run-down prison, or ship them hundreds or thousands of miles away, for hundreds of millions of dollars over the years. So, they move heaven and earth to get enough prison cells - but no one does anything about there being drug treatment for only 10% of drug addicts in the city, according to the Washington Post. The city's annual drug treatment budget has been cut by more than 37% in the past five years. And since 1996, federal funding for D.C. drug programs has been cut more than 50%, leading to combined losses of treatment for 890 outpatients, 820 methadone patients, 70 detoxification beds and 220 residential treatment beds. Not only are people with serious problems going without treatment, many prisoners are not being released because their parole conditions require entering a drug treatment program; other untreated addicts end up having their parole revoked when they are suspected of drug use after their release.(3) The approach of a drug treatment center is miserably limited in the first place, because they don't do anything about organizing to end the oppression and alienation and availability of harmful drugs that all lie behind the problem. Then, they don't even seriously pursue this incredibly weak approach to a large social problem - while they'll do anything to keep up the number of prison cells. There are good people working on helping people with drug problems, and they are aware of the inadequacy of this approach. We urge them to get involved in a revolutionary movement to uproot the underlying causes of these and other problems. Notes to all three stories: 1. The Common Denominator, 10 Aug. 1998, p. 1. 2. Washington, August 27, 1998. p. D4. 3. Washington Post, August 25, 1998. p. A1. 4. Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 1995. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), U.S. Department of Justice, NCJ#-164266. This and other reports can be had for free from the BJS Clearinghouse, 800-732-3277, or http://www.ncjrs.org. 5. U.S. Census Bureau, 29 June 1998. http://www.census.gov/Press- Release/cb98-105.html. 6. Comparing State and Federal Inmates, 1991. Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. NCJ#-145864. 7. Prisoners in 1997, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, NCJ#-170014. 8. U.S. Statistical Abstract 1994, p. 433 * * * UNDER LOCK & KEY Attention prisoners: Please make sure that you write MIM at least once every three months to ensure that we keep you on the mailing list for MIM Notes. If it is your first time receiving MIM Notes, you need to write within one month and then write every three months after that. MIM Notes is often censored and our comrades are transferred continuously, so this mailing list policy is necessary to avoid wasting limited funds. Also to use resources more efficiently, we will no longer be mailing out reminders along with the paper. If the envelope label has a number (7) on it, that means our last record of your correspondence was from July and the October issues will be your last unless we hear from you. Similarly, if the number is (8), the last time we heard from you was August and unless you write, the November issues will be your last issues until you write again. Please write to P.O. Box 3576, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576 to maintain your name on the mailing list. Marxism-Leninism-Maoism vs. Oppression ...The conditions here are horrific! The atrocities we prisoners face are numerous. This koncentration gulag specializes in psychological warfare with the use of chemical agents. I must add sadly that the prisoners here are losing the battle. They are being turned in to children and their minds are being ruined. The Amerikkkan government and the Bureau of oppressing people (BOP), along with the injustice system has designed this supermadness to break the spirit of the men here! I have witnessed brutal beatings by the pigs and seen prisoners made to eat feces. Yea, feces. It's like the dog who messes on the house carpet and his face is smeared into it. This is done to the men who throw feces. The repression is so offensive that the prisoners here are cutting their wrists, hanging themselves, fighting among each other with feces.... This is why we must destroy this imperialistic country and correct our brothers and sisters, who are being destroyed. We people of color represent 50% of the prison population and only 13% in this country. We will lose now if we don't start now politically, consciously teaching our brothers and sisters in prison. Only through Marxism-Leninism-Maoism can we change the structure and ideologies of the masses of the oppressed! They must learn that under Capitalism we will be forever exploited, subjugated, oppressed and poor! The prisoners must learn that to sell drugs is genocide and if we are going to sell anything let it be Revolution. ... Study your history comrades. Study George Jackson, Black Panther Party, VI Lenin, Marx, Engels. Then study capitalism. See how it's designed for the proletariat and working class to stay in poverty and a state of dependency. Through incarceration we prisoners are being used for labor to help pay off the national debt, and keep the bourgeois rich! It is time to unite my brothers and sisters. In the time of peace we must prepare for war. We must unpopulate the prisons and stop bulging these capitalists' pockets. We are Great People with a superb history. We are strong. We need to start acting and demonstrating our intellect and stop being fools. Long live the Revolution.... - A Maryland Prisoner, 15 May 1998 Michigan Labor Conditions ...Jobs are hard to get and if you don't have a GED you can't work at all. I got lucky and got a job as a midnight porter in the Control Center. I make $1.14 a day for 60 days, then my pay goes to $1.31 a day because I have a porter certificate. Which brings up a point I want to clear up for you. That report, from the MDOC [Michigan Department of Incorrections], you sent out to us regarding prison pay was way off the mark. I was the form clerk a few years ago at X prison. One of my jobs was to do payroll and the top pay there was $1.71 a day and that was for skilled farm workers. If you weren't skilled the top pay was $1.14 a day. You made $35.91 for a month of 21 days at 8 hours or more a day. ...In addition some people would make jewelry boxes and sell them for $7.00 and up depending on size and design. Each box would take around 50 hours to make. - A Michigan Prisoner, 9 February 1998 ...I took a look at the fact sheet you sent to me and I couldn't believe what the MDOC was claiming they pay prisoners. Personally I've been through many prison facilities, ranging from level 1-5, and I never heard or saw any MDOC prisoners being paid $1.60 an hour for labor work. The most I've seen was 17.5 cents to 32.5 cents per hour. After 60 days on a work assignment you are qualified for a bonus but that doesn't mean you're going to get one. Also you only get bonuses for certain jobs like MSI factories, kitchen and farm workers. Everyone else doesn't get bonuses.... - A Michigan Prisoner, 29 March 1998 Profits Run Amerikkkan Prisons ...The prison industry has become a Big Business in this capitalistic society. Profit has been placed about rehabilitation. Big name corporations are now profiting off slave wages. There is no unionization, and there is no form of compensation if prisoners are injured while working. What these institutions need are programs designed to prepare one to be a productive individual once leaving prison. 95% of the prisoners in South Carolina will eventually return to society. A third of them will commit another crime and return to prison. Instead of prison being a warehouse, it needs to be a place where one can get the help he/she needs. This country is taking pride in the their motto, "Lock them up and throw away the keys". The politicians are using the prison population as pawns to win elections. Society is not aware of the injustice that is occurring in prisons all over the country. Some people believe prisons are like country clubs. That is one of the Biggest misconceptions a person can have about prison. All across the country prisoners' rights are being violated daily. In prison there is no Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, etc. Prison guards and officials beat prisoners and place prisoners on lock-up for years because of their religious views. Because you don't follow the Christian belief, you're discriminated against. Because you strive for intellectual enhancement you're pointed out as a troublemaker. The atmosphere that is created in prison is that everyone is ignorant and incapable of changing. This is another misconception that society has. We must remember that great minds (Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, etc) have come from behind prison walls. With the correct information one can bring about a transformation in her/his life. In Japan, when a person is convicted of a crime it is seen as a failure of that society to provide the proper nurturing environment to mold that person into a productive human being. This country takes pride in its "Lock-Them Up and Throw Away the Keys" mentality. The crime rate should tell a person a lot about this county. Money matters and nothing else is important. Peace, - A South Carolina Prisoner, 23 July 1998 Frequent Transfers and Slave Wages in Pennsylvania ...There are transfers every week. They usually send transfer inmates from the westside of Pennsylvania to the eastside and eastside inmates to the westside of Pennsylvania. This is to separate inmates from family and loved ones, dig me? The pigs justification for this, "they are trying to stop drugs from coming into the prison" - Get Real! The concentration camp I'm at does offer jobs to prisoners but at slave wages. They start you out at 18 cents an hour. I believe the most you can earn is 42 cents an hour. As for myself, I refuse to work for these malicious pigs. They have kitchen, plumber, and block jobs. If you don't work, you get a misconduct report and you go to the hole. Medical care is a joke. You have to sign a cash slip for $2.00 just to sign up for a sick call. And if they give you medication, that's an additional $2.00. They don't have too many good in their store, and their prices are outrageous.... - A Pennsylvania Prisoner, 20 July 1998 [City X] ...Yes, there are transfers in this prison often. They are being sent to different prisons, but with the same racist mentality. Their justification is to get rid of all person-people that are radical and unmedicated (not on any kind of their drug-narcotic). Yes, this prison offers work. You name the jobs and the prisoners do whatever they are told to do immediately. The slave wages that I get is 18 cents a day for sitting idle, because I refused to work. Nevertheless you have those that are on death row out in general population because they are working with the administration as confidential informers [CI]. I have heard that of a lot of the Snitches make $99.00 a month. Some of them nincompoop CI's make more that too. Snitches get privileges and can come out of their cells at all times without having handcuffs and shackles on. In general population if you don't work you get a misconduct [report]. They have a Bogus medical care system in practice here. You have to pay two dollars to get to sign up for a sick call to see the doctor.... - A Pennsylvania Prisoner, 21 July 1998 [City Y] Wisconsin Transfers Prisoners to Other States ...First off they are sending inmates to other states. They plan on sending 3000 prisoners. They have sent 300 to Minnesota, 700 to Texas, 300 to Oklahoma, 600 to Tennessee, and more to go to each state. I received a letter from one guy in Texas, telling me that one of the Wisconsin inmates was raped in Texas by an inmate from another state. I have heard stories from other prisoners who say that two Wisconsin prisoners were killed in Texas. ...They have a prison industry, a company called fabray, they sew gloves. They pay $5.25 an hour, then the prison makes you sign to give them back 50% of your pay to help build other programs like it. You must also sign another paper giving up to another 5% of your pay to victims, even if you don't have any victims. That money is put in a state run fund for victims. They change your taxes and social security, which is illegal. You can't collect on social security while in prison so they should not be able to take social security out. Also they have to pay health insurance. The law says anyone working in Wisconsin must pay Health Insurance to the State. So by the time they get done with your check, you have about $1.0 per hour at most. When the federal government told them to pay the inmates $6.40 an hour, the institution fired all the old prisoners and hired some back a few days later as new employees. That way, they only had to pay them $5.25 an hour. But if they had not fired them they would have had to pay them $6.40 an hour. That was their way of getting around paying $6.40 an hour. The prisoners here do not stick together. They don't even know the meaning of it. No guard had ever killed in the Wisconsin Prison system, so guards are not afraid of prisoners. They feel safe in the prison. The state does not need a supermax but they are building one for 600 prisoners. I believe most of the prisoners who will go there will be paralegals. It is hard to get a law library pass unless you have a court deadline. Do not print my name on this because anyone who tries or tells anyone how they work things on transferring prisoners goes to the hole for a long time. They don't want anyone to mess up their process of shipping out prisoners. There are some families of prisoners protesting, by having marches in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I heard it was about 75 people. The prison is also trying to make a deal with a private prison in Ohio. The only reason that prison has room is because Washington [state] was sending them prisoners, but within 48 hours two of the prisoners were dead. So Washington took all their prisoners back. Now Wisconsin is trying to work out a deal with them. - A Wisconsin Prisoner, 27 July 1998 1 out of 20 in Prison in Amerikkka I committed a crime in South Caroling and was sentenced to 12 years. They want to oppress me under the new 85% laws, and without parole. How long do we as prisoners have to pay for crimes? The CIA commits drug crimes daily, Judges and courts break their own laws, or they decide something completely wrong. There are injustices when the law had nothing to do with fairness or justice. The government has stated that 1 out of every 20 people in America will serve time in prison. Those making the laws or enforcing them could be the one out of twenty. The public says get tough on crime, well I was part of that public. I am a son and father, just like many of us are. The public is being guided by the government and what they see on tv. They are told we are "Undesirable Parasites" to quote Bob Dole, but we are someones: sons, fathers, sisters, mothers, etc. And yet we are treated like Shit! The food in prison doesn't meet government food pyramid guides. The health care is poor and many cases not free... The spending in this country has increased 700% in the department of corrections, but ask yourself where is the money going? The prisoners don't see it. Training and rehabilitation programs have been taken away. State pay has been taken away. All the prisons are overcrowded. Each inmate should legally have so much living area, but they do not. ...Someone is getting a good paycheck, we keep losing privileges, but the taxes increase!! I know what I did was wrong, but how long do I have to pay for my crime? The sentences that are being dealt out today are too long for most of the crimes. Something needs to be done. I am being dehumanized every day. The public needs to know the truth! And the prison system needs to change. - A South Carolina Prisoner, 25 June 1998 Behind Walls in Virginia ...We have to pay for our own medications and dental [costs]. The wages are 23 cents an hour for the recreation, kitchen, yard crew and cellblock workers. They do have an industry here that produces beds, lockers, chairs, etc for other institutions. It's called the sheet metal shop. Since I do not work in the industry, I don't know the exact wages, but it does pay the highest in this institution. I do not know what the work conditions are like, but I know that they have two different work shifts that each work for 12 hours a day. The health care here is very bad. They have prisoners with HIV, AIDS, cancer and other heath problems in population. What I see is they have to be almost on their deathbed before they really get treatment. - A Virginia Prisoner, 24 May 1998 Struggle Armed with Billy Clubs and Mace, they sprayed the Brotha in the face, No sound was heard but the thump, thump, thump of blows... Heavy blows. Fracturing and rupturing the bones of the vertebrae... His skull. Broken, beaten, spit on - lied on - taunted and teased by fools contaminated with a disease. No, not cancer or AIDS, but the disease that is Most Destructive: Racism, Fascism, Oppression and Obsession. They are obsessed with the Power one feels... The power to dominate another helpless individual. Obsessed with the screams, blood and pleas of a poor one's lost soul, an innocent victim of an unnatural environment. A sad weary soldier beaten down from battles past - Still standing up! And defending his Ass! One who would choose to refuse to lose his pride and dignity to a giant Black Bruise No sir it was not a ruse. They set him up, they plotted and they planned they listened not to this humble man but a number, a timeless meaningless statistic raising static because he chose to oppose their colonial and imperialistic Shitstem. A victim of the ills of a corrupted society that breeds perversion. Like the sickening and sadistic joy they attain Through someone else's pain. A Human being no doubt. He wears the clothes of a man, he walks upright And his back is always so straight, but not as of late... You can see him, strolling the hallways, stooped and drooped romped and stomped, by a cyst'm of maggots that revel in the melee of victory. Their small physical victory of a lynching on a tree.... Prism of Prison Razor wire and iron doors Sloppy food and dingy drawers Armed with guns and tear gas bombs Politically corrupted power structure Chain of command? Well I'll be damned! Rooms of Gloom to call my home with peeling paint and inches to roam. Visions of violence from Riots past when the pigs took charge and shot the gas. Killing my brothers in the quiet of the night I hear their screams and fight for what's right! But don't be mislead and don't be no fool 'cause Lucifer's the chief and a fool is his tool! If we band together and stand for our cause Like Ruiz-N-them did the power would pause. Instead of fighting and killing one another you see Let's join hands and embrace, show some unity! And then the odds would change this rhyme and maybe, just maybe I could do my time. But I am a dreamer and dreams are driven away by reality of the society and social existence with persistence and resilience and "Oh" I might cry or better yet die! But No! I'm only trapped in this transparent prism A Hellhole on Earth that's simply called prison! - A Texas Prisoner, 22 July 1998 MIM responds: These poems expose the violence and oppression that is a part of the criminal injustice system. The next step is a discussion of how to fight it. MIM believes that the next step is organizing for revolutionary change. We work with our comrades behind the bars to fight for reforms which will save lives and make organizing work easier while building a movement that can take on the revolutionary struggle to overthrow imperialism. Censors Relinquish BPP Speaks Comrades, As i stated in my last report from SCI plantation Smithfield, the pigs refused to give me the, "Black Panthers Speaks", which the MIM organization sent me in the mail! Well i'm proud to report that after appealing this decision to the Superintendent, it was overturned and i received the "Black Panthers Speaks" today.... In Struggle, - A Pennsylvania Prisoner, 30 July 1998