I N T E R N E T ' S  M A O I S T  BI-M O N T H L Y

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         THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

  MIM Notes 175    	December 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.  AMERIKKKA CONTINUES ATTACKS AGAINST THE BLACK NATION
2.  A STATEMENT FROM DEATH ROW
3.  PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI "PEACE" MELTDOWN RAGES ON;
    NEOCOLONIAL STRATEGY LEADS TO CRACKDOWN
4.  LETTERS
5.  DOWN WITH U.$. IMPERIALISM!
6.  HALLIDAY SPEAKS ON U.$. GENOCIDE IN IRAQ
7.  CAMPAIGN TO EXPAND MIM NOTES DISTRIBUTION
8.  AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL TAKES A POKE AT U.$. PRISONS
9.  BLACK POWER: REVOLUTIONARIES MOURN STOKELY      
    CARMICHAEL
10. PRETTY NATO RHETORIC ABOUT KOSOVO HIDES BRUTAL     
    NATURE OF IMPERIALISM
11. PINOCHET PURSUED FOR CRIMES: U.$. IMPERIALIST ROLE    
    IGNORED
12. "UNITED STRUGGLE FROM WITHIN" MOVES FORWARD 
13. MLM Online: ELECTION '98 ROUND-UP
14. ROCK THE NATION
15. AMERIKAN CHRISTIANS: SATAN'S SPAWN 
16. PIRAO ATTACKS MORALISM
17. 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


* * *


MIM Notes 175
December 1, 1998

AMERIKKKA CONTINUES ATTACKS AGAINST THE BLACK NATION

PA Supreme Court rules against new trial for Mumia 
Abu-Jamal

On October 30, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled 
against a new trial for incarcerated revolutionary 
leader and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal. One 
of the Judges on the PA Supreme Court was a District 
Attorney who argued against Mumia's appeals 10 years 
ago -- one more example of the grossly biased judges 
throughout Mumia's trial and appeals process. The 
rejection is currently under further appeal at the 
state level, but Mumia has moved significantly closer 
to falling victim to state-sponsored murder.

Mumia was framed for the righteous 1981 killing of a 
Philly cop engaged in an act of police brutality. 
Someone else killed the cop, but the Amerikan system 
of injustice - backed up by the fascist anti-crime 
fever among the white petit-bourgeoisie and labor 
aristocracy - demands that someone die for the killing 
of a pig. These fascists wish to kill Mumia because he 
is a leader who generates public opinion against the 
system. His political views were used as evidence 
against him in his trial and in the imposition of the 
death penalty.

Mumia is an outspoken advocate and leader of the Black 
Nation. He was a Minister of Information for the Black 
Panther Party, and later a radio journalist. Mumia was 
hated by the Philly police and government for his work 
exposing police brutality and the colonization of the 
Black Nation within the illegitimate borders of the 
United Snakes. Years ago, the mayor of Philadelphia 
singled Mumia out at a press conference for this 
ominous warning: "Someday you'll pay for what you've 
done."

What Mumia Abu Jamal did do, was raise the 
consciousness of the Black nation about its 
colonization by white Amerika. And payback for this 
revolutionary agitation was the frame-up that sent 
Mumia to death row.

Mumia has not been silenced by his legal status. He 
continues to organize and agitate, publishing two 
books and recording 12 radio commentaries for National 
Public Radio. NPR backed out of the deal when they 
came under criticism from then-Presidential Candidate 
and Senator Bob Dole. The Commentaries and the books 
are effective indictments of Amerikan colonization of 
the Black nation in general, and the justice system in 
particular.

Settler nation kangaroo courts

Mumia has spent 16 years appealing his death sentence, 
but now things are poised to move very quickly from 
the Pennsylvania state courts to through the Federal 
Courts and from there to murder by lethal injection.

The "Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act" 
passed by Congress after the bombing in Oklahoma City 
is going to make it very difficult to convince the 
federal courts to overturn the conviction and death 
sentence.

This 1996 law restricts habeas corpus appeals. A 
petition for habeas corpus is a vehicle for a prisoner 
to get a federal court to review his state court 
conviction, by arguing that the conviction itself, or 
the length of the sentence in some cases, was a 
violation of his or her federal constitutional rights. 

The new law affects Mumia and other existing cases, 
even though Mumia's case is more than a decade old. 
According to an explanation by Mumia's Attorney, 
Leonard Weinglass, the law not only places brutal time 
limits on appeals of state decisions to Federal 
courts, the law also "moves the goal posts," requiring 
Federal judges to apply a "presumption of correctness" 
standard when reviewing state decisions.

The judge at Mumia's original trial and his appeals 
was Albert Sabo. Known as the "Hanging Judge", Sabo is 
a lifetime member of the Fraternal Order of the Police 
and has sent more men to death row than any other 
judge in the country. Sabo has earned the label "judge 
beyond reason" from American Lawyer Magazine, and his 
bias at Mumia's trial was severe enough to merit 
criticism from the prosecution!

This Federal "presumption of correctness" means that 
the Federal Courts are restricted from examining the 
findings of fact made by the State Courts. Of course, 
the findings of fact and other State Court actions are 
precisely the issue. Sabo made his bias clear in the 
record, but since Sabo declared himself "unbiased" 
during the initial appeals, the Federal Courts are 
restricted to maintaining that assumption. In a speech 
in Amherst Massachusetts on November 1, Attorney 
Weinglass expressed hope that the U.$. Supreme Court 
would strike down this Federal Law.

Weinglass optimistically noted that while Mumia has 
always lost in the state courts, he has always won in 
the federal courts. Additionally, the federal courts 
have reversed 35% of state death penalty convictions. 
While this track record was likely the impetus for the 
Effective Death Penalty Act, it also provides room for 
hope.

Furthermore, Weinglass expressed hope in the fact that 
Pennsylvania State Judges are elected, whereas Federal 
Judges are lifetime appointees. Weinglass hopes that 
the Federal judges will be less susceptible to 
political pressures.

But MIM is not Mumia's attorney and so we must look at 
this problem from a different perspective. All judges 
have an interest in preserving the Amerikan system. 
While there are radical lawyers, it's only the 
supporters of the government (to one degree or 
another) that get elected and appointed judges. But it 
is true that the Federal Judges having a longer-term 
interest in maintaining the legitimacy of the system, 
whereas elected judges typically have shorter term re-
election interests.

It is appropriate for Weinglass to look at the 
struggle to save Mumia's life as primarily legal 
struggle. But this is a political problem that 
requires an appropriate political response that is not 
exclusively a battle waged inside the courts. 
Amerikkka desperately wants to kill Mumia not only to 
silence his revolutionary voice but also for the psy-
war effect upon its colonized Black Nation. It is 
imperative that we continue the legacy of the Black 
Panther Party and strengthen revolutionary struggle to 
end the imperialists' ability to perpetrate this 
repression of the people's leaders.

Mumia's last scheduled execution date was in August 
1995. That date was postponed in response to the huge 
outcry around the world for a new trial for this 
revolutionary leader. A new death warrant can be 
signed whenever the current appeal is denied. For this 
reason, 2,500 people demonstrated in Philadelphia in 
support of freedom for Mumia the weekend after the 
negative decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. 
Demonstrations of various sizes were held in other 
North American cities and around the world.

Mumia Abu-Jamal's case is one of many crimes committed 
against the people by the imperialist state and its 
murderous Amerikan followers. Every day, hundreds of 
thousands of members of Amerika's oppressed internal 
colonies are held captive behind the bars of one of 
the world's most repressive legal establishments. Most 
of these people were not political activists when they 
were jailed, but more of them are becoming activists 
and revolutionaries every day. The struggle to end 
oppression in Amerika involves everyday work including 
and beyond the case of Mumia.

The Amerikan injustice system, which currently 
threatens Mumia's life and deprives thousands of 
people of their liberty by force, illustrates Mao 
Zedong's statement that "power grows out of the barrel 
of a gun." This is one of Mumia's political beliefs 
which was used against him at his trial. But that 
statement is an indictment of Amerika and the force it 
wields against the oppressed, not of activists like 
Mumia.

MIM urges readers to learn about Mumia Abu-Jamal's 
case, and to take action to stop the murderous 
execution. With the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's 
denial Mumia Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new trial, his 
case has an exceptional urgency.

MIM also urges readers to see this case as a concrete 
example of the repressive injustice system, which 
itself is a tool for imperialist oppression in the USA 
and all over the world. 

This article was edited by MC206.


* * *


A STATEMENT FROM DEATH ROW

by Mumia Abu-Jamal

SCI-Greene, Waynesburg, PA

October 31st, 1998

Once again, Pennsylvania's highest court has shown us 
the best justice that FOP [Fraternal Order of Police] 
money can buy. Ignoring right reason, their own 
precedent, and fundamental justice, they have returned 
to the stranglehold of death. In their echoes of the 
tortured logic of Judge Albert Sabo, they have 
reflected a striking fidelity to the DA's office. If 
it is fair to have a tribunal who are in part 
admittedly paid by the FOP-and at least one justice 
who can double as DA one day and a judge the next in 
the same case--then fairness is just as empty a word 
as "justice." To paraphrase Judge Sabo, it is "just an 
emotional feeling."

In recent months the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has 
upheld death sentences in cases where an impartial 
reading of transcripts or pleadings would make an 
honest affirmation all but impossible. They have 
ignored all evidence of innocence, overlooked clear 
instances of jury taint, and cast a dead eye on 
defense attorneys' ineffectiveness. What they have 
done in my case is par for the course. This is a 
political decision, paid for by the FOP on the eve of 
the election. It is a Mischief Night gift from a court 
that has a talent for the macabre.

I am sorry that this court did not rule on the right 
side of history. But I am not surprised. Every time 
our nation has come to a fork in the road with regard 
to race, it has chosen to take the path of compromise 
and betrayal. On October 29th, 1998, the Pennsylvania 
Supreme Court committed a collective crime: it damned 
due process, strangled the fair trial, and raped 
justice.

Even after this legal legerdemain [sleight of hand] I 
remain innocent. A court cannot make an innocent man 
guilty. Any ruling founded on injustice is not 
justice. The righteous fight for life, liberty, and 
for justice can only continue.


* * *


PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI "PEACE" MELTDOWN RAGES ON;
NEOCOLONIAL STRATEGY LEADS TO CRACKDOWN

by MC12

It is now out in the open that the Amerikan CIA is 
operating freely in Palestine, including in the areas 
that are supposedly under "autonomous" Palestinian 
control. And as the farce of the various "peace" 
agreements continues to play out, the Palestinian 
"Authority" is forever running back and forth trying 
to prove its allegiance to Israel and its Amerikan 
sponsors.

Officially, the CIA is now the go-between for Israeli 
and Palestinian police forces, and provides 
information back to the U.$. The CIA admits this is 
not a new role, but says it was just made public to 
help reassure people that peace is for real.(1) How 
reassuring.

As has been the pattern in recent months, the U.$.-
backed Israeli government offers to "give" Palestinian 
pieces of their own land -- which really remain under 
the bottom-line control of the Israeli military. This 
offer is in exchange for Yassir Arafat's promises to 
use his Palestinian "Authority" to crack down on the 
anti-Israeli movements in Palestine. Neo-colonial 
governments have always done some of the dirty work 
for imperialism in terms of squelching anti-
imperialist movements, but the practice has reached 
new heights of visibility and hypocrisy in Palestine 
today.

The Palestinian "Authority" -- basically the Palestine 
Liberation Organization (PLO) -- recently rounded up 
more than 100 members of Hamas, an Islamic group that 
organizes against Israeli occupation and provides 
needed services to impoverished Palestinians. They 
also put the groups founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin under 
house arrest. Israel, which figures it would have even 
more rebellion on its hands if its army did this stuff 
itself, demanded more. "It's one step in the direction 
that is indicated but it has to be continuous,'' said 
a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu.(2)

The PA is running hard with its capitulation strategy, 
over the opposition of many other Palestinian 
organizations that made up the liberation movement. 
Leaders from Islamic Jihad, Hamas, the Popular Front 
for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front 
for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front 
for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command have 
expressed opposition to Arafat's plans for 
surrendering the struggle for Palestinian self-
determination in exchange for a photo-opportunity and 
a promise of future hand-outs.(3)

The imperialist-labeled terrorists of Palestine have a 
habit of also providing services for the Palestinian 
people, whose poverty and national oppression are 
desperate. But the PLO police are now on the move to 
stop them, under direct orders from Israel and the 
CIA. PLO police shut down the Islamic Purity Nursery 
after a recent car bomb attack. Reuters reported: 
"Israel has demanded Palestinians clamp down not only 
on militants but on their supporting infrastructure, 
including schools, mosques and charities which Israeli 
officials have said serve as fronts for militant 
activities."(4)

Israel wants Hamas and Islamic Jihad completely 
banned, despite their good works for Palestinians. 
When the PA doesn't move fast enough, Israel still has 
authority to step into the "autonomous" areas 
supposedly "given" back. On November 8, for example, 
Israeli soldiers shut down the West Bank village of 
Kabatiya to look for their opponents.(5)

The neocolonial solution proposed by the PLO proves 
its own futility more and more each day.

Notes:
1. Washington Post 27 October 1998.
2. Reuters 29 October 1998.
3. Associated Press 5 November 1998.
4. Reuters 8 November 1998.
5. Associated Press 8 November 1998.

* * *

LETTERS

proud of communism

Dear MIM: I never considered myself a communist until 
I read some of your papers printed up by computer by a 
friend of mine.

I was always anti-oppression, anti-racist, etc., but I 
only believed that communism was what the media called 
it. Now that I've studied only a few pages of what you 
print, I would be "proud" to be labeled a communist, 
Maoist or Marxist. They all seem to have basically the 
same meaning.

Anyhow, could you (if possible) please let me know how 
to learn more and/or even participate in the movement. 
If you have a catalog for mail order books or 
material, please send to me ASAP. I'm very serious in 
my interest.

-- a new friend in the midwest

MIM responds:  The misinformation in the media about 
communism is one of the important reasons for 
publishing and distributing independent newspapers and 
magazines. Some people argue that we should drop the 
term communism or Maoism because these words are so 
strongly associated with evil that we can't possibly 
win people over to our side. But we are not willing to 
give up on the important historical and theoretical 
developments related to communism and Maoism just 
because the reactionaries spread slander and lies. One 
way everyone can help counter these lies is to help 
expand MIM Notes distribution. Contact us at the 
address on this page to find out how to get a bundle 
to distribute in your area.

Private prisons = increased oppression

Dear MIM: Just something quick: there's been talk 
recently of moving prison organization and control 
over to the private sector in the USA. Personally, 
this sounds like a bunch of crap, but, provided this 
legislation goes through, all hell could break loose. 
(Say you just busted the hell out of Microsoft's 
computer systems. Then, what happens if Microsoft gets 
ahold of you in one of their prisons? Just a remote 
possibility, but still...). I'm seeing a horrible 
decrease in prisoner treatment and living conditions. 
Has there been any MIM or RAIL movement against this, 
is it just some stupid rumor that isn't ever going to 
happen, or what? 

--East Coast Reader October, 1998

MIM responds:  It's true that more and more prisons 
are being managed by private sector corporations. In 
1996 less than 3% of prisoners were in private hands 
but the growth rate is extreme. With private prisons, 
a company can build a prison and then advertise 
available space to other governments that have 
overcrowded systems. For example, a few years ago a 
number of states sent prisoners to the private prisons 
in Texas, paying the corporations like Wakenhut, to 
hold the prisoners. The incentive for these 
corporations is to reduce costs any way possible. This 
means cutting medical care, food, amenities like soap 
and toilet paper, and education and other social 
programs. Part of what this privatization means is 
slave labor in the service of profit making 
corporations. (For more information about this see the 
article in MIM Theory #11 about private prisons, send 
$6 for a copy.)

Both MIM and RAIL have been organizing against this 
move to privatize. The important thing is for us to 
fight privatization without endorsing state-run 
prisons. It has to be a part of our fight against the 
criminal injustice system in general. What we need 
from activists is research into the private 
corporations in your state so we can take action 
against these corporations. If you're not already 
involved in the fight, get in touch and get involved.

Spirituality & Revolution

Dear RAIL:  I think survival IS about how strong ones 
spirituality is. Especially being an African in 
amerika (what is titled BLACK), we have survived many 
years off of believing strongly in the power of 
healing, and prayer, along with believing that "change 
gon' come someday."

Spirituality IS very important in prisons. You or I 
couldn't even begin to imagine what happens between 
those walls. My brothas are in there and most of them 
serving time for being framed, serving time for just 
BEING (black, that is). I was the sista with the afro 
(the light-skinned one), and I know about a lot of 
things. 

MIM responds:  This letter was sent by someone who 
attended one of our forums on prisons.

The point of our events is to provide some historical 
basis for discussion and a basis for what we can work 
together on. We do not focus the discussion on 
spirituality because this is not something concrete 
that will help the prisoners we work with. While 
spirituality is very popular in the prisons, it is a 
crutch used by prisoners, and others, to give up 
responsibility for changing individual conditions and 
the conditions in the world. When everything is up to 
a higher power it is much easier for people to be 
complacent and just pray rather than take action 
against oppression.

There are prisoners of all different spiritual beliefs 
that we work with. And the common point that we work 
on is not spirituality or metaphysics, but concrete 
conditions within prisons. Spirituality is not going 
to help prisoners, or oppressed people anywhere, to 
fight the imperialist system that is oppressing them.

Genocide by diplomacy kills as effectively as bombs


* * *


DOWN WITH U.$. IMPERIALISM!

As the U.$. geared up for its third firepower display 
in the Persian Gulf this year, the Amerikan 
militarists were boasting that their Arab and European 
allies no longer oppose bombing Iraq. The Amerikan 
militarists of course downplay their own aggressive 
actions, pointing that even with the most rapid build-
up of military force by the U.$., weapons are still 
not at February, 1998 levels when Amerika last 
threatened to step up its military brutality against 
the Iraqi people.

As MIM Notes went to press, bourgeois news reports 
were that U.$. attacks had been averted with an Iraqi 
pledge to not interfere with the arms inspections.(3) 
For the time being, the Amerikan war against people of 
Iraq has returned to death by preventable health 
causes instead of death from Amerikan bombs.

Dennis Halliday [see adjacent article] is only the 
most famous example of what liberals and bourgeois 
humanitarians internationally are going through. Many 
who have supported the U.$. and U.N.'s quieter methods 
of persuasion are seeing mounting evidence that even 
so-called diplomacy is an assault on the Iraqi people. 
While the Amerikan imperialists crow about their 
allies' support for bombings and aid workers come more 
in touch with the violence of even their own 
charitable work, MIM Notes reminds our readers that 
revolutionaries cannot ask: "how can Amerika most 
gently exert its hegemony?" We must consistently focus 
on "how best to support the struggle of the 
international proletariat to free itself from Amerikan 
hegemony?"

As even the purveyors of international aid will tell 
you, kinder and gentler imperialism in Iraq is still 
the most brutal form of genocide. Dennis Halliday was 
well-enough convinced of this to give up his job. 
UNICEF, a branch of the very UN that administers the 
sanctions has pointed out that UN Resolution 986, 
under which Iraq may sell prescribed quantities of its 
oil in exchange for money to buy food and other basic 
necessities, has not helped the conditions for Iraqi 
children. 750,000 children under the age of five had 
died in Iraq as a direct result of the sanctions as of 
mid-1997.(1)

Workers in Iraq for CARE, a large First World 
charitable corporation not known for their radical 
anti-imperialism, have pointed out that "Iraq was not 
a Third World country before the (1991) war - and you 
can't run a developed society on aid." The aid workers 
are referring to Iraq's level of development compared 
to its neighbors, and compared the to majority of the 
CARE clientele. 

Health care and education were widely available in 
Iraq before war and poverty crippled the national 
infrastructure. Iraq was able to develop national 
health and education systems through reinvesting money 
from oil sales, and was also able to generate an 
economy that would support some resistance to U.$. 
domination of Iraqi actions internal to its borders. 

A CARE worker described Iraq's level of development in 
relation to the sanctions: "What is wrong with the 
water system here is a result of breakdown and damage 
to complex and very expensive water purification 
plants. And this eats up hundreds of thousands of 
pounds in repairs - for just one region of the 
country. The doctors here are excellent but because of 
sanctions, they haven't had access to a medical 
journal for eight years."(2)

As MIM Notes reported on the bombings of Sudan and 
Afghanistan, an Amerikan military campaign against a 
neo-colony or semi-colony is not always a direct 
defense of established economic interests. Because 
Amerikan imperialism relies on being the most powerful 
economic and military force in the world, the u.$. is 
willing to use guns every time a country does not bow 
to its will. As the uncontested biggest imperialist 
country on the planet, Amerikkka seeks to coerce every 
corner of the globe through not only military means, 
but also economic and diplomatic means. When a country 
like Iraq first steps out of the U.$. plan, Amerika 
must step in and re-establish its control. 

A disobedient Iraq is a particular threat to the 
United States because Iraq controls what is a scarce 
resource at the global level: oil. While Iraq's wealth 
is in part dependent on the imperialists to buy their 
oil, the concentration of oil in a select number of 
countries put these countries in a position to demand 
better prices for their raw materials. Other Third 
World countries with less scarce natural resources are 
unable to demand as high a price from the 
imperialists. Whereas the imperialists typically play 
Third World countries against each other, Iraq has 
managed to use the imperialists against each other. 
This is the independence that the First World in 
general and Amerika in this particular case, so fears 
and to which it responds with threats of massive 
aerial bombardment.

Likewise, Amerika does not care about the supposed 
threat Saddam Hussein's government poses to the 
peoples of the Arab world. Amerika only cares about 
stretching its economic and military influence more 
thoroughly around the globe. Amerika has no interest 
in protecting Kuwait or Kurdistan from Iraqi weapons, 
it cares only about its ability to dictate resource 
usage in the Persian Gulf.

The great danger in the way the U.$. and U.N. have 
framed sanctions and military strikes at Iraq is that 
progressive activists may become caught in discussing 
Iraq's weapons capacity. The militarists plant the 
question in anti-militarist debates: if we don't use 
sanctions or our weapons to stop the Iraqi weapons, 
what do we use? MIM places such heavy emphasis on 
Amerikan weapons capacity because we hope to persuade 
our readers that preserving this country's version of 
justice is not worth it. Mao pointed out that humans 
are a tiny speck on the life of the universe, and MIM 
follows Mao in the realization that we may blow 
ourselves up before achieving international peace 
through socialism and the eventual disintegration of 
nations.

Within this framework, how could we say that using 
Amerikan force of any kind is justified in containing 
Iraqi force of any kind? Acknowledging that humans are 
small and insignificant allows Communists to embrace 
the knowledge that the only defensible use of force 
today is aimed at liberating people from oppression. 
We call on all anti-imperialists and anti-militarists 
to join us in categorically rejecting U.$.-U.N. 
interference in the affairs of sovereign states, and 
to support with us the quests for sovereignty of those 
nations that have not yet achieved it.

Notes:
1. Iraq Action Coalition, Summary of Facts updated 
April 1998 http://leb.net/IAC/
2. "Women Fighting to Stem Disaster in Iraq," The 
Independent 14 October, 1998.
3. MSNBC, November 14 1:51 PM ET
Article edited by MC234.


* * *

HALLIDAY SPEAKS ON U.$. GENOCIDE IN IRAQ

In early November, Dennis Halliday made his first 
public appearance since resigning his post as the UN 
Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq. He spoke at Harvard 
University about his resignation and the devastating 
results of sanctions on Iraq. After his resignation, 
Halliday said, "We are in the process of destroying an 
entire society. It is as simple and terrifying as 
that. It is illegal and immoral."(1)

Halliday is far from a revolutionary, he is a strong 
believer in Amerika as a great country (though he is 
not american). He firmly believes in working within 
the system to attempt change. MIM reports on his 
speech because of the important first hand information 
exposed and because of the strong statement made when 
one of the capitalists' own speaks out against u.$. 
and UN-sponsored genocide.

Those of us opposed to imperialism are well aware of 
the death and suffering that takes place around the 
world at the hands of the united snakes. However, 
imperialist supporters often refuse to see what is 
right in front of their eyes. Halliday could not 
ignore the evidence he faced daily in Iraq. He 
resigned his Iraq post in September and then resigned 
from the UN in October in protest to the UN policy of 
sanctions against Iraq.

Halliday spoke about his experiences in Iraq from 
September 1997 to October 1998 as well as his first 
hand knowledge of the conditions prior to that period. 
Halliday joined the UN in 1964 and was assistant 
Secretary-General before taking up his post in Iraq. 
Halliday oversaw the distribution of food and other 
humanitarian goods that Iraq purchased from money 
earned through the U.N.-approved sale of oil which 
started in 1996.

Halliday provided evidence that the continued UN 
sanctions can be called nothing less than genocide. 
The current sanctions deny Iraq access to profits from 
oil sales which form a mainstay of its economy.

Eight years of sanctions have had disastrous effects 
on the country. Halliday said the sanctions "kill, 
destroy and bring ruin to 23 and a half million 
people."

Every ten minutes an Iraqi child dies from 
malnutrition, preventable disease or other effects of 
the sanctions. According to the World Health 
Organization (WHO), in Iraq 6000-7000 children under 
five years of age die every month as a direct result 
of the sanctions. And the WHO considers these numbers 
an underestimate due to the difficulty in collecting 
information on some parts of the country.

The sanctions have hit children particularly hard 
because the economic devastation has led to poor 
health of their mothers, poor nutrition, high 
incidence of water borne disease, and use of baby 
formula mixed with water that is not safe to drink. 
The malnutrition among children under five years old 
remains at approximately 30% in spite of the oil for 
food program the UN initiated supposedly to alleviate 
the suffering in Iraq.

In addition to the direct effects on the health of the 
population, Halliday outlined some of the economic 
consequences of the sanctions. The effect on the 
economy can be seen in the inflation rate. In 1990, 1 
dinar was worth $3 (US) while today 300 dinars are 
worth $1 (US). The financial ruin has led to 
homelessness, prostitution, begging, corruption and 
children being forced to work. All of these things, 
Halliday pointed out, were virtually unknown in Iraqi 
society before the sanctions. In addition to the 
inflation rate, in 1996, the Iraqi government 
legalized secondary market monetary exchange in an 
effort to restrain the exchange rate. This means the 
dinar is worth even less in that sphere.(2)

The dropout rate in the schools is now 20-30%. In 
addition to the problem of children needing to earn 
money to help support their families, there is no 
money for resources in the schools and thousands of 
teachers have quit, unable to support themselves and 
unable to work in the horrible conditions. Even those 
children who do not drop out of school all together do 
not have a high attendance rate.

On the higher end of the education scale, the 
sanctions are leading to a widespread "brain drain" as 
an estimated 2 million Iraqi professionals are now 
working outside of the country. Even when 
intellectuals do not flee the country, there is an 
internal brain drain going on. Because a country 
without money for food and exponentially expanding 
inflation cannot continue to pay its intellectuals to 
perform services it needs. In Iraq, this is seen in 
the government offering stock in its national 
operations to educated workers so that a petty-
bourgeois base of civil employees will remain even 
while many, like lawyers and scientists, are becoming 
small merchants, taxi drivers and other service 
workers because these jobs offer better pay than their 
trained professions.(2)

Halliday believes that the impression widespread by 
the media that Iraq is run by a one-man-show (Saddam 
Hussein) is incorrect. He sees the political system 
there as strongly influenced by the public and 
particularly by other members of the government. And 
he reports that the current government is seen as too 
moderate by youth who have grown up under the harsh 
effects of imperialist sanctions and who are pushing 
the government to take stronger action against the 
imperialists.

Halliday agreed with one audience member that it is 
reasonable to view the sanctions as genocide against 
the Iraqi people but when asked what we should do 
about this, his strongest statement was that we should 
lobby congress to change. Halliday's position is not 
radical at all. In fact, his view is that sanctions 
are never effective and only lead to suffering of the 
people. Instead he advocated other forms of persuasion 
which he did not detail except to mention that this is 
a very difficult issue.

MIM agrees with Halliday that sanctions on the Iraqi 
people must end. But we disagree with his view that 
member states in an international organization have 
the inviolable right to change the actions of "erring 
states" through force. MIM would only support such 
international pressure in the name of socialism, and 
for the purpose of liberating masses of people from 
oppression while providing them with the basic 
necessities of life.

In the UN today, the strongest member states are 
imperialists and fierce enemies of the majority of the 
world's people. MIM recognizes no moral authority in 
imperialism and we categorically reject the 
imperialists' claims to the right to decide who eats 
or starves. When there is anti-imperialist 
international debate, this dialog can righteously lead 
to improving national policies. But today while 
imperialists call the shots on the international 
governmental scene, all peace-loving people must 
reject any claims of supposed neutral international 
organizations to impose their will on any oppressed 
nation.

Even if the sanctions are ended tomorrow, the Iraq 
people will not regain their sovereignty. The 
imperialists will not give up control of any country 
in the world without a fight. The sanctions are one, 
particularly devastating, way that the imperialists 
control their colonies. In fact, back when Hussein was 
a good u.s. lackey, the US government was supplying 
him with material to produce chemical and biological 
weapons.

Just as they have in countries throughout the world, 
the United Snakes demands loyalty and obedience from 
the government. And when any colony resists, they are 
met with harsh reprisals. Only through revolutionary 
struggle will the people of Iraq and the people of the 
world throw off imperialist domination and be free to 
establish a system of government truly by and for the 
people:  a socialist system.

Notes:
1. The Independent 14 October, 1998.
2. MIM Notes no. 153 1 January 1998.

* * *

CAMPAIGN TO EXPAND MIM NOTES DISTRIBUTION

MIM Notes is initiating a campaign to expand 
distribution of our newspaper in 1999. As the end of 
the century approaches we must stress the importance 
of summing up the lessons of the 20th century for 
communists and of applying these lessons to the 
advancing struggle against imperialism.

Independent media of the oppressed is crucial to 
building a movement that can take on imperialism. 
Right now we don't come close to competing with the 
New York Times or the other daily newspapers across 
this imperialist country. But with your help we can 
expand our distribution and advance the fight towards 
the day when we can take on and defeat the imperialist 
mouthpieces.

If you live in a city where there is no regular MIM 
Notes distributor, your help is crucial. But even if 
you live in a city where there are already 
distributors, your help will expand our outreach into 
more communities in your city. We ask that our 
distributors help with the cost of printing and 
shipping the paper if possible but whether or not you 
have the money we need your help.

Distributors can sell the paper on the streets and at 
political events and you can leave copies of the paper 
free at colleges, in community centers, in laundry 
mats, at libraries, in coffee shops, in bookstores, 
and anywhere else that they won't get thrown away and 
people will pick them up.

Our goal for 1999 is to expand distribution of MIM 
Notes and increase the necessary funding by 25% of the 
current total. We can't do it without your help. 
Contact your local distributor or send us the form 
below to help out. 

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* * *


AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL TAKES A POKE AT U.$. PRISONS

by MC12

In early October, Amnesty International (AI) initiated 
its campaign entitled "Rights for All." This campaign 
focuses on human rights violations by the United 
snakes internationally and domestically. The campaign 
is to run from October 1998 to May 1999. "Rights for 
All" is campaigning for:  "an end to police brutality; 
an end to torture and abuse of prisoners; the 
protection of asylum-seekers; the abolition of the 
death penalty; ratification of human rights treaties; 
and a code of conduct for arms sales." At the 
beginning of the campaign, Amnesty released a 150-page 
report documenting human rights violations in the U.$. 
by "police departments, prison systems, detention 
facilities, the Immigration and Naturalization Service 
(INS) and other institutions."

MIM welcomes this main stream exposure to the daily 
atrocities committed by and backed by the United 
Snakes of Imperialism. Details provided in the reports 
adds to the work that MIM and prisoners have done 
since our beginning to expose the nature of the U.$. 
INjustice system as a system of social control and 
national oppression. We invite Amnesty chapters and 
supporters to struggle with and work with MIM and 
RAIL. There are many projects which we can collaborate 
on based on our mutual goal to expose and oppose U.$.-
imposed oppression.

In this article, we focus on the aspect of Amnesty's 
report dealing with the Amerikkkan prison system.(1) 
We credit Amnesty for conducting investigation and 
exposing some of the conditions in Amerikan prisons. 
In the past, we have used information that Amnesty 
provides and have credited it when AI has been correct 
in exposing imperialist-country atrocities.

Despite some points of agreement, MIM has several 
criticisms of Amnesty International's politics. We use 
this opportunity to explain our political differences 
with Amnesty and the central importance of building a 
Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Party. MIM sees that there are 
various tasks that progressives can accomplish which 
help to oppose oppression. However, MIM maintains that 
proletarian leadership is essential to forge the 
quickest path toward liberation of the oppressed and 
annihilation of imperialist domination. It is because 
of proletarian internationalism that MIM and RAIL work 
against prisons in Amerikkka. And it is because of 
proletarian internationalism and the continuous 
emphasis of mass work with prisoners that we continue 
to oppose prisons within the context of building anti-
imperialist revolution.

Oppression within prisons

The report's chapter on prison says:  "Every day in 
prisons and jails across the USA, the human rights of 
prisoners are violated. In many facilities, violence 
is endemic." Further, Amnesty adds, although "many of 
these practices violate US laws as well as 
international human rights standards," in current 
prison system "serious violations can occur and 
continue without being effectively challenged."

The report documents many cases of brutality by prison 
officials, including:  administrators supervising 
beatings of prisoners, "gladiator" fights arranged by 
guards, false reports filed to cover up guard 
atrocities, racist attacks and false disciplinary 
charges lodged against Black prisoners, and 600 
prisoners handcuffed outdoors for 96 hours, wimmin 
prisoners raped and sold by guards for sex (which is 
torture according to international law), the use of 
restraints deliberately imposed as punishment, chains 
and leg-irons (illegal under international law), 
prisoners who died from blood clots from prolonged 
immobilization, prisoners tortured while strapped in 
restraint chairs, prisoners with tape wrapped round 
their mouths and football helmets placed backwards on 
their heads, hogtying, pregnant wimmin forced to give 
birth in shackles, the use of dangerous amounts of 
tear-gas as retaliation for nonviolent protests, 
prisoners maced and racially taunted while already in 
handcuffs, lethal use of pepper spray, the use of 
electric stun guns to shocks prisoners already 
restrained, and the use of dangerous remote control 
electro-shock stun belts.

One useful element of the report is Amnesty's 
documentation of where U.$. practices violate 
international laws. These are largely hollow in the 
case of the Amerikan government, which generally 
ignores them, but pointing out these violations helps 
expose Amerikan hypocrisy in its treatment of 
prisoners. For example, transferring prisoners 
thousands of miles from their communities, which RAIL 
and MIM and others have protested in recent years, 
violates the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment 
of Prisoners in international law.

These international rules are pretty much used as 
toilet paper by Amerikan prisons. Imagine what prisons 
would be like if they followed all this:  "Under the 
ICCPR and the Convention against Torture, the US 
government is obliged to ensure that people are not 
subjected to torture (including rape) or to cruel, 
inhuman or degrading treatment, and that people 
deprived of their liberty are treated with humanity 
and with respect for the dignity of the human person." 
The U.$. government ratified this Convention in 1994, 
but said it would interpret the rules to apply the 
same way the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause of 
the U.$. Constitution is used -- in other words, 
rarely if at all. Reading any edition of Under Lock & 
Key exposes the lie of these so-called rights in 
Amerikan gulags today.

Revolution to stop prisoner-prisoner violence

Part of Amnesty's focus is on how prison guards should 
do more to prevent violence between prisoners. For 
example, "Overcrowded correctional facilities lack the 
space and staff to protect vulnerable inmates from 
predatory ones. As a result, physical and sexual 
violence and extortion are rife in many prisons and 
jails," examples of which they provide in some detail.

In the real world of politics such demands turn public 
opinion against prisoners, lead to increased prison 
funding and a bigger prison system, and divert 
attention from the central issue, which is the 
national, gender and class oppression of the injustice 
system. These are not the concerns of Amnesty 
International, however.

MIM agrees that the injustice system should be held 
responsible for crimes against the people committed in 
prisons. And we know that the conditions of prisons 
and the machinations of the prison officials cause 
immeasurable harm to prisoners. However, we don't want 
to put our political energy into demanding that prison 
guards do more to stop these crimes. And progressives 
must make clear that additional guards will not 
decrease violence within prisons. The guards 
themselves are the primary perpetrators of crimes in 
prisons and we do not trust these pigs to end 
violence. In many cases reported to MIM, even prisoner 
on prisoner violence is instigated by the guards like 
some sick human version of a cock fight.

The crimes which prisoners commit within prison 
represent consequences of the root injustice of the 
system. The pitfall of single issue politics in this 
situation is revealed when Amnesty's solution does not 
take into consideration the social causes of violence 
amongst prisoners. Setting aside pig violence -- 
prisoners fighting themselves or even being self-
destructive through the use of drugs, stems from 
social inequalities and massive repression and denial 
of a meaningful existence prisoners face.

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, 
the Chinese people (up to 1976) developed prisons 
which helped prisoners to rebuild their lives as 
productive members of society. The Chinese prisoners 
were assisted in genuine rehabilitation with the 
result of prisoners having more respect for 
themselves, other individuals and for society in 
general. This is one of the many reasons MIM addresses 
problems like violence within prisons from a 
revolutionary analysis instead of attempting to 
address problems in piecemeal.

Control Units violate international law

The report also criticizes supermaximum security 
(supermax) prisons, at least 57 of which were in use 
by 36 states and the federal government in 1997 -- 
incarcerating more than 13,000 prisoners, with many 
more under construction. Supermax prisons have already 
been condemned by Amnesty as well as the UN Human 
Rights Committee.

Violations of international law include:  cells 
smaller than the 80 square feet, no windows and little 
or no access to natural light or fresh air and 
insufficient exercise. Further, "In Westville, 
Indiana, prisoners were not allowed to wear watches or 
ask the time until a hunger-strike and a lawsuit led 
to some court-imposed changes." U.$. courts have 
forced some changes, but generally permit supermax 
administrators to have their way in the name of 
"legitimate security needs."

As MIM Notes readers know, often, "the process of 
review is discretionary, or the criteria for moving 
out of the units are vague or difficult to meet. Some 
prisoners may spend years in supermax units." In 
particular, "Prisoners may be assigned for long 
periods ... for relatively minor disciplinary 
infractions, such as insolence towards staff ... 
Others have reportedly been moved to supermax units 
because of overcrowding or because they have 
complained about prison conditions." In Valley State 
Prison, California, for example, wimmin were 
"assigned, or threatened with assignment, to the 
supermax unit if they complained about sexual abuse by 
guards." Finally, "some prisoners have reportedly been 
put in supermax units because of their political 
affiliations."

Readers will be interested to know that "International 
standards clearly specify that medical care and 
treatment shall be provided whenever necessary, free 
of charge." Not only is medical inadequate, but it is 
often not free.

Build proletarian internationalism
Build the foundations for revolution

The report goes on to list many reforms that would 
reduce specific abuses, such as banning stun guns, 
limiting time in supermax conditions, and so on. It is 
useful to have groups such as Amnesty agitate for 
these reforms, and MIM and RAIL have led or joined 
some struggles to improve prison conditions. MIM takes 
it as our main task, however, to build public opinion 
against the injustice system as a whole, and to build 
a movement to overthrow the system that imposes these 
draconian conditions, primarily by creating 
independent institutions of the oppressed (especially 
media).

MIM has long criticized Amnesty International(AI) for 
its focus on the oppression committed by Third World 
governments without assigning blame to the 
imperialists in the background whose power and 
influence are often at the root of "local" acts of 
oppression. MIM has criticized Amnesty specifically, 
for example, for attacking the north Korean government 
for the famine there, without blaming the U.$. 
government, which bears heavy responsibility for the 
suffering of north Koreans and the division of Korea 
in the first place.(2)

We have also criticized Amnesty for its whole approach 
to "human rights" and supposed "apolitical" stand, as 
if rights could be divorced from power and politics in 
a world dominated by imperialism and patriarchy. 
Amnesty generally uses a bourgeois theory of 'human 
rights.' We argue that there are no inherent rights, 
there are power struggles. This means we recognize the 
reality that those in power are the ones who determine 
what is and what is not a right. The ability to be 
treated in a certain way, or for the bourgeoisie to 
hold its property or any other 'right' is only 
supported by the ability to actually gain and defend 
it. Conceiving of justice in terms of rights allows 
the bourgeoisie to determine what is and is not a 
right and for which groups of people. Capitalism 
forcing whole villages to starve or denying health 
care to Blacks in the U.S. is typically not thought of 
as a human rights violation.

That disagreement with the overall approach is 
unchanged. But we have also blamed Amnesty for a 
tendency to "ignore or tone down criticism of the 
First World -- and especially the local First World -- 
country. Within the United Snakes, Amnesty will 
sometimes focus timid pressure in some death penalty 
cases. People can most effectively organize in their 
own territory, but Amnesty chooses to ignore the 
torture in police stations and prisons right around 
the corner. Even from within the reformist 
perspective, the people who need to shut down the 
Control Units at Marion prison--cited as torture by 
Amnesty -- live within the United Snakes. For local 
issues not to be an integral organizing strategy is a 
mistake."(3) And here Amnesty has improved their 
record in our eyes.

Yet even now, as the bourgeois media generally ignores 
the Amnesty report after a brief mention, the problem 
with Amnesty's approach is apparent. The next time 
they do a report on atrocities in a Third World 
government the U.$. is hostile toward, and it's 
splashed all over the news, will someone from Amnesty 
stand up to expose the imperialist power structure and 
history behind the offending government, or compare 
the atrocities to the crimes of imperialism -- 
including not just wars and interventions, but also 
starvation, disease, and environmental devastation?

In short, Amnesty criticizes a series of misbehaviors 
by governments, but not the systems that drive them, 
and that leaves their work open for use by the many 
people who use "human rights" as a club to impose 
Amerikan hegemony on the rest of the world.

Notes:
1. The full report is available at www.rightsforall-
usa.org/info/report/index.htm. 
2. MIM Notes no 149 November 1, 1997
3. MIM Notes no 127 December 1, 1996.

* * *


BLACK POWER:
REVOLUTIONARIES MOURN STOKELY CARMICHAEL

As MIM Notes goes to press, we have just learned of 
the death of Kwame Ture - formerly Stokely Carmichael, 
Chairperson of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating 
Committee (SNCC) in 1966 and later honorary leader of 
the Black Panther Party. We take this time to honor 
some of Carmichael's important contributions to Black 
nationalism - his articulation of the need for Black 
Power and community control and autonomy, and his 
criticism of integrationism as an individualist 
strategy.

As Chair of SNCC, Carmichael developed a strong line 
against integrationism and other forms of identity 
politics and individualism. Speaking to a crowd at the 
University of Michigan in 1966, he said that 
"integrationism is an individual choice," not a 
liberation strategy. If Blacks want to integrate 
themselves with whites, they can do so on a social and 
individual level. But to say that Blacks must 
integrate is to say that "I must go to a white school 
to get a decent education" and that "to live in a nice 
house, I must live in a white neighborhood."

Carmichael further criticized integrationism as a form 
of individualism, arguing that Black college students 
can integrate because they receive the same training 
as whites do for professional life, but that Black 
college students are a very small portion of the 
population. He further stated that a strategy for 
liberation of Blacks must not just address college 
students, it must address the needs of housemaids, of 
porters, of ditch diggers and of the masses of 
unemployed Blacks. And Carmichael decried the goal of 
Blacks serving in the military, criticizing the 
pressure (especially strong during the Viet Nam war) 
to join ROTC and become "a hired killer to get a 
decent education."

From this correct analysis - that the oppression of 
Black college students cannot be addressed in 
isolation from economic and territorial oppression of 
the Black nation as a whole - Carmichael developed the 
theory laid out in his and Charles Hamilton's book 
Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America.

Kwame Toure went on to found the All-African People's 
Revolutionary Party after he left the Black Panther 
Party. He upheld pan-Africanism and "scientific 
socialism," although MIM believes that he had an 
eclectic understanding of socialism which effectively 
left the door open for neo-colonialism. As this issue 
goes to print, we acknowledge Carmichael's legacy but 
cannot address all aspects of his politics here. The 
next issue of MIM Notes will include a fuller 
treatment of Carmichael's anti-integrationist, Black 
liberation ideology. We will also discuss his later 
shift toward Pan-Africanism. MIM Notes encourages all 
readers to go pick up a copy of Black Power, to 
educate yourself about Carmichael's history, SNCC, and 
the history of the Black Panther Party.

Source: Speech at the University of Michigan, Hill 
Auditorium 1966.


* * *


PRETTY NATO RHETORIC ABOUT KOSOVO HIDES BRUTAL NATURE 
OF IMPERIALISM

Fighting continues in Kosovo between Yugoslav and 
Albanian forces, despite a cease fire brokered by the 
u.$. on October 13. Various bourgeois media sources 
claim that the Serbian-dominated Yugoslav army and 
police force are strengthening and winterizing their 
current positions in Kosovo, while the separatist 
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) is seizing territory 
vacated by the Serbs in the aftermath of the cease 
fire. The Yugoslav armed forces launched an offensive 
against the KLA in August. The u.$. and its 
imperialist allies in NATO threatened air strikes 
against Serbia in order to force Yugoslav president 
Milosevic to agree to the October 13 cease fire. 

The majority of the population of Kosovo is Albanian, 
and there is a strong movement in Kosovo for 
independence from Yugoslavia.

From what MIM has gathered at this point, the 
situation in Kosovo is an example of inter-imperialist 
conflict on the one hand, and an example of the 
imperialists preserving conflict in order to ensure a 
"balance of power" for stable investment opportunities 
on the other. There is evidence that Germany is 
backing a faction of separatist armed forces which is 
more moderate than the KLA. The u.$., while 
threatening Serbian forces with air attacks, is also 
cautioning the KLA to "be reasonable" and not demand 
independence. On the other side, Russia is supplying 
Yugoslavia with surface-to-air missiles (the better to 
shoot down NATO planes with), and consistently 
opposing the use of force against Yugoslavia by NATO 
in the UN.

Under imperialism, competing blocs of imperialists 
divide the world into "zones of influence." The 
competing blocs are always jockeying to increase their 
piece of the pie while trying to preserve stable 
political climates to ensure a return on their 
investments. This is one reason MIM says war is 
inevitable under imperialism. Despite all of the high 
falutin' u.$. and NATO rhetoric about stopping human 
rights abuses in Kosovo (and where was the u.$. when 
the illegitimate south Vietnamese government committed 
all sorts of human rights abuses to preserve its 
power? oh yeah, right, they were supplying military 
advisors and bombs to the abusers), their intervention 
in the area is sure to breed future conflict. The fact 
that the current cease fire does not address the roots 
of the conflict in Kosovo illustrates that.

Note: Christian Science Monitor 6 November 1998.


* * *


PINOCHET PURSUED FOR CRIMES:
U.$. IMPERIALIST ROLE IGNORED

by MC17

In early November the Lords, the highest court in 
England, heard arguments concerning former Chilean 
dictator Augusto Pinochet. The issue argued was 
whether Pinochet should be sent home or extradited to 
Spain to face charges of killing and torturing 
opponents during his 17-year rule. In the end of 
October the High Court ruled that Pinochet could not 
be extradited because, as a former head of state, he 
is immune to prosecution. At press time the results of 
the appeals hearing are not known.

Pinochet was arrested on October 16 on a request from 
Baltasar Garzon, a Spanish magistrate who is 
investigating atrocities in the "dirty wars" in Latin 
America in the 1970s and 80s. The Spanish government 
wants to put Pinochet on trial for "savage and 
barbarous" crimes against humanity during his rule 
which included the deaths of Spanish citizens. 
Pinochet has claimed that Chileans accepted a deal and 
agreed not to prosecute him when he stepped down from 
his position as head dictator.(1)

Pinochet led a Chilean military government which came 
to power in a CIA-backed military coup. His government 
killed more than 10,000 people, tortured thousands 
more, and forced activists who were not killed or 
imprisoned into exile in fear for their lives.

Pinochet, the military ruler of Chile from 1973 to 
1990 and commander in chief of its army until earlier 
this year, is a senator for life. The 300-page 
document from the authorities in Madrid details "a 
most ferocious oppression" and a systematic criminal 
plot to eliminate ideological enemies of many 
nationalities in the Pinochet years, from 1973 to 
1990.(2)

"It is the argument of the Spanish authorities that 
the savage and barbarous crimes committed in Chile and 
the territories of other states, including the U.S.A., 
Spain and Italy, are not within the functions of a 
head of state in English law, the law of nations or 
the law of Chile," said Alun Jones, the lawyer who 
represents Spain.(2)

Pinochet's lawyers have countered the charges by 
arguing that if the extradition bid succeeded, Queen 
Elizabeth II could theoretically be arrested abroad to 
face trial for alleged crimes by England.(3) The 
Pinochet defense is trying to scare imperialists about 
the potential chaos that might result if all 
imperialists were charged for their crimes.

The Economist addressed this argument by saying that 
heads of state "would have nothing to fear unless they 
had indeed tortured or mass-murdered or bombed 
indiscriminately."(4) It is a testimony to the willful 
blindness of the imperialists (and their media 
mouthpieces) that they could argue with a straight 
face that most heads of state have never tortured, 
mass-murdered or bombed indiscriminately. As if 
financing the military dictatorships throughout the 
world, supplying them with arms, and even sending in 
troops to aid or at least train them for the fight did 
not constitute such crimes. It is convenient that the 
imperialists can put a pretty face on their crimes by 
hiring lackeys like Pinochet to run the show and then 
to take the blame if the people get upset.

Garzon has also demanded the extradition of several 
former Argentina junta rulers, but Argentina has 
refused to abide by warrants. Both President Eduardo 
Frei of Chile and President Eduardo Menem of Argentina 
have resisted the Spanish legal motions, arguing that 
they infringe on their nations' sovereignty.(5) It's 
not surprising that the Spanish investigation into 
"dirty wars" in Latin America has led to no 
accusations against the U.$, the key financier and 
supplier of military might for of most of the dirty 
wars in Latin America.

French, Swedish and Swiss judicial authorities said 
that they intend to join Spain in pressing for Gen. 
Pinochet's extradition, presumably by petitioning the 
English government. But these diplomatic maneuverings 
against one dictator should not fool anyone into 
thinking that Spain, France or any other country 
supporting the extradition of Pinochet is on the side 
of the people against the imperialists. In fact, 
Spain's hands are far from clean in the case of Chile. 
Spain's investment in Chile's two main banks, telecoms 
and electricity industries is significant.(4)

In imperialist England this case has become a heated 
topic for debate. Many point out that Pinochet was an 
ally in England's 1982 Falklands War with Argentina 
and want to be nice to their ally. Margaret Thatcher, 
the former primer minister, treated Pinochet to 
cocktails at her home just last month.

MIM sees this entire case as an issue of diplomatic 
maneuverings by imperialist countries embarrassed by 
an imperialist-backed military dictator whose crimes 
have gotten too much press. For the exposure of the 
U.$ ties to the Pinochet dictatorship and murders and 
torture his government committed, this case is doing a 
service to oppressed people around the world. But 
anyone who believes that putting one puppet dictator 
on trial in an imperialist country court is going to 
make the world a better place is mistaken.

The dictators who have served the imperialists for 
years, along with the imperialists themselves, do need 
to be put on trial, but it must be a trial by the 
people. And this will never happen until imperialism 
is overthrown and a system of rule by the people has 
been established. Join MIM in fighting for Maoist 
revolution as we work towards the day when , under 
socialism, the former dictators of the world will 
answer for their crimes.

Notes:
1. Boston Globe 5 November 1998, p. A2.
2. New York Times 5 November 1998.
3. New York Times 29 October 1998.
4. The Economist 24 October 1998.
5. New York Times 18 October 1998.


* * *


TREMENDOUS RESPONSE TO ANTI-IMPERIALIST PRISONER MASS 
ORGANIZATION
"UNITED STRUGGLE FROM WITHIN" MOVES FORWARD

by MIM Prison Minister

MIM has received a tremendous response from comrades 
under lock and key who have shown dedication, 
commitment and leadership in developing the anti-
imperialist prisoner mass organization. Comrades have 
sent artwork, name suggestions, articles, plans for 
development of the organization and submissions for 
MIM Notes and MIM Theory. MIM salutes the 
inspirational revolutionary work of our brothers and 
sisters under lock and key with a clenched fist. We 
will continue our efforts to make your voices heard 
and to build the foundations of revolution and a 
future society where prisons are not tools of social 
control and oppression.

Several prisoners submitted suggestions for names of 
the organization. The MIM Prison Ministry has decided 
to use the suggestion "United Struggle from Within" by 
a prisoner in South Carolina. We have a couple 
comments about the theory behind picking the name.

We reiterate that the intention of the organization is 
to unite all anti-imperialist prisoners, further 
education and build struggle. This is not intended to 
be an organization solely made up of Maoists, as some 
have suggested. Just as RAIL does not exclude non-
communists or those who have less worked out political 
lines, members of other progressive organizations or 
those who have religious beliefs, the USW should 
include a broad base of prisoners working together 
against national oppression.

Stemming from other name suggestions, we reiterate the 
importance that this organization be within bourgeois 
legal confines. Prison comrades face enough repression 
without ourselves drawing legal justification for 
more. The name, slogans and general work of the 
organization should be to build anti-imperialism, but 
it should not give the oppressor fodder in a legal 
argument to punish comrades further.

Specifically, MIM does not engage in armed struggle in 
the imperialist countries at this time. We have made 
clear that revolution is the only solution to ending 
oppression. But arms at this time are not our weapons. 
We must build education, independent institutions of 
the people, public opinion and a strong United Front 
against imperialism led by the proletariat. There is 
much work in these areas, there is no need to 
perpetuate the pigs' claim that we support armed 
struggle now in Amerikkka.

What next?
Increased study, censorship monitoring & agitation

USW has several leaders working quite hard to build 
revolutionary study groups. These study groups are 
essential to keeping USW and more generally, anti-
imperialist agitation, on the correct path. We need 
USW comrades to help mobilize other prisoners who are 
not in touch with MIM. It is essential that USW 
comrades share information and lead discussion on the 
ways in which imperialism oppresses the masses and the 
need for organization to end it. USW comrades have 
pointed out the need to understand the histories and 
legacies of Parties like the BPP and the YLP. This 
understanding will help to organize the USW in the 
most effective direction. Many comrades are already 
quite versed on the theory and history needed for 
revolution, and in those cases, it is your obligation 
to educate and mobilize others into anti-imperialist 
activity. If you have not already started to receive 
study material, write to us and start out with the 
pamphlet "Maoism and the Black Panther Party." If you 
cannot communicate with others, we urge you to use the 
time to produce articles which educate.

As part of our push to distribute more literature 
through the Serve the People Books for Prisoners 
Program, MIM needs help from United Struggle from 
Within to monitor censorship closely. Systematic 
campaigns to fight censorship were among the most 
frequent USW suggestions. At this time, MIM does not 
have the capacity to systematically fight the ever-
growing censorship cases. In general, we need comrades 
to first file grievances and make legal gains 
individually when possible. Nevertheless, compiling 
records of censorship is important as we increase the 
capabilities of the Prisoner Legal Clinic and 
coordination of prisoners working together. USW 
comrades have clearly stated agreement that legal 
battles against censorship are key to developing other 
struggles against oppression because the masses need a 
way to communicate. (If you need a copy of the brief 
MIM censorship packet, let us know.)

MIM also calls on USW to increase agitation against 
imperialism and the oppressive prison system. It is 
difficult for prisoners to see all of the ways in 
which comrades on the outside use your words to 
educate and mobilize others. Nevertheless, your 
articles, art, poems and testimonials are crucial in 
outside work to mobilize activists against oppression, 
specifically the INjustice system. USW comrades are 
encouraged to write theory articles from books that we 
send or other literature. Also, the summary of 
conditions, battles against oppression, lessons on 
organizing and study are quite helpful to mobilize 
support inside and out.

In addition to sending MIM and RAIL information that 
helps us organize support for prisoners, we need USW 
comrades to spread the word to your families, 
supporters and friends on the outside that there is a 
way they can oppose the Amerikkkan prison system. Some 
USW comrades have started to get outside supporters to 
distribute MIM Notes. Other USW comrades have been 
working within other organizations they belong to for 
the purpose of building more unity and opposition to 
imperialism. We urge each of you to think ways to 
increase agitation both outside and inside the unjust 
prison walls.

Please note: Prisoners who have shown support and 
leadership in the USW should have received two general 
form letters; if you have not, please write because 
you are most likely being censored. Outside supporters 
interested in more information should check out MIM 
Notes #161 and #168 as well as recent submissions to 
the Serve the People Prisoners' Legal Clinic printed 
in MIM Legal Notes. (The PLC is a subset of the USW 
mass organization.) ($1 for each back issue to 
supporters on the outside.)

Build opposition to oppression

A Texas Prisoner wrote:

I can't express in mere words how greatly I agree 
(with the mass org formation.) It is due to this 
parallel of ideology that I immediately began the 
ground work for structuring a "control agitation unit" 
here in this particular colonized camp.

There is a lot of energy waiting to be cultivated into 
the revolutionary mentality. Study groups (think 
tanks) have been set up and a curriculum which refers 
to MIM Notes and other donated material has already 
opened the eyes of many who might have otherwise been 
unconscious victims of this Criminal INjustice System!

We call this faction "The Peoples' Alliance" and I 
have drawn up its primary objective as well as an 
amendable 10 point program for the sake of instituting 
structure and discipline. (attached)

The topic of our first demonstration was entitled 
"universal principalities." It was given before a 
group of approximately 50 oppressed inmates (POW) of 
varying ethnicities. So yes, we are building.  There 
is however, a great need to centralize with other 
organizations/groups so that we may have some sort of 
universality within our approach to this institutions' 
sub-social injusticies.

Nonetheless, I would like for MIM to consider 
integrating this faction into its objective as well. 
With life there is struggle, without struggle there is 
complete and satisfactory death. 

MIM responds:  Thank you for using the literature to 
build opposition to oppression. We again encourage you 
to work with those comrades to help expand agitation 
as stated in the adjacent article. As for the 
development of "The Peoples' Alliance," we commend 
your work to organize and see it as positive that 
other progressive prisoner organizations continue to 
emerge. We also see several ways in which this type of 
organization particular to one prison can fit into the 
larger development of unity between prisoners 
throughout the united snakes.

We will include additional details of your 
outline/program within the letters going out to USW 
comrades, but of special importance to print in MIM 
Notes for all prisoners are:  1) Your stated unity 
that "The primary purpose of this prisoner (POW) mass 
organization is to consolidate and strengthen our 
ability to agitate, if and whenever necessary, against 
imperialism [the] principle tool of the sub-social 
oppression within this criminal (in)justice system." 
2) Your unity and emphasis on the need for comrades 
within your prison organization to respect one another 
and to be disciplined and organized. Part of which is 
a clear statement of unity to be principled at all 
times, even when dealing with the oppressor.

We look forward to discussing more organizational and 
theoretical issues and working to increase agitation 
with you and the comrades in your organization.


* * *


MLM Online:
ELECTION '98 ROUND-UP

The increased incorporation of the Internet and World 
Wide Web into this years' campaign and election was 
hailed from many quarters as a leap for democracy, a 
way to reach more people, to promote democratic values 
and educate potential voters, especially among 
Amerikan youth. In this issue of MLM Online, we review 
some of these online election-oriented clearinghouses 
and expose the lies and hypocrisy of electoral 
politics espoused by them.

If it were just mainstream politics that we wanted to 
pick on, we could review the web sites of the 
Democratic and Republican parties directly. But worse, 
we find, than the straight two-party line (who can 
tell the difference, anyway?), are groups that claim 
to have a bit of cynicism but promote voting in spite 
of that. We know, for example, that the candidate with 
the most money wins. We know that bills need corporate 
sponsorship to become law. So more than the 
politicians themselves, we criticize those that accept 
those realities and attempt to portray voting as the 
participatory experience that it profoundly is not. 
The Web is a perfect vehicle to perpetrate that 
fiction.

Consider WomenVote.org. (http://www.womenvote.org). 
This interactive site provides a database of 
politicians and how they voted on specific political 
"issues." Vote your conscience, the site admonishes. 
Check your values against our database, print out the 
results and take it to the ballot box. After selecting 
certain categories of interest (e.g. crime, housing, 
health care, poverty, education, etc.) one is asked to 
support, oppose, or ignore specific questions, such as 
funding for community oriented policing, or lowering 
the age at which juveniles are tried as adults. Click, 
click, click, and voila, the database returns the 
candidates from the jurisdiction you selected and 
tells you how they voted on those same questions. 
That's who you vote for!

Nowhere on this or any similar site did we find a 
discussion of who defined those incredible narrow 
issues in the first place. How is it that X 
legislature came to vote on whether money from the 
feds should go to prison construction or youth 
violence prevention programs? By that point, "crime" 
has been defined by the ruling class, and the 
proletariat is the victim of those definitions. The 
only bourgeois question that remains is whether X or Y 
policy is the best way to address the problem. Can 
anyone really look youth straight in the eye and say 
their vote matters? The Web, with its interactive 
technology, provides some illusion that the electoral 
process is itself interactive between government and 
"citizen."

We say to progressive-minded youth, don't settle for 
so little, so late. Fundamental inequality and 
injustice is unaffected by who's in office and how 
they vote on a narrow range of questions defined by 
the ruling class.


* * *


ROCK THE NATION
http://www.rockthevote.org/main_nation.html

On November 1, the Rock the Vote organization began a 
15 city tour it's calling "Rock the Nation." Rock the 
Vote's mission is "increasing civic action of young 
adults," principally by registering them and then 
getting them to vote. Rock the Nation goes beyond mere 
voting to parrot the jargon the federal government 
uses to justify cutting welfare or any other social 
service -- community. Rock the Nation is about 
"connecting" youth to activism on the "community 
level." The slogan? "Rock the Nation, One Community at 
a Time."

A list of cities on the tour and other information can 
be found on Rock the Vote's web site at 
<http://www.rockthevote.org/main_nation.html>. It's 
here we learned that Rock the Nation is sponsored by 
the Pew Charitable Trusts, a wealthy non-profit 
organization funding liberal causes, and that the 
campaign is endorsed by several local politicians.

The declaration of the campaign reads in part "We 
[youth] hereby pledge to involve ourselves at the 
community level and solve problems one step at a 
time." In other words, think locally and act as a 
reformist. Convincing young people that the only 
difference they can make is locally, and that local 
politics is the most honorable, is an attempt to crush 
the revolutionary potential of youth under the guise 
of supporting their "activism." Even in the parasitic 
imperialist nations, youth have some tendency toward 
protest and against group oppression, and bourgeois 
organizers of "Rock the Nation" understand this.

Poverty and other forms of inequality are not "local" 
problems, but the results of capitalism and 
imperialism. MIM and RAIL have long admonished young 
people to think globally and ACT globally, even if in 
their actions they choose to expose and isolate a 
local policy -- such as one state's prison censorship 
or out of state transfers. Don't be fooled by the 
government's opportunistic verbal support for 
"community action" (in some cases, to do its dirtiest 
work, including community policing). Work with RAIL 
and smash imperialism across all communities!


* * *


AMERIKAN CHRISTIANS:
SATAN'S SPAWN

Cambridge, MA--Christians passed out flyers in this 
secular stronghold Halloween night. "Satan: The God of 
This World" reads the flyer with the serpent on the 
front. Also in town we find white supremacist stickers 
on the lampposts.

The flyer is very much in line with the movement of 
ultra-reactionary Christians to fight Halloween. A 
full-length adult television cartoon appeared on the 
subject on "King of the Hill." 

Animal liberationists would be correct to point out 
that Christians are giving serpents a bum rap for all 
the evils of homo sapiens. The depiction of serpents 
since "Adam & Eve" is that they are manifestations of 
evil. Yet serpents do not enslave each other; they do 
not make up religions to garner funds for themselves 
or to quiet the masses. 

The flyer is a perfect example of how to prevent 
people from fighting for justice. In the first place, 
as the title reads, these Christians believe that this 
world is already ruled by Satan. Even first-class 
citizens with good families are Satan spawn says the 
flyer.

Thus, Christianity might seem to have a kernel of 
rebellion in it possible, but that is just one of its 
lures aimed at keeping people from rebellion. It turns 
out that Satan appears even as an angel of light and 
as religious workers. According to this tract, we may 
tell Satan posing as Christian apart from real 
Christian teachers, because Satan will never say that 
Jesus gave his blood for all our sins.

As materialists, we have to tell our Christian friends 
and enemies that they are sorely confused. Such a 
religion can only fill a persyn's need for Authority 
and an end to intellectual and political struggle.

We would like them to consider that Satan must have 
printed their Bibles for centuries and run their study 
classes. The printed word, reverends and Bible study 
classes are all of this world, which is Satan's world. 
Only a true master of evil would construct an idea 
where all sins are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, 
something already done and something not of this world 
according to these witting or unwitting Satan spawn.

The fact that Satan can take any form in the real 
world should be taken as a call to struggle in this 
world by the Christians, but instead they tell us as 
long as Jeffrey Dahmer or John Salvi or the like 
believe that Jesus died for all our sins, they will 
not spend "eternity in hell." In other words, 
Christians say people should ignore the evil in this 
world to focus on their afterlives. 

It's not possible to have it both ways: either 
believing in Jesus makes one a good Christian or not. 
If the "Lord Jesus" died for "all" our sins, then it 
matters not what we did in this world so long as we 
believed in "Him."

We call the Christians idealists because in the end 
their reference points are in the heavens and not in 
struggle here on earth. Believing in Jesus has no 
power to help create justice in this world. It does 
have the power to make some evangelists rich and to 
protect the status quo of the real world by creating 
another religion to divide the oppressed and by 
focussing the oppressed on the afterlife which does 
not exist.

If Satan is the King of Evil, then Satan surely sent 
the world these Amerikan Christians: "For such are 
false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming 
themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; 
for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of 
light."(1) This may be the single best teaching of the 
Bible and for this reason the Christians had to ruin 
it or face the prospect that Satan could be defeated 
in this world, which would mean the end of the 
Christian business as well. The Satan wing of the 
idealist scam distributed this leaflet "Tract No. 121" 
in the guise of Christianity.(2)

We Marxists have a similar problem with so many 
revisionists falsely claiming to be Marxist. 
Revisionism is like Satan dressed up as a Christian, 
except worse, because Satan and Christianity are only 
the two heads of the same idealist scam run by the 
King of Evil, whereas there is a real-world difference 
between Marxism and revisionism. Merely believing in 
Marx or shouting his name does not make one Marxist. 
Our measuring sticks are real-world questions--the 
Soviet Union, China and the nature of imperialist 
country working classes. Likewise, on lesser 
questions, for example when someone claims to be 
fighting crime, MIM demands the facts in this world to 
see how one strategy succeeds or fails in fighting 
crime.

While there are two positions possible for each of 
these three historical questions MIM focuses on, MIM's 
approach has only a certain number of logical 
solutions to it, whereas religions can be created 
infinitely and without reference to anything concrete. 
This feature makes religion most useful for dividing 
people and fomenting wars along the lines of the 
fertile imaginations of religious leaders who are a 
portion of the ruling class. 

In Russia, the masses tried a number of concrete 
things before settling on Bolshevism in 1917. The 
endlessly divisive nature of Christianity, Christian 
Satans and Marxist revisionism stems from their 
failure to connect to the real world where they may be 
held accountable and either accepted or rejected by 
everyone.

Notes:
1. Bible, II Corinthians 11:13-14
2. Tract No. 121, Fellowship Tract League, PO Box 164, 
Lebanon, OH 45036.


* * *


PIRAO ATTACKS MORALISM
by PIRAO chief

The suspension of Maoist Sojourner underscores the 
importance of PIRAO work to provide the infrastructure 
and logistics necessary for a Party.

Recently I studied two movements in U.$. history that 
are typical of Amerikan social movements. One was 
abolitionism and the other was the temperance 
movement.

Both these movements were moralistic. The 
abolitionists tended to be the polar opposite of 
various preachers advocating the retention of slavery. 
They were not a strong material force in society. The 
force to abolish slavery did not come to exist until 
the Civil War.

Later, the prohibitionists moved to outlaw alcohol. 
Much of the movement was feminist-minded in thinking 
that abolishing alcohol would improve husband-wife 
relations. Of course the movement also had a heavy 
Christian component.

Moralistic spiritualism and crass materialism seem to 
go hand in hand in Amerika. One seems to give rise to 
the other. We dialectical materialists seek to get off 
the perpetual roller-coaster of unguided greed on the 
one hand and spiritual naivete on the other.

MIM attracts people who have broken with or are in the 
process of breaking with revisionism. Yet many of 
these people are from the moralistic school of 
thought. Their hearts are aflame with ideology, but in 
narrow ways.

PIRAO has identified some practical steps commonly not 
given enough attention.

Speed-reading

It should be apparent to anyone that Maoism is far 
removed from mainstream imperialist thinking and MIM 
consequently puts a heavy emphasis on study. With the 
exception of those about to die, we all have many 
years of study ahead of us. Hence, learning to speed-
read and studying vocabulary in dictionaries and 
encyclopedias should be a priority for us.

People being shot at in the field of armed struggle 
probably become experts in some matters as quickly as 
possible. Yet the importance of speed-reading and 
vocabulary is one of those things lacking ideological 
sex appeal. The inability to read quickly and 
effectively is one thing that holds back a whole slew 
of party efforts. While seemingly ideologically 
neutral, the question is actually very ideological.

INTERNET access

There are people who complain to MIM day in and day 
out that there is no political activity of the 
progressive sort in their neighborhood. This fact gets 
used as an excuse for an individual not to be the 
backbone of political activity his or herself. To such 
people without the subjective drive to lead 
themselves, we say, "move!" Somewhere they can go and 
see progressive and communist activity. There is no 
doubt that one's environment is important to political 
development.

Related to this question is that isolated people in 
the imperialist countries should also prioritize 
getting access to the INTERNET with full browser-
access. This is important both for rapid 
communications and study as the INTERNET is far 
superior to any library in most contemporary matters.

Many of the people attracted to the party have a 
petty-bourgeois lifestyle of rejection of corporate 
culture and a practiced poverty. These are people in 
the imperialist countries who could be relatively well 
off with relatively little effort, but moralistic 
asceticism prevents their doing so.

While it is one thing not to be on the INTERNET in the 
Third World, it is essentially ideological laziness 
not to be on it in the imperialist countries.

Money

Whether it be buying voluminous proletarian literature 
to study, getting on INTERNET, learning to type on a 
computer word-processor, taking speed-reading or 
supporting the party, alleged poverty in the 
imperialist countries can be an excuse by people who 
are not exploited or in prison. 

There is a fine line to walk. No doubt careerists 
obsessed with money are the main danger to our 
movement, not Buddhist moralists. However, if we find 
ourselves saying we are not on the INTERNET and we 
cannot afford to buy literature or support the party 
even slightly, then we need to re-prioritize 
ideologically speaking. For some people gaining 
material powers is a priority.

Those of us with a progressive sense of justice should 
be careful not to get caught in the trap of Amerikan 
moralism. Ideas alone never change anything. The same 
life-and-death urgency put into learning to fight in 
the armed struggle in the Third World needs to go into 
developing our material powers to accomplish things 
that need to be done. The trick is to grasp the 
ideological importance of improving our own mental and 
material powers.

Comrades in the Third world have to defeat 
technologically superior enemies on the battlefield. 
Imperialist country comrades need to keep asking 
themselves whether they have established comparable 
material goals for themselves. If the Vietnamese had 
to learn how to shoot down B-52s what is too much to 
ask that people accomplish here?

Maoist Sojourner still not coming out

It has been over six months since Maoist Sojourner 
came out. Although the party budget has increased over 
this period, there is still a lack of funding for the 
publication, which is also suffering secondary 
political difficulties.

We apologize to the public and hope to correct the 
situation as soon as possible.


* * *


UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS
PIGS HATE TO LET PRISONERS GO

Dear Comrades, I am sorry for such a long delay in 
responding to your letter. I was transferred from 
prison to the county jail 'cause of an old outside 
charge from back in 1996. They waited 'till the day of 
my release to go home, to charge me. Then on top of 
that they lose ALL of my property during my transfer 
to the county jail. The prison kamp is just now 
sending my mail to me at the county jail! ...

 -- A Florida Prisoner 18 October 1998

Torture and brutality in South Carolina

Fire Stabbing and Brutality

...MIM, on 7/8/98 a few of the unprofessional pigs 
here at Evans Correctional Control Unit were denying 
some of the comrades Rec. [recreation] and showers for 
no reason at all. So a few of the Comrades set their 
kages on fire, hoping to get some form of get-back for 
what the pigs have been doing to us. At one point, I 
thought the pigs weren't going to let us out of the 
smoky building but the pigs finally started leading us 
out to the Rec. fields. 

So while trying to get everyone out a pig named c/o 
Martin placed one comrade in the level 1 dog kages and 
took the cuffs off him immediately. [C/O Martin] 
stated that no one is going in the kage with this 
comrade, but he went back on his word. When he saw 
another comrade who he [Martin] had some animosity 
against he placed this second comrade in this kage 
also. Yet he kept the handcuffs on the second comrade, 
while the other comrade was without handcuffs. When 
c/o Martin noticed that the first comrade had a knife 
he left the Rec. field, leaving the comrade in cuffs 
to be stabbed.

Finally the pigs go the comrade with the knife out of 
the kage and took the other comrade to Medical for 
treatment. The pigs here will watch you die in cold 
blood. And these are the people we have so-called 
protecting us. It's a shame. 

But it doesn't stop there. When it was time to go back 
to our kages, we comrades refused. So they called in 
the Red Team to shake our kages down, leaving them 
with nothing, not even tissue for us to use the 
bathroom with. After they had finally confiscated 
everything out of our kages, the Pigs came with a 
demand to for us to back up and be cuffed. But we the 
comrades stilled resisted going in, so the pigs left 
the Rec. field for a few minutes. They cam back with 
the white racial ole Associate Warden, P. Mcleod 
demanding us to back up and be cuffed or they will gas 
the entire Rec. field. 15 seconds and every comrade on 
the Rec. field will be gassed so I am given one more 
direct order to back up and be cuffed. 

So some of the comrades were afraid to face the 
consequences so they started backing up to be cuffed, 
one-by-one. They are quick to fight each other around 
here but scared to destroy these lazy pigs here on 
Evans SMU Control Unit.

Me along with a few other comrades, we are trying our 
hardest to build with comrades who are not consciously 
aware of what it going on. With some of them theirs is 
no hope, it's sad to say.

In Struggle,

 -- A South Carolina Prisoner, 29 July 1998

MIM responds: Right now the most important work our 
comrades can be doing in prison is building 
consciousness and organization. When the pigs attack, 
there is sometimes no choice but to fight back. But 
even with the most organized and conscious prisoners 
all united, as they were in Attica, the pigs have so 
much power they can turn almost any rebellion into a 
massacre. We call on our conscious comrades in South 
Carolina to build the new prisoner anti-imperialist 
mass organization -- United Struggle from Within(USW) 
-- and keep educating and organizing others.

Poor treatment and Excessive Rules 

...Here at Evan's on SMU it's a shame how the pigs 
here treat the comrades. Note there are a few comrades 
who have been without a mattress and personal property 
for four and five months. A few comrades are trying to 
correspond with their codefendant at another 
institution, but the Warden here at Evans disapproves 
for no reason at all. 

MIM, something must be done about these rules that are 
causing so much confusion in this small world of hell 
that's being controlled by the Devil and run by the 
Deaf, Dumb and Blind pigs....

 -- A South Carolina Prisoner, 14 September 1998

Policies Limit Outside Contact

...The SCDC [South Carolina Department of Corrections] 
now wants to inspect our mail before we mail it and 
seal it for us too! What kind of shit is this! And the 
kicker is that they do it while we're not present. 
Just like with our incoming mail. This is nothing but 
blatant censorship and is against our human rights. 
How do I know what they're doing with my personal 
mail, putting contraband in it, making taking pictures 
out, or parts of my letters? Maybe destroying my 
destroying my letters (I'm not sure you got this one.)

I think everyone needs to write to the SC department 
of corrections, PO BOX 21787, Columbia, SC 29221-1787 
and let them know how we feel. Like I said, anything 
can happen to our mail if it is opened not in front of 
us.

While I'm at it, something needs to be done about our 
visitation privileges also. The way we get visits now 
is breaking up more families then keeping them 
together. All we can do is sit in a room at a table. 
You can't touch your wife or other family members. 
They have to sit across from you. You can't play with 
your children, all they do is sit. How is this a 
meaningful visit? How can I enjoy a visit when the man 
stands there and watches me and my family? You can't 
keep your relations strong with your wife or children 
this way. We should be allowed visits the way they 
used to be, in a park type atmosphere. My family and 
myself would feel more at ease, our relations are 
stressed enough with me being in prisoner. The type of 
visits we get now don't help. More private visits in a 
more relaxed atmosphere can only help relations and 
keep families together. Write SCDC, get human rights 
activists involved and let them know how we feel. Keep 
fighting!

 -- A South Carolina Prisoner, July 1998 

Opposition to Sex Offender Registry

The sex offender registration law in South Carolina is 
a bunch of bull! Judges and courts have already 
convicted and sentenced the sex offender to serve 
prison time and pay his debt to society. So why does 
he have to pay for the crime the rest of his life by 
registration? This is law is against his rights! 

Next South Carolina will be having all violent crime 
offenders have to register. The registration will keep 
the offender, who has paid the price of the crime 
already, from getting a decent job, to live in peace 
and trying to be an asset to the community. He will 
only be shunned from society. And his family, they 
will become victims of this law. 

Offender registration is like passing a life sentence 
on the offender. It verges on being double jeopardy, 
which is against the law. This law has nothing to do 
with fairness or justice, especially for the offender 
and his family. Society has the right to be protected 
against sex offenders, registration is not the way. 
Who will protect the offender and his family from 
society and allow them a normal life? 

Before it's too late, we, as inmates, and our families 
need to voice our opinions on this, or we will all end 
up registering. We already suffer with 85% sentences 
and no parole.

-- A South Carolina Prisoner, 10 August 1998 

Some Legal Advice

In reference to MIM Notes #169, page 4 "Prisoners 
denied legal aid" -- it's happening in the 
concentration camps of South Carolina under the 
authority of Michael Moore, the dictator of the SCDC. 
Inmates are supposed to use the grievance system to 
make a good faith effort to resolve problems. However 
80% of the grievances are denied. Where's the SCDC's 
good faith? The grievances only give the oppressors 
fuel to fight you if you pursue your grievances to 
higher authorities, e.g. a lawsuit. By filing a 
grievance you give them your reasons for the grievance 
and they use that against you.

Also as a jailhouse lawyer, I have been charged with a 
disciplinary offence, under SCDC policy 22.14. The 
charge is unauthorized services. It basically states 
that one inmate can't provide any service to another, 
e.g. legal. I have found many inmates are unable to 
get legal assistance that's what the getsapo wants. 
That's why they don't like jailhouse lawyers. Many 
inmates simply don't know how to go about getting 
legal assistance, and SCDC isn't offering any, unless 
you call a law library with outdated books, 
assistance. 

At this time, for obvious reasons, I can offer limited 
advice to my comrades in the concentration camps of 
South Carolina:

Get copies of the following SCDC policies for your 
personal use to help avoid delays, etc in your fight 
against oppression. SCDC GA01.12 grievance system, and 
SCDC GA01.03 Inmate access to courts. At least by 
using these policies, your requests won't continually 
be returned or denied because of procedural errors on 
your part. 

If you're practicing any type of unauthorized 
services, don't keep incriminating evidence in your 
cell, e.g. forms, letters, etc with other inmates 
names on them. 

This is a way the gestapo keeps inmates from seeking 
help from jailhouse layers -- disciplinary offence 
2.19 soliciting assistance from an employee or an 
inmate to violate an agency rule or employee rule. 
This is what the inmate who sought my help was charged 
with. So don't admit to asking for jailhouse lawyer 
help, or give the jailhouse lawyer any paperwork, if 
possible, with your name on it. Your name can be added 
later. This protects both of you.

Get your paper, etc, back daily from the jailhouse 
lawyer. This way if his cell is shook down then your 
papers won't be found in his possession. This helps 
protect both of you. 

Don't let other inmates know you have sought help. 
There are obvious reasons for this.

Above all, never give up your fight! Things will only 
get worse if we let it, comrades.

-- A South Carolina Prisoner, 1 October 1998 

Possible AIDS Experiment

Comrades, the Eurocentric tricknology to oppress the 
sick captured has moved to another level within SCDC 
prison slave camps....The SCDC, without our consent, 
forcefully tested 21,000 prisoners for HIV recently. 
640 prisoners reported to be infected. 

These prisoners will be shipped to Kirkland 
Correctional Institute in Columbia, South Carolina. 
The savages, state is to better treat them. My theory 
is based on the amount it will cost to properly treat 
one infected person which is around $1,000 a month. I 
see this move as a get-rich scam. I believe these 
prisoners will be taking to Kirkland, not to be 
helped, but to become test subjects for new AIDS 
medication, which has not yet been tested on humans. 
Big corporations provide SCDC with this test 
medication and pay SCDC for using it on prisoners. If 
any of the captured die from the shit, it will only go 
down as an AIDS related death. And the families of the 
captured individual will never know the truth. The 
psychological chains must be broken.

-- A South Carolina Prisoner, 25 September 1998

Exposing Deplorable Conditions

...I am in Closed Custody unit. They tell me I cannot 
get out until I complete my sentence....[T]his system 
is very korrupted. First of all our medical, food and 
treatment is below human standards. They [prisoncrats] 
handle us like kids. Meaning that when one prisoner 
does something, we all get lockdown. This builds up 
tension amongst us. The officers that come over her 
are programmed prior to getting here so they have a 
determined idea that we are all ignorant and can not 
be treated in any other manner.

Our Warden, Pretty Ricky (Ricky Harris), has put it 
this idea in officers' heads. And when they do 
otherwise he treats them the same as us. He is a self-
styled man, making rules as he goes along, which puts 
us in a twisted condition every time.

In [our closed custody unit] we breakfast at 5:30 am. 
We are last for lunch and dinner, receiving nothing 
but leftovers and cold food. Picture that.

They tell us no phone, TV, or Rec., at will. Being 
that we don't get paid, we have nothing to do or work 
for. So they put us all in the dorm to work. It is 
true that after January 1, 1998, there was no pay, so 
you have to be indigent for 30 days before you get a 
bag of hygiene [supplies]. It contains 3 bars of soap, 
2 shampoo, toothpaste, brush, paper and envelopes. 
This is supposed to last for 30 days. When we get 
money, they say we owe $6.38, so we pay it against our 
will 'cause they take it!

SDCD-Kershaw is getting slacker by the day and we have 
no one who will investigate. We even have to leave our 
mail unsealed before sending it out. No Rights! Even 
rights we're supposed to have we don't.

Help the world to see what time it is and expose the 
pigs for who they are.

-- A South Carolina Prisoner, 11 August 1998

Barbaric Conditions

...Putrid, spoiled, rotten food is served daily. And 
no one in the entire administration is willing to 
correct this ongoing insanity.

Hygiene items, such as toilet tissue, soap, shampoo, 
toothbrush, and toothpaste, are constantly unavailable 
to us for long period of time.

...Life is deprived of and attacked via denial of 
adequate medical and mental health treatment. During 
the month of April 1998, after we lost the physical 
composition of Sista Merle Africa, we also lost the 
physical composition of our Brother and Comrade born 
Messiah God Allah (S/N John Green). He was brutally 
murdered by this wicked cyst'm which watched him 
deteriorate until death. Dying of starvation due to 
the inhumane conditions and controllers of this camp. 

Attacks are daily at this kkkamp. Here they enforce a 
no-talk use-force unwritten policy that is carried out 
via chemical munitions (riot gas) and a gang in riot 
gear (good squad) cell extraction team. The problem 
here is that there is no riot, these excessive means 
of force are taken out on individual prisoners, the 
majority of which are New Afrikan (Black). 

I personally have been subjected to massive amounts of 
this chemical agent via the large riot gas canister 
that is designed for outdoor use only. I was gassed 
and shocked with an electric stun baton when I 
followed orders. I was subsequently placed in a 
torture chair without being provided a shower. I was 
left restrained in this torture chair with gas (mace) 
fumes filled in the cell for a period of four hours. 
All this for simply trying to get a supervising 
official to complain about racial discrimination and 
harassment.

...Freedom, our right to freedom, of expression is 
infringed upon and deprived via unlawful censoring of 
letters and phone calls to loved ones when we express 
the barbaric conditions we're forced to live under.

...Equality is denied and deprived of via no access to 
the courts, which other prisoners in this state and 
others are provided. This is carried out here by the 
denial of access to the law library, denial of the 
adequate and consistent legal aid and law books....Not 
every prisoner is guilty of the alleged crime they 
were convicted of committing. Now the opportunity to 
prove this has been cut short at this slave station.

...What you can not do, must not do, is sit back idly 
hoping and thinking that this does not concern you. 
That things will change in time. That this is what 
prison life is supposed to be like, because it's not. 
And to hope and think so is to fool yourself. We are 
humans, not pieces of old clothes or broken down cars. 
We contain life. Those of you who disregard this you 
are cowards who are the allies of slavery and 
oppression.... 

-- A South Carolina Prisoner, 31 July 1998