I N T E R N E T ' S M A O I S T BI-M O N T H L Y = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = XX XX XXX XX XX X X XXX XXX XXX XXX X X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X V X X X V X X X X X X X XX XXX X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X XXX X X X V XXX X XXX XXX = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT MIM Notes 176 December 15, 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. INDONESIAN PEOPLE FIGHT IMPERIALISTS' PUPPET REGIME 2. STUDY THE PRACTICE AND THEORY OF MAOISM, PROMOTE REVOLUTION! 3. LETTERS 4. BATTERING MYTHS BEING EXPOSED 5. GENDER BUREAUCRATS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS BATTLE CONSERVATIVE STUDENTS 6. REVIEW: SOJOURNER: THE WOMEN'S FORUM 7. COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE PHILIPPINES, NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY CELEBRATE 30TH ANNIVERSARY 8. AMERIKA'S "SCHOOL OF ASSASSINS" EXPOSED AND OPPOSED 9. KWAME TOURE, FORMERLY STOKELY CARMICHAEL, DIES 10. REVIEW: Z MAGAZINE 11. "LEFT" FACE COMES OUT IN JAPANESE IMPERIALISM 12. BASEBALL OINKS IT UP 13. NEW BILL ADDS HARD TIME FOR CRIMES WITH GUNS 14. RESERVE THE DEATH PENALTY FOR LYING COPS AND PROSECUTORS! 15. SPORTS FANS SHOW THAT OPPRESSOR NATION MASSES AREN'T STUPID, JUST CHAUVINIST 16. PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES SUFFER UNDER PRISON CRAZE 17. MAO ZEDONG ON LITERATURE AND ART 18. MIM SALUTES EARLY JEAN-LUC GODARD 19. 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 176 December 15, 1998 INDONESIAN PEOPLE FIGHT IMPERIALISTS' PUPPET REGIME Throughout November students in Indonesia have led growing anti-government demonstrations. The students have the support of many others in the country including many workers who take to the streets to cheer on the demonstrations and who have joined in the protests in increasing numbers. On November 18 over 30 demonstrators were injured after troops attacked a protest in the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon. These protests have taken a militant turn since dictator Suharto's resignation as it has become increasingly clear that changing figureheads does not mean changing the government in any fundamental way that benefits the people. In mid-November sixteen protesters, including eight students, were killed when troops and police opened fire on a march in Jakarta on the legislature. In spite of claims by General Wiranto, the chief of the armed forces, that the military was instructed to only use plastic bullets, the demonstrators were killed with live ammunition. In response, rioting broke out in parts of Jakarta and others, including some police, were killed.(1) Tens of thousands of people took to the streets throughout Indonesia to protest these killings. "None of us are afraid of the soldiers," said Arif Rachman, a protest organizer. "We are getting stronger now because of the killing of our colleagues."(2) The violence in November is the worst seen in Indonesia since over 1000 people were killed in May during demonstrations which forced dictator President Suharto our of power in an attempt to pacify the people. Throughout Indonesia, police and the military have been attacking protesters. In Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, police beat students who forced their way into the governor's office. In Ambon more people were injured after a protest which was attacked by the military. Protesters set two military vehicles on fire.(1) Protesters are demanding changes in the government including an end to the participation of the military in Indonesian politics and that former president Suharto be brought to trial. And they are calling on General Wiranto to resign. In response to the demonstrations, police arrested many activists and charged at least ten with orchestrating the protests in an attempt to overthrow the government of President B.J. Habibie. If convicted they could face life in prison. Economic crisis worsens The poverty that has become widespread in Indonesia over the past year is fueling the protests in Indonesia. According to the United Nations, children in Indonesia are severely malnourished. Four million children under the age of two are badly underfed. Millions more are at risk. At Jakarta's municipal rubbish dump an army of scavengers, many of them children, scale the waste looking for plastic bags or bottles, anything that can be recycled and sold. Since Indonesia's economy collapsed, thousands have joined this wretched goldrush, and not just the unemployed. By the end of year, 100 million people, half the population, are expected to sink below the poverty line.(3) Last week Indonesia's new president, B.J. Habibie, awarded the nation's highest order of merit to his brother, and to his wife. These actions added insult to injury for many who had hoped Habibie would lead reforms that would change the nepotism historically rampant in Indonesian politics.(3) The vast majority of the country's 240 banks are insolvent -- relics waiting to be taken over by the state or simply shut down. More than 60 percent of loans made by Indonesia's banks are classified as nonperforming -- meaning they will probably never be repaid. Of the more than 200 banks, experts said that perhaps 10 would emerge from the crisis intact. The total cost of bailing out the banks could reach $30 billion, an amount equal to 15 percent of Indonesia's gross domestic product.(4) Some banks, attempting to survive this financial crisis, are turning to foreign finance capital. Bank Bali, one of the largest domestic banks in Indonesia is looking at selling a controlling stake in the bank to a foreign investor. They recently retained J.P. Morgan to explore potential deals. Before the crisis, Bali had sold minority stakes to Sanwa, Japan's fourth-largest bank, and UOB, a Singaporean bank.(4) U.$. financial and military support The united snakes aided Suharto in his 1965 coup against the Sukarno government. During the coup the military killed hundreds of thousands of activists including a large portion of the Indonesian communist party which was decimated by the massacres after gaining significant strength and numbers in the 1960s. The Indonesian government's total foreign debt is approximately $110 billion. It must pay huge amounts of interest to the big US, European and Japanese banks every year. These interest payments will leap again in the next few years, ensuring greater dependency and sucking up any funds that could otherwise be used to provide for the needs of the people. This is a typical international imperialist financing scheme which leads to greater impoverishment for the people in the imperialist colonies and neo-colonies and riches for the imperialist and their lackeys. On March 24, before the riots and overthrow of Suharto, the United Snakes announced an offer of $56 million in food and medical supplies to Indonesia. This was on top of $45 million in what the imperialists like to call "developmental assistance": money used to keep puppet governments stable and loyal and their economies under firm imperialist control. The u.s. has a number of economic programs in Indonesia which total close to $490 million according to the Under Secretary of State, Stuart Eizenstat.(5) This does not count the extensive u.s. military aid and training that helps the very same military which is killing demonstrators on the streets of Indonesia and freedom fighters in East Timor. Proletarian leadership essential As the economic conditions in the country continue to deteriorate, unrest grows. The recent demonstrations and the demonstrations that deposed Suharto earlier this year show once again that the oppressed and exploited people of the world will always fight their oppressors. Alongside the open mass movement, a proletarian revolutionary party must grow in strength in the underground to serve as the core of the revolutionary mass movement. Thanks to the brutality, corruption, and puppetry of the Suharto clique, conditions in Indonesia are ripe for the development of protracted people's war. A revolutionary proletarian party under the guidance of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is best equipped to lead protracted people's war and forge a united front among anti-imperialist and anti-fascist forces. Under proletarian leadership, the Indonesian people can overthrow the pro-imperialist, militarist clique which exploits and oppresses them, and establish a socialist society which will be able to combat the re-imposition of imperialist domination. Notes: 1. Associated Press, November 18, 1998. 2. Associated Press, November 20, 1998. 3. BBC, August 20, 1998. 4. NYT, September 23, 1998 5. Indonesia Today: http://www.indonesiatoday.com/a3/j6/y2mar98.html 6. AP, Nov 22, 1998. * * * STUDY THE PRACTICE AND THEORY OF MAOISM, PROMOTE REVOLUTION! December 26th marks the 105th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong, the principal influence in MIM's own philosophy. We believe it is incorrect to worship individuals in cults of persynality, but it is superior to worship individuals instead of deities. Individuals of the real world might actually accomplish something to relieve oppression as Mao did for more people than any other leader this century. Jesus Christ solved no starvation problems this century. Mao Zedong led the protracted People's War to kick the Japanese invaders out of China, never once capitulating or believing the many who said China was too weak and hopeless. He saw to the feeding of his people for the first time in modern history; doubled the life expectancy of the people partly by leapfrogging over crusty Western ideas of medicine that would have required China to wait till it had trained enough Western style-doctors and he led the eradication of China's severe drug addiction and drug trade problem--among many other things that Mao led China into resolving. When Stalin died and the Soviet Union turned to capitalism it was only Mao amongst the leaders of the international communist movement who correctly saw the problem of the bourgeoisie in the party. Hoxha in Albania, Kim in Korea, Brezhnev in the Soviet Union, Castro in Cuba--all of these leaders attacked Mao for what is obvious today--that it was the bourgeoisie in the party and not the imperialists who restored capitalism in the Soviet bloc. As a result of failing to grasp or act on Mao's scientific analysis, the bourgeoisie in the party came to power in the Soviet bloc including Cuba and Korea. The phony communists said Mao was "ultraleft" for merely pointing out the unpleasant but scientific truth of a bourgeoisie in the communist party itself. Understanding the nature of the economic bases for party leaders to use their access to the means of production to form a bourgeoisie, Mao also created an appropriate form of struggle--the Cultural Revolution. All those claiming to be for socialism have the obligation to address the experience of the Chinese Revolution led by Mao. It is not that Maoism is another religion. Rather its success can be measured not just by what Mao accomplished in his lifetime, but also by the capitalism that has arrived in China now that Mao's scientific conclusions have been discarded by the so-called Communist Party of China. * * * LETTERS Dear MIM: How goes it? I was at Keene State College today, and as I was putting some MIM notes in the campus center, I got quite the hysterical lashing from the lowly drone in charge of the place. He was foaming at the mouth, saying that such subversive material does not belong on a respectable college campus. I asked according to which criteria. He said that it was obvious. I said it was not. To make a long story short, I left a small pile of papers (which he'll probably throw in the trash tommorrow) but I did get him to shut up. MIM responds: We call on all of our readers to help us with the campaign to expand MIM Notes distribution. As can be seen from this letter, it's not always easy to get the paper into the hands of the people. * * * BATTERING MYTHS BEING EXPOSED A small study published this year admits that it is not just fear or economic dependency that keeps wives in battering relationships. On the other hand, the authors put forward that wimmin stay in relationships longer the more violent the relationship is based on a study of 140 couples that included a "cobra" group that choked wimmin.(1) In a separate media story, Patricia Pearson brought to light the fact that the female actor in "The Burning Bed" testified in court in August that she destroyed some items in a domestic dispute with someone who by her story had just proposed marriage. Farrah Fawcett's boyfriend has been convicted for attacking Farrah Fawcett after her violent threats with a fireplace poker and smashing a lead-plated window.(2) It would be tempting to laugh if the scene were not so typical and filled with pointless violence. This scene along with the fact that wimmin stay with more violent men longer is more proof that this Hollywood culture cannot tell apart movie theatrics from their own relationships. Movies with more sex and violence sell better and somehow relationships with more of both closely intertwined are more convincing as well in this culture with nothing better to do. Patricia Pearson uses the Farrah Fawcett case to present the fact that adult biological females are as likely to slap, hit, kick, punch, throw objects as men (in fact slightly more likely than men). She talks about how only 25 percent of battering cases involve violence only by the male and how 25 percent involve violence only by the female. "It's noteworthy that men are far less likely to report crimes than women."(2) MIM would say that if ever there was a gender role, men are not supposed to complain about female violence for fear of appearing "unmanly" or "wimpish." However, we do not condone men going to police about wimmin either, because the overall prison-state situation is already far out of control, with the United $tates as the world's leading prison state per capita. Pearson adds that the culture only knows the "Burning Bed" story and does not even prepare its usual psychological hocus-pocus remedies for violent wimmin: "Denying the existence of mutual combat is a popular feminist activity, and an utterly unproductive one. As one Austin, Texas, woman whose husband received treatment for wife assault told psychologists William Stacey and Anson Shupte: 'He talks to me now rather than hits me. I still hit him, however. I would like to enroll in a class in anger management, but the shelter for battered women does not help women with this problem.' Needless to say."(2) "Anger control" therapy --like psychiatric therapy in general-- has no proof of working and in fact as MIM reported in MT2/3, in some studies such therapy showed a counterproductive effect. Hence, we do not agree with promoting "therapy for wimmin too," but we take the above is proof of the ubiquitous gender roles. MIM agrees with the view that sexually-related violence is gender oppression. For this and other reasons, MIM counts most adult females in the imperialist countries as gender oppressors, the gender aristocracy. We agree with Patricia Pearson for making the sick Amerikan romance culture face itself. "Girls are the fastest growing group of violent offenders. I expect it's time we stopped gasping in surprise and began thinking of aggression as human, with victims and villains on each side of the gender divide."(2) MIM agrees it's time to stop with the gender stereotyping that always makes females out to be victims. Pseudo-feminists exalt stereotypical feminine social roles whatever the truth may be. On the other hand, MIM believes it is inevitable some honest intellectuals are going to confront facts while coming up with the wrong conclusions. There is nothing "human" about violence. Some pre-industrial communist tribes observed in Africa show no signs of internal violence -- no record of murder, rape or war. Some systems are much more violent than others. That is why MIM says that we aim our fight against patriarchy including the gender aristocracy. Females in the U$A are sick with the imperialist patriarchy. Their level of patriarchal privilege is so high MIM only distinguishes imperialist country adult females from adult males in matters of degree. Notes: 1. USA Today 3 March 1998, p. d1. 2. USA Today 7 October 1998, p. 21a. * * * GENDER BUREAUCRATS AND THEIR SUPPORTERS BATTLE CONSERVATIVE STUDENTS Ann Arbor, MI--The University of Michigan conservative student organization is having a spat with supporters of the University of Michigan's sexual assault bureau supported with taxpayer money called "SAPAC." In a dispute going on across the country, the conservative students call the SAPAC supporters "extreme feminists" who portray men as "Neanderthal beasts." SAPAC is a university organization far from advocating revolution. In fact, it does not openly advocate "feminism." It does raise awareness by distributing flyers and holding skits and discussions, but it also recommends individual lifestyle changes to prevent sexual assault. It addresses the symptoms instead of the underlying institutions. The Michigan Review and SAPAC therefore share the underlying belief in the individual as the focus. In contrast, we communists have an open program for changing the overall underlying conditions of the interactions of males and females. One criticism of the Michigan Review by the SAPAC or SAPAC-supporters is that "10-14% of all married womnen in the U.S. have been raped by their husbands." It is an example of the kind of statistics that SAPAC supporters do tend to use. The Michigan Review counters by pointing out that SAPAC figures contradict each other. However, from MIM's point of view, we hope all the readers stay with the issue of rape, but it can never be scientifically resolved from an individualist viewpoint. What is "extreme" is the gap between the theory and facts on the one hand and what the conservatives and state-backed pseudo-feminists want to do about them. MIM says all sex is rape, because we are dealing with the conditions underlying oppression in this country at a group level and we know full well how the oppressor is going to use statistics. Yet, even reflection by anyone on the "10-14%" figure used by SAPAC should result in far more radical conclusions than SAPAC ever reaches. Possibly marriage should be abolished, which by the way is MIM's long-run position. SAPAC and others have never succeeded in showing any plan that can eradicate such a large problem. Rape and domestic violence figures like the ones pointed to by SAPAC remain at fairly regular numbers over long periods of time. When we translate this sort of figure into persynal life honestly, something like the following would have to result: females receiving their marriage licenses would be told that 10 to 14 percent will be raped by their husbands. Males would be told that 10 to 14 percent of them will be viewed as rapists by a certain brand of pseudo-feminist. If such were really to happen before marriage, we doubt many marriages would still happen. Who would take that chance? By throwing about these figures without drawing the institutional conclusions anywhere, the SAPAC and others trivialize the rape of wives by their husbands. It's as if to say marriage should go on in the midst of such crime, because the sick happiness of the 86 percent outweighs the crime of the 14 percent. There are many other figures used by the state- backed pseudo-feminists that should be put to the same test of matching the facts and theory to the action. Before a date even happens, "I just want you to know that I believe 10 to 14 percent of men rape their wives; one third beat their wives and most men would rape if given the chance." Then at the persynal level if all were being honest, we doubt there would be many males or females willing to date. It never happens that way though and those who do give up dating are living a consistent lifestyle that does not depend on criticizing heterosexual lifestyles. The need for a whole bureaucracy on the subject disappears if the individualist is only concerned about individual behaviors including his/her own. Only we anti- individualists can legitimately claim to want transformation beyond having some people give up their dating lives. Consistent individualists would stop at the point of ending their own dating practices. Since a large portion of the figures used by SAPAC also come from the police, SAPAC ends up framing much of the issue in terms of typical arguments about crime. The real conclusions drawn by those who hear such figures without the overall context and institutional discussion will be to support fascism. Lock up the 14 percent then lock up the one-third connected with beatings as well is the potential backdrop. In reality what happens is that the pseudo-feminist of Amerika uses these figures as a bargaining chip. They know that locking up one third of men would be a real civil war and they have no intention of real radical change, especially since a civil war would quickly sharpen the political acuity of all concerned. So they argue that the cases that do go to court are legitimate as a form of negotiation that people like Catharine MacKinnon are so good at. One figure MIM has never seen from a SAPAC or any other pseudo-feminist organization is this: 63.3 percent of the time a Black man accused of rape is accused by a white female.(2) That is where pseudo-feminism leads, not to a serious civil war locking up 14 percent, one third or 44 percent of men depending on which statistic one reads for what oppression. Pseudo-feminism leads to a reinforcement of national oppression and patriarchy. MIM itself does not support going to civil war over the romance culture either. We believe the romance culture should be abolished long before this sort of war is attempted, because lives are more important than what people want to do in their leisure time. Being unwilling to state this, SAPAC and others come across as the ultimate in romance culture: love is so important that we should endure widespread crime or violence and repression to stop that crime according to the pseudo-feminists. It's a theme doing "General Hospital" one better. Pseudo-feminism does not name the institutions and does not come out saying: yes, romance culture and dating are less important than the violence we see, so toss the romance culture, marriage and dating. This is the way that heterosexual pseudo-feminism ultimately trivializes the intertwining of sex and violence--by not clearly advocating what it is willing to give up in return for an end to "sexualized violence." In contrast, we rooted in the proletariat-- the social group with the most to gain from radical social change--we have clearcut priorities. Instead of civil war what happens is a minority of men get locked up, and their sexuality is appropriated by the pseudo-feminists so that they may keep their romance culture. MIM in contrast is able to say: no, no, we will try a lot of things before we lock up large percentages of men in a country where the imprisonment rate is already the highest in the world. We will try the sacrifice of the romance culture itself before we go to the patriarchal imperialist state to solve this problem. When we seize state power, we will use the state to change things short of locking up and executing people as much as possible. We will ban production for profit which will remove 99 percent of the wind from the sales of pornographers. We will raise children in cooperative child-rearing practices in which masculinity definitions will not be imposed by one or two people but by a people led by a feminist party and state. We will exercise proletarian feminist dictatorship in the arts so that not even the dimmest bulb in our society can "copy-cat" an oppressive gender practice. MIM takes the figures and gender oppression seriously. We do not see the individualists of SAPAC or the Michigan Review willing to fully digest what the figures they throw around really imply. -- MC5 Note: 1. The Michigan Review 18Nov1998, p. 3. www.umich.edu/~mrev/ 2. National Crime Survey, 1983. ASI 6066-3, Table 45. * * * REVIEW: SOJOURNER: THE WOMEN'S FORUM November, 1998 Vol. 24, No. 3 42 Seaverns Ave. Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 info@sojourner.org reviewed by MC5 MIM is somewhat impressed with this issue of Sojourner. It is lengthy, covers a wide variety of issues and sustains a certain level of political insight. Matthew Shepard We were happy that a self-styled lesbian writer wrote the style of article that she did about the hate crime murder against gay student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming. Taking the perspective of one of the murderers, she writes: "I owe you so much, Dad. You taught me not to be afraid of anything. But the fag couldn't take it, Daddy. He died like a girl. Hey, Dad? I did this for you. Isn't this what you wanted?" MIM believes in selective and organized violence, not pacifism, but Susie Day hit it on the head with "The Bottomline 'Scarecrow.'" There is definitely something wrong with Amerikan masculinity to be threatened by gay men to this degree that it has to kill them for nothing. As Susie Day says, "dad" failed somewhere. She also pointed to the car-dragging lynching of a Black man in Texas recently as the same phenomenon, backed by Reverends and Senators.(p. 5) On the whole, Amerikans belong to oppressor groups, not oppressed groups. However, oppression that results in death as in the case of Matthew Shepard -- such oppression is every bit as severe as that happening in the Third World for the individuals concerned. If it happened as often as starvation and imperialist war does in the Third World, Amerikans as a group would be revolutionary too. The system of patriarchy that resulted in the death of Shepard cannot be combated in a one-on-one way, just by changing attitudes. Those who speak against what is considered masculine are simply deemed unmasculine. Hence, some people may change their minds while others will be reinforced or returned to reactionary thinking. To change the masses requires power. Under the feminist dictatorship of the proletariat, children will grow up in collective child-rearing practices. No single bigot will be able to decide how children grow up and the state will ensure that there is equality between boys and girls and no gay-bashing. The dictatorship will extend into the arts until that time when the people no longer have violent aggressions amongst themselves. That won't happen until some stage of communism. In this way -- by reorganizing child-care and culture without the motive of profit, domination of reproductive access or leisure for its own sake ñ the dictatorship of the proletariat will destroy the destructive gender roles that have resulted in deaths like those of Matthew Shepard. Independent abortion providers A review of a book titled "Abortion Wars" by Rickie Solinger points out that many in the movement exaggerated the threat of "back-alley butchers." (p. 14) MIM itself ran a graphic photo of the death of a womyn in a black market abortion in MIM Notes. In actuality, such deaths were rare prior to the Supreme Court ruling of Roe vs. Wade that legalized abortion. By asking the state to legalize abortion because of the black market practices of abortion professionals, activists undercut the independent institutions of the oppressed and flatter the oppressor that his institutions are superior. If the reactionaries do manage for a time to outlaw abortion or otherwise make it unavailable as they have already in many counties in the United $tates, then the masses will have no choice but their own independent efforts. Revolutionary power always stems from such independent organization. Television Adriene Sere attempts to put readers in touch with the problems of the soap opera "General Hospital." The problem is a famous scene in which a rape led to real romance. "As for romance, all of society promised that it would transport us to heaven. . . Romance was the solution that would finally bring us soothing safety, make us visible to someone, to someone who counted in the world, and surround us with much needed love. All this paradise would then culminate in magical and mysterious sex. The soaps promised this to us. . . "As for those individuals with who girls were supposed to enter this paradisial state -- boys -- well, they mostly weren't watching the soaps. A lot of them were primarily learning about girls and sex through pornography of various kinds, and through each other's mean-spirited stories about 'scoring' with girls. What a set up."(p. 17) Sere admits that she does not watch the soaps anymore and thinks they are dangerous. We agree. More questionable is the defense of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" on account of the main character's being a fearless female martial artist. The best we can say of this show, other shows like "Xena," and movies like "Barbarian Queen" is that even in the worst situation there is a dialectical silver lining: They show wimmin who excel in combat and take a certain kind of leadership, which is not the usual image of wimmin in mainstream culture. The down side to "Buffy" and "Xena" is that both intertwine sex and violence too closely. All the evidence already indicates that society is too confused on why it enjoys sex. Many seem to think that violent passion proves something or fulfills something in this boring capitalist world where workers are not in control of the work process and get no intrinsic pleasure from their work. Victimology Like the pseudo-feminist movement it is based in, Sojourner ranges into victimology. Just as post- modernists believe there is no truth now, just because they and their peers in academia used to believe all truth resided with white male culture, there are those who overuse the concept of violence and water it down so that everything is violence and therefore nothing is. The leading arts review is an example of victimology, because it is about a film on cat-calls. When a womyn walks by on the city street and some men stare, howl, cat-call or whistle, Silja J.A. Talvi says the problem is "it's a threat. I am not safe." (p. 29) It is this sort of victimology that has derailed feminism and also contributed to a highly irrational movement for state repression in the name of opposing "crime." Conclusion Sojourner is rounded out by plenty of plain old welfare state liberalism articles. The polls these day that the bourgeoisie talks about with regard to Amerikan wimmin are true. They are more liberal than men with regard to support for the welfare-state. Publications like Sojourner are further proof. It's not the place to find revolutionary politics. On the other hand, not all articles are mainstream pseudo- feminism. * * * COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE PHILIPPINES, NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY CELEBRATE 30TH ANNIVERSARY MIM sent the following solidarity mesage to the Communist Party of the Philippines for its anniversary on 26 December, 1998. Dear Comrades, The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) sends warm and enthusiastic greetings to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on the 30th anniversary of its re-establishment on the theoretical basis of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. We also greet the red fighters of the New People's Army (NPA) on the 30th anniversary of the NPA's founding under the absolute leadership of the CPP on 29 March 1998. MIM is especially happy to congratulate the CPP on the continued successes of the Second Great Rectification Movement it launched in 1992. The Second Great Rectification Movement is one of the two most important developments in the International Communist Movement since the counter-revolution in China in 1976. The other is the success of the armed struggle led by the Communist Party of Peru. The rectification movement - which emphasizes the study of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and especially Mao - was able to defeat the modern revisionists, petty-bourgeois adventurists, hidden Trotskyists, and other charlatans who sought to subvert the CPP's work from within. The rectification movement helped the revolutionary movement regain ground lost under the influence of incorrect ideas and thus demonstrates the continued relevance of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as a tool for liberating the oppressed. The rectification movement reaffirmed the CPP's general political line of new-democratic revolution under the leadership of the proletariat, through a protracted people's war and with a socialist perspective. This political line allows the CPP to lead both legal and underground forms of struggle, while recognizing the primacy of the armed struggle. On the international plane, the CPP has once again been an ally in the ideological struggle against modern revisionism since the rectification movement. At the same time, the persistence of the NPA in waging the armed struggle while implementing genuine land reform and undertaking thorough mass work has been an important example to anti-imperialists and Communists around the world. For comrades in semi-feudal and semi-colonial countries, the NPA is an example that the conditions are ripe there for the development of armed struggle under the leadership of a Marxist- Leninist-Maoist party. For comrades in imperialist countries, where armed struggle is not feasible at the moment and will not be until the imperialists are truly helpless, the armed struggle led by the CPP is a reminder that the seizure of power by armed force is the highest form of revolution - a reminder which keeps us from straying into the swamp of opportunism. The victories won by the revolutionary movement led by the CPP aid the struggles of the oppressed within u.$. borders and around the world, because these victories are a blow against our common enemy: Amerikan imperialism. MIM takes this occasion to reiterate its commitment to helping the revolutionary movement in the Philippines the best way it can: By hastening the day when the oppressed masses in North America overthrow Amerikan imperialism and enter into a dictatorship of the international proletariat which will ensure that imperialism does not rise again. Long live the New People's Army! Long live the Communist Party of the Philippines! Long live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism! * * * AMERIKA'S "SCHOOL OF ASSASSINS" EXPOSED AND OPPOSED On November 22, 2,000 people were taken into police custody at a demonstration outside of the School of the Americas (SOA) at Ft. Benning Georgia. The SOA is a training ground for the military leaders of puppet regimes backed by the United Snakes. The school's students have been linked to some of the worst military atrocities in Latin America. Protesters at the Fort Benning demonstration, organized by School of Americas Watch, were not charged and were released about a mile away. Last year the protesters were charged with "criminal trespass", a charge that more accurately applies to the U.$. economic, military and political presence on every corner of this planet. At a college in the Northeast, the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) held a video showing of "The School of Assassins" and a discussion on the topic of Amerika's death squad training school. The video was made by School of Americas Watch. The RAIL event was one of the largest in recent memory and had a high quality discussion about the nature of U.$. imperialism. School of Americas The School of the Americas -- more accurately called the School of the Assassins -- is one of the tools that has enabled Amerikan imperialism to repress and exploit the masses of many Latin American countries for the last 50 years. This training ground equips the leaders and the soldiers of military dictatorships with the military strategies needed to oppose popular rebellions and revolutions, and teaches tactics of torture, both physical and psychological. The School of the Assassins allows the Amerikan imperialists to protect their interests without sending numerous Amerikan troops to fight a direct war in the countryside of Latin America. Instead, they train local thugs to fight their battles by proxy. The Latin American Training Center-Ground Division was started in 1946 in the Panama Canal Zone. This became the School of the Americas in 1963. In 1984, the school suspended its operations in compliance with the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty. Three months later it reopened in Ft. Benning. Since then, the trail of massacres, murders and torture of rebels continues to trace back to the School of Assassins. The assassination of Bishop Romero and over two-thirds of the soldiers responsible for the worst atrocities in El Salvador have been linked to this school. School of Assassins video On November 18, RAIL showed the School of Assassins video on a college campus in the Northeast. RAIL introduced the film by linking the injustice of perpetuated by the School of the Americas with the injustice of other parts of U.$. imperialism. The intention of this introduction was to counter the reformist shortcomings of this otherwise excellent video. The video "attacks" the SOA by asking "What purpose can the SOA serve, now that the communist threat is over?" Aside from perpetuating humdrum anti-communism, this approach downplays the decades-long U.$. war against the people of the Third World. A number of people present came with no pre-formed opinion about the School of Assassins, and all but one opposed the SOA by the end of the evening. This one person found the video unpersuasive because he found it to be "one-sided." This then provoked an interesting discussion about how the U.$. government would defend the School of Assassins if interviewed. One argument which the u.$. does make consistently and openly is that the SOA and programs like it help expand U.$. influence in Third World countries. At the video screening RAIL argued that expanding the interests of the United Snakes comes at the expense of Third World peoples. Amerika's Third World client regimes often massacre their own people because that is the only way they retain control. Amerika isn't forced to use such methods often within its own illegitimate borders because it has bribed the white majority into complacency. Repressive measures like prison and selective assassination are reserved for internal oppressed nations and their revolutionary leaders. In the Third World, the immediate revolutionary potential of the people is much higher than in the First World, and the response of their governments is likewise at a much higher level. The video traces the efforts of Representative Kennedy to pass a bill in Congress shutting down the School of the Americas. The video ends in a plea to lobby your CongressPig to support Kennedy's bill. As the truth about the School of Assassins becomes public knowledge, it is certainly possible that the school, as just one part of the U.$. imperialist war machine, could be shut down. This would be a victory, and MIM challenges liberals - including liberal CongressPigs - who wring their hands about "human rights abuses" abroad to put their money where their mouth is and shut down the SOA. In the long run, no amount of lobbying CongressPigs can stop U.$. imperialism or the oppression of the people of Latin America in particular. To keep revolutionary movements in check, the U.$.-backed regimes would be forced to return to the same death squad tactics, and the u.$. may just take up more covert forms of funding and training them. To end imperialist-sponsored genocide of the people, a revolution to overturn the existing imperialist dictatorship and replace it with a dictatorship of the international proletariat is a necessity. Close the School of the Assassins! Down with u.$. imperialism! Note: Boston Globe November 23, 1998, p. A8. School of the Americas Watch is an organization exposing the SOA. For more information on SOA, on their annual protest at Ft. Benning in November, or to obtain one of their two informational videos on the subject write: P.O. Box 3330, Columbus, GA 31903. * * * KWAME TOURE, FORMERLY STOKELY CARMICHAEL, DIES MIM mourns the death of Stokely Carmichael, later Kwame Ture, an important early figure in articulating the politics of Black nationalism within u.$. borders. Stokely popularized and explained the slogan "Black Power" as the need for Blacks to have independent institutions - the first step in the struggle for national liberation. This was an important step in defining terms of Black nationalism in the 1960s. MIM also has some serious disagreements with Ture's later political turn toward Pan-Africanism, narrow nationalism, and pseudo-socialism. Born in Trinidad in 1941, Carmichael moved to the u.$. as a teenager. He became political after entering Howard University in 1960. In 1961, he participated in Freedom Rides, non-violent protests against segregation that included integrating public busses, sitting in at lunch counters and trying to use whites- only restrooms and waiting rooms at bus stations throughout the south. By 1964, Carmichael was an activist with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, or "Snick"). He spent the summer of 1964 in Mississippi as a leader of the Freedom Summer. Freedom Summer was a directed campaign to bring youth - particularly college students from the north - to Mississippi to advance voter registration and anti-segregation work. Carmichael served as a SNCC's district director of the Second Congressional District in Greenwood that summer.(1) When Stokely joined SNCC, much of the organization's work was electorally focused. Segregation had barred Blacks from voting since slavery, and SNCC's voter registration drives educated Blacks about the intricacies of the system that colonized them, and brought many people into political activism through this educational work. Also in 1964, SNCC launched the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). The MFDP was in some ways a failure in SNCC's eyes at the time. It was a campaign to send representatives elected by Blacks in Mississippi to unseat the unconstitutionally elected white Mississippi delegation to the Democratic National Convention in 1964. The MFDP "failed" because it failed to get its representatives seated at the convention, or even to get Amerika to recognize that the Mississippi delegation had been unfairly elected in a process that was closed to Blacks. But the MFDP educated the SNCC organizers about the level and recalcitrance of segregation in the u.$. government as a whole. The MFDP experience gave them new proof that eventually the battle for Black political power would be fought against all of Amerikan imperialism, not just the Southern segregationists.(2) The failure of the MFDP prodded Carmichael and other activists to look more deeply at defining and building independent Black institutions - structures that could build from the community level upward rather than trying to be an independent segment of the broader white-dominated government. By the time Carmichael became the Chairperson of SNCC, he was arguing for staunch anti-integrationist, anti- tokenist, anti-imperialist Black nationalism. Arguing from a basic understanding that "this country is not now nor has it ever been run on morality, it runs on power, " Carmichael set out to describe the next steps for self-determination. He argued that integrationism was something Black college students could see for themselves, but that it was irrelevant to the majority of Blacks who did not have access to institutions that would teach them how to operate in the white power structure.(3) Developing this anti-integrationist stance further, Carmichael co-authored the book Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America with Charles Hamilton. Carmichael and Hamilton wrote: "we blacks must respond [to our oppression] in our own way, on our own terms, in a manner which fits our temperaments. The definitions of ourselves, the roles we pursue, the goals we seek are our responsibility."(4) MIM agrees, and the Black Panther Party agreed. It is not for any nation to decide how another nation should live. Every nation by its existence has the right to self-determination and liberation. Of the white nation, Stokely said: "they ought not to try to define Black Power, they ought to listen and see what it is."(3) From this position, Carmichael joined and worked as a leader of the Black Panther Party from 1967 until 1969. Stokely broke with the Panthers in 1969, because he disagreed with the Panthers' policy of forming alliances with white groups like the Peace and Freedom Party. After this split, the Panthers criticized Stokely for narrow nationalism and subjectivism, the latter because he extrapolated his inability to form a revolutionary alliance with whites at SNCC to the level of universal principle. The Panthers also criticized Stokely for his shallow accusation that the Panthers were "dogmatic," which came about the same time the Amerikan psychological warfare operations accused the Panthers of the same thing.(5) In the same year Stokely moved to Guinea, where he changed his name to Kwame Ture, after African revolutionaries Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure.(6) In an interview he proclaimed: "The black man should no longer be thinking of transforming American society. We should be concerned with Mother Africa. America is an octopus with tentacles all over the world. If the tentacles that grip Vietnam, South America and Africa are cut, it will be so much easier to rise up and cut off the head."(7) It is true that the main blows against u.$. imperialism will be struck in the colonies and neo-colonies, but First World revolutionaries should not bag the struggle here and move to the Third World. To many revolutionaries in the First World, the struggle in the Third World carries obvious appeal: The battle lines are clearer, the majority of people have an interest in overthrowing imperialism and the anti-imperialist struggle there is far more advanced than it is within imperialist borders. But because the struggle in the First World is so undeveloped our Third World comrades need us to stay here and develop it. We are the ones with organizing expertise in this decadent society, our lives here in the belly of the beast make it easier for us to study and understand how to advance here. There is no guarantee that if we joined a revolutionary movement in the Third World we would ever be anything but a burden on our comrades there. As the Panthers wrote of Stokely: "You have cut yourself off form the struggle in Babylon, [but] you are not about to become the Redeemer of Mother Africa."(5) Kwame Ture helped found the All-African People's Revolutionary Party (AAPRP) in 1969. MIM's biggest difference with the AAPRP is its ideological eclecticism. Kwame Toure supported and the AAPRP supports the "PLO, the Irish Republican movement, ..., Cuba, Libya, [and] revolutionary Korea..."(8) MIM supports movements for national liberation - proletarian or not - because even independent capitalism is progress over living under imperialism. But we do not lump all nationalist movements together. Non-proletarian led anti-imperialist movements lead to neo-colonialism, as the recent examples of the PLO, Sinn Fein, and the ANC demonstrate. Even worse, Cuba and north Korea claim to be examples of Marxist socialism while in reality they represent state- capitalism, which confuses the masses about what is and is not socialism. MIM takes this opportunity to encourage comrades in the AAPRP to deeply study the history of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China and the great debate between the Chinese communists and the Soviet social-imperialists, in order to make the hard ideological and political choices necessary to ensure that the anti-imperialist movement succeeds and does not founder on the rocks of neo-colonialism. Again, in the words of the Panthers' criticism of Stokely: "[I]f you look around the world you will see that the only countries which have liberated themselves and managed to withstand the tide of counterrevolution are precisely those countries that have strong Marxist-Leninist parties. All those countries that have fought for their liberation solely on the basis of nationalism have fallen victim to capitalism and neo-colonialism, and in many cases now find themselves under tyrannies equally as oppressive as the former colonial regimes."(5) Notes: 1. James Forman, The Making of Black Revolutionaries. (Washington, D.C.: Open Hand, 1985), p. 519. 2. Forman, p. 386-96. 3. Speech at Hill Auditorium, University of Michigan, 1966. 4. Stokely Carmichael and Charles Hamilton, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America. (New York: Vintage Books, 1967), p. ix. 5. Philip Foner, ed., The Black Panthers Speak, pp. 104-106. 6. Los Angeles Times 17 Nov., 1998. 7. See MIM's review of Kwame Nkrumah: The Conkary Years His Life And Letters for more information about Kwame Nkrumah. 8. "Kwame Ture our Revolutionary Young Ancestor," http://members.aol.com/aaprp/index2.html. * * * REVIEW: Z MAGAZINE October 1998 Sysop@zmag.org 508-548-9064 Z Magazine is far to MIM's right or we would review it more often. Z Magazine fortunately does not claim to be Marxist. The sad part is that some good anti- imperialists like Edward S. Herman and James Petras write for it. In this issue, there is a humorous look at an evolutionary view of war as the product of too many young males available. We would like to accept humorous writers like Lydia Sargent into our own ranks. The "theorists" writing about too many young men around did not seem to notice that the United States Government is the number one war-maker and it does not have the highest proportion of young males available. A more typical Z Magazine article is about organizing adjunct professors for higher pay.(p. 18) As usual there is much hand-wringing over middle-class people by social-democracy. It is much easier to organize and address middle-class people than to organize oppressed people. That is why radical and "critical" magazines like Z Magazine swamp the efforts of proletarian organization in the United $tates. We would add that having professors poor is a good thing. This ensures that only the most dedicated to teaching and truth remain in the profession. In a country like the United $tates the truth produced and taught by poor adjunct professors is guaranteed to be flawed by its circumstances of production in higher proportions than in other more proletarian countries, but college professors are a source of information and authority differing from that of Wall Street. If the pay were similar to that found in other professions, college teaching would become indistinguishable from stockbroking in its outlook. Conservatives such as William Buckley and now the Republican youth movement always ask why there are not more conservative professors, to the point where now they ask for affirmative action for Republicans. It's very simple: "successful" people motivated by greed do not stay in academia. The conservative ideology is the most individualistically greedy one there is. Conservatives go into law, banking and stockbroking. That is not to mention the question raised by Buckley himself as to whether conservatives are on average simply less intelligent than the rest of the world, something proved by some surveys, but also self-evident in that it requires little thought to be comfortable with the status quo. The feature article of this issue of Z is a strategy guide for the labor aristocracy, "The Economy: Neoliberalism Comes Unglued." It unveils the ancient social-democratic strategy of political mobilization: hire more government bureaucrats whose jobs depend on the welfare state. Mark Weisbrot complains about those seeking to privatize social security in the United $tates: "They want people to identify with corporate profits, and to have policy makers increasingly constrained from doing anything that might upset the stock market."(p. 10) In contrast, Weisbrot would like to see a social- democratic growth of imperialist state power. Like all social-democrats, Weisbrot sees the state as an innocent place where the "radical" or "critical" thinkers can make their mark--unlike the stock market. The Weisbrot argument against the likes of Washington Post columnist James Glassman is an intra- labor aristocracy debate. There is no question that the labor aristocracy should be tied to imperialism in their minds. The only question is how, via the imperialist state bureaucracy or the Wall Street traders. In contrast, MIM sees no difference in the parasitism of the two options. Either way it is a discussion of how to re-divide the superprofits extracted from the Third World. Dividend hand-outs from Wall Street or government hand-outs: either way it is parasitism and a negative influence on any class of people. As a classic social-democrat, Weisbrot puts forward the basis for an exclusively monogamous relationship between the imperialist country labor aristocracy and its imperialists: "The United States still consumes 88 percent of what it produces, and could, with the right policies, protect its population from adverse economic events in the rest of the world."(p. 9) Weisbrot is one of those petty-bourgeois social- democrats who believes the U.S. economy as is would do fine without superexploiting the Third World. It would be impossible to find any corporate executives in the Fortune 50 who agree with him, because they know their profit margins depend on the superexploitation of the Third World, but somehow Weisbrot believes it is possible, much like Patrick Buchanan claims to believe. Echoing the World Bank, Weisbrot focuses his fire on the IMF, which he correctly identifies as not consistent with his social-democratic goals. He seems not to have noticed that his "neo-liberal" enemies have been in the main defeated already, as much as they can be within imperialism. He trails after the leading lights of imperialism who long ago reached his conclusions for the simple reason that the IMF has been an obstacle to the export of capital and its accumulation. The left-face of imperialism surfaced long before Weisbrot and other spokespeople for the labor aristocracy clamored. The proletariat does not care for either face of imperialism the social-democratic or the neoliberal. We oppose capitalism, not "neoliberalism." MIM has addressed the numerous fallacies in this article in "Imperialism and Its Class Structure in 1997," currently available only to readers outside the United $tates. The fact that the Third World is crucial to the imperialist economy and the true nature of inter-imperialist contention driving profits rates and hence the stock market are among the points addressed. * * * "LEFT" FACE COMES OUT IN JAPANESE IMPERIALISM The economic collapse in Russia and the near- collapse in Japan has the U.$. imperialists allowing that Franklin D. Roosevelt style reform of capitalism might be necessary. There is much pressure, not just from the labor aristocracy of bought off workers, but also from other imperialists for Japan and the United $tates to stimulate their economies. Thanks to Clinton's plans to visit with the Japanese in mid- November, the Japanese government laid its cards on the table. In mid-November, the U.$. central bank cut it's interest rate a third time for a total of three- quarters of one percentage point since Russia defaulted on its international loans. Meanwhile, the Japanese government sought to prove to President Clinton that it is not slacking off in trying to end the Japanese recession dragging down all of East Asia except for China. At this time, there is a left-of-center concurrence of imperialism. The newly elected French and German governments are the greatest proof, but the Japanese government formed from pragmatists is also proof, especially at this time when all imperialist governments are seeking to avoid another 1929. When the right face of imperialism is in place, belt-tightening is the rage even in the imperialist countries. Right now the left face of imperialism is showing and so according to the imperialists it is time to show solicitous concern for the consumption needs of the oppressor nation peoples. For this reason, the Japanese government literally just started handing out shopping coupons to Japanese citizens as part of a $196 billion economic stimulus package labelled in such a way as to make Clinton and the West think Japan is doing something Western-style to get out of the recession. Many liberals believe it is their steadfast grovelling that "persuades" the imperialists to change toward reform. The current conjuncture should make it clear that the imperialists put on their "left" face for reasons completely unconnected to the snivellings of the liberals. The real reason for the "left" face is to get out of certain kinds of economic crises and to prevent revolution arising from those crises. According to Hilary Hinds Kitasei writing for USA Today, the interest rate on savings accounts in Japan is currently negative. People who buy a bond now in Japan get back less money six months from now. As MIM pointed out in "Imperialism and Its Class Structure in 1997" this feature of Japanese imperialism is characteristic of Japanese imperialism. Overall, Japanese imperialism's posture toward the rest of the world is still the most competitive as gauged by profit rates and interest rates, which are really just the profit rate on finance capital. The miracle of Japan is that it does not fold when executive compensation and profits plummet. For us communists, Japan proves that a zero profit rate may not be enough reason for the imperialists to give up. On the other hand, we suspect that U.$. imperialism would rather die than go through a long period of zero or slightly negative profits. Capitalist overproduction is inherent to the capitalist system. By this we mean in the current context that the capitalists must invest or loan their capital somewhere. They may panic and stop investing in Russia or they may dry up on junk bonds or any number of places to plunk their cash, but the pickier they get, the more the crisis intensifies for finance capitalists. "Expand or die" is the motto of all capitalist business, so holding their nose up toward many borrowers does not work for the finance capitalists. Finance capitalists would like to lend their money only to ideal borrowers, but they do not have that choice. Facing such a situation, even finance capital believes that it is good for the masses to have aspirations for their own material well-being. The Amerikans in particular seem to be saying the Japanese middle-classes need to consume more. If no one consumes and if everyone stays home economically apathetic, then there is no profit to be made and it becomes impossible to loan money out for profit. That is one of the main reasons for the left face of imperialism apart from a desire to avert revolution. Note: USA Today 18Nov1998, p. 27a. * * * BASEBALL OINKS IT UP During the 1994 baseball strike, MIM was the only u.$. organization to attack the phony Marxists who sided with the players as if they were exploited workers and not bourgeois. Figures just released in USA Today show that the minimum wage for baseball players was $170,000 in 1998. The median was $428,500 and the average was $1.38 million per year. $170,000 a year gives a player enough to live on and a portion of the means of production. Last we checked, "owning means of production" was the definition of bourgeois. Note: USA Today 20Nov1998, p. 13c. * * * NEW BILL ADDS HARD TIME FOR CRIMES WITH GUNS In November, Clinton made headlines by signing a new bill to "strengthen penalties for violent criminals and drug traffickers who possess, brandish, or discharge a gun when committing a crime."(1) He presented the bill, S. 191, at the same time as another one which provides college scholarships for the families of cops killed on the job. The combination serves only to underscore the ideological motive behind the new legislation -- to equate the problem of crime with guns, and to equate guns with the killing of police officers. At the signing, Clinton made the equation outright: "We know from painful experience that the most serious threat to the safety of police officers is a criminal armed with a weapon. Most police officers who lose their lives die from gunshot wounds ... To protect our families and police officers the bill I sign today will add five years of hard time to sentences of criminals who even possess firearms when they commit drug-related or violent crimes. Brandishing the firearm will draw an extra seven years; firing it, another 10. A second conviction means a quarter century in jail." According to the Associated Press, the legislation resolves a key point which has been argued in the courts, namely, that "the additional and mandatory federal five-year penalty for criminals who 'use or carry' firearms applies even if the criminal simply was in possession of a gun -- locked in a car trunk or glove compartment, for example -- during the commission of a violent crime or drug felony." (2) But according to "Justice" Department statistics, drawing both from the FBI's Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), most crime does not involve guns.(3) The touting of sentence-enhancing legislation for crimes involving guns as a way to reduce the crime rate is worse than hypocritical -- it is a way to fan the public flames of reaction against the majority of non-violent, non- gun-carrying persons accused of committing crimes. MIM and RAIL have long worked to expose the national oppression in all stages of the criminal injustice system -- from the police to courts to conditions in prisons and jails. We know that under imperialism, strengthening any aspect of that system, as this new bill does, serves only to enhance that oppression. Notes: 1. Remarks By The President At Crime Bill Signings Event 12:17 P.M. EST - Old Executive Office Building 2. The Associated Press, Nov. 13, 1998. 3. "Guns Used in Crime: Firearms, Crime, and Criminal Justice" Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1995. * * * RESERVE THE DEATH PENALTY FOR LYING COPS AND PROSECUTORS! The USA Today ran an excellent article on the death penalty November 13 about 30 wrongfully convicted people from death row now going to attend an academic conference on the subject. " Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty 22 years ago, 486 people have been executed. Williams is one of 75 men in 19 states who have been spared execution and freed from death row after evidence emerged showing that they had been wrongfully convicted."(1) Flawed implementation The U.$. Supreme Court has already admitted that the death penalty is applied in a racially discriminatory way. It decided that the good still outweighed the bad in having a death penalty, thereby not prioritizing the fight against national oppression or racism.(2) Now there is a campaign afoot to focus on the innocent. The average length of time that the innocent sat in prison was seven years before s/he cleared his name,(1) but the fascists in this country want to speed up a process known by statisticians to be racially flawed and therefore likely flawed in other ways as well. Motivations Although most Amerikans are conscious of their own viciousness and support police and prosecutors in a knee-jerk way, a minority has naive views about police, prosecutors and judges. When MIM says that the government is set up to protect property and that conscious and unconscious mechanisms ensure that the judicial system is used to oppress, the naive minority does not understand. However, an increasing portion of the public will understand that prosecutors and elected judges seek public office based on their success in locking people up. As long as the headlines show a prosecutor to be successful, it does not matter to the prosecutor if s/he locked up the wrong persyn. In the United $tates, there are 50 states each with two U.S. Senators and one governor. That is 150 people. MIM conducted its own investigation to tally up how many of these 150 are former prosecutors. It turns out 30 were as of 1997.(3) There was also one former head of the Department of Corrections, Governor Miller in Georgia. Bill Clinton is a former prosecutor. Furthermore, the mayor of the largest city -- R. Giuliani was a prosectuor just before being elected in New York City. Giuliani in particular had to bump aside his police chief when the police chief tried to take credit for reducing crime. Hence, cops too are trying to use crime to get elected. It is typical to use the prosecutor job as a stepping stone to being mayor or governor. Bill Clinton then went from governor to White House. In very recent years, another motivation has appeared for cops to lie about crime -- to get on television and make a good impression or be famous. Legal barriers preventing television from live broadcasts of police and suspects have fallen. Now cops have the incentive of fame to stir something up, conspire a bit and get on television, just as the many sick people who conspire to get on the Jerry Springer show and other talk shows. While not all cops will have such motivations just as not all people will do something nuts to get on television, there is a minority that can cause plenty of trouble. We recommend the movie "Running Man" to open the eyes of the naive. Unconscious fascism Almost no scholars find any point to having a death penalty in the U$A. In fact, there have been numerous studies of the flaws of the system, studies which never seem to be digested by the public or politicians of the oppressor nation. About 7 in 10 Amerikans do not believe in "innocent till proven guilty" and instead majorities believe someone is guilty if cops seek charges. As a result of concerns about juries, a number of studies have been done. One study of 1000 wrongful convictions of all types shows that about half are attributable to eyewitness error. Different studies based on mock crime scenes have shown that from 21 to 33 percent of all people will point to someone in a police lineup as the culprit when the culprit was not present.(4) This would be a case of unconscious fascism. In academic experiments there is no persynal reason these eyewitnesses could have for lying, but they are just inaccurate in about a third of cases. The willingness to finger someone is just a case of unconscious fascism, the fact that injustice is so routine in U.$. society that people carry out injustice as a matter of course. Reform of the death penalty The meeting of 30 freed death row inmates at Northwestern University focussed on reforming or abolishing the death penalty. Illinois has had 9 freed already since 1994 and it is considering formation of a panel to review all death row cases given its poor record. That's one kind of reform. MIM believes there should be another reform -- a death penalty for attempted judicial murder. 10 people have been freed with the result of DNA evidence. Most of the time, nothing happens to the cops, prosecutors and judges who lied. In one case, three assistant prosecutors in Illinois's DuPage county were charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and conspiracy.(1) In MIM's opinion, that is not enough. They should have been charged for attempted murder since they knew their accusations could lead to the death penalty. In other words, as some of the former death row innocents have said, in many cases the prosecutors know they are prosecuting someone innocent. Attempted murder and murder by prosecutors, cops and judges who condemn innocent men -- such should receive the strictest penalties of all, the death penalty. So if someone wants to become governor by falsely winning cases as a prosecutor, he or she should also weigh the possibility he or she will face the death penalty if caught. The existing law should be interpreting these cases as murder and attempted murder and the penalty for attempted murder in such cases should be death. Alternatively, should some liberals feel bad for fascist cops, prosecutors and judges being executed for their unjust treatment of the innocent, they can support a different reform. They could make it impossible for prosecutors or judges to ever run for public office. Even then, there will still be a death penalty applied in a discriminatory way against oppressed nationalities. Only anti-imperialist revolution can resolve that injustice. Notes: 1. USA Today 13Nov1998, p. 14a. 2. "In the 1987 case of McClesky v. Kemp, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty despite evidence that killers of whites are given the death penalty more often than killers of blacks."John E. Conklin, Criminology, 3rd ed., (NY: MacMillan, 1989), p. 406. MIM would add that the court admitted that the anti-death penalty lawyers proved their point. 3. Almanac of American Politics (Washington, DC: National Journal, 1998). 4. New York Times 17Jan1995, c1, c6. * * * SAMMY SOSA WINS MVP - SPORTS FANS SHOW THAT OPPRESSOR NATION MASSES AREN'T STUPID, JUST CHAUVINIST Sammy Sosa won the MVP for the National League of Major League Baseball. He beat out Mark McGwire who hit 70 home runs. Both MVPs this year are from Latin America. This is important because imperialist baseball is increasing its international audience by taking in famous stars from Latin America including Cuba and also from Japan. Hence, poor boys everywhere can have that feeling that there is a lottery chance for them too. This is an important illusion typical of the capitalist system in which many are poor and few are rich. We must combat it. There has been a higher percentage of revolutions happening in countries this century than there has been of poor boys becoming millionaires. The question for imperialist country masses is different though. Sosa deserved to win by the tradition of the MVP award which goes to the player who typically helps his team win most. Sosa had more RBIs than McGwire and Sosa's team made the playoffs. McGwire fanatics said (contrary to the history of the award) that McGwire can't help it if his team stinks. We were quite impressed with the dialectical argument explaining why McGwire hit more home runs per at-bat than either Babe Ruth or Sosa. Sosa had 134 more at-bats than McGwire simply because opposing pitchers were so afraid of McGwire that they walked him that much more. MIM points this out to defeat masses-are-asses reasoning. When the Amerikan masses want to get analytical about something they can do it. If not, the bourgeois newspapers would never be able to sell so many sports pages with so many statistics about batting averages, batting when runners are on base, RBIs, total bases etc. They pick it apart in every way and thus we know for example that if Shaq shot free throws as well as Michael Jordan, Shaq would have the higher scoring average. Thus the sports fanatics hone in on one aspect of one player's game with amazing statistical detail. MIM prints many statistics too--on crime, national oppression and the labor theory of value in particular. We do not print the kind of statistics that require a college education to understand. We print mostly percentages which are usually easier to understand than figures commonly used in the NBA or MLB, for instance. The reason MIM's arguments do not sink in is the conscious national chauvinism of the oppressor nation masses, not "false consciousness." - MC5 Note: USA Today 19Nov1998, pp. 1-2. * * * PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES SUFFER UNDER PRISON CRAZE The current University of Michigan president has attempted to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor in talking about the trade-off between building prisons and supporting public universities. President Lee C. Bollinger has called the prison policy of Michigan "a very unfortunate set of laws and public policy."(1) We call on all public university presidents, students, faculty and researchers to turn up the heat against the prison craze. Michigan expects to imprison 70,000 in 2005, up almost 75 percent from already fascist levels.(1) The facts about imprisonment in the United $tates are that the United $tates has been the world's leading prison-state per capita for the last generation, with a brief exception during Boris Yeltsin's declaration of a state of emergency.(2) That means that while Reagan was talking about a Soviet "evil empire" he was the head of a state that imprisoned more people per capita. In supposedly "hard-line" Bulgaria of the Soviet bloc of the 1980s, the imprisonment rate was less than half that of the United $tates.(3,4) Since that time, the United $tates has only increased its rate of imprisonment. To find a comparison with U.$. imprisonment of Black people, there is no statistic in any country that compares including apartheid South Africa of the era before Mandela was president. The last situation remotely comparable to the situation today was under Stalin during war time. Stalin was fighting Nazis, but the U.$. fascist movement is simply repressing oppressed nationalities. The rednecks tell MIM that we live in a "free country." They live in an Orwellian 1984 situation where freedom is imprisonment. Apparently they won't notice until the very last persyn criticizing the government is in prison. The media and politicians, including the prosecutors and cops running for mayor, governor and president talk about crime as if we became the world's prison-state leader for imprisoning murderers. However, the majority of prisoners in the United $tates are there for non-violent offenses.(5) Public university students and even moreso public university researchers who receive the bulk of government funds are the ones to pay the price for the prison-state buildup. They should be allies of the proletarian movement. -- MC5 Notes: 1. Michigan Today Fall, 1998, p. 6. Michigan Today is an official publication of the University of Michigan. 2. Marc Mauer, "Americans Behind Bars: The International Use of Incarceration 1993," The Prison Sentencing Project, 918 F. St. NW, Suite 501, Washington, DC 20004 (202) 628-0871 Reference: SRI: R8965-2, 1994 3. Ibid., 1992 report. 4. United Nations Development Programme, "Human Development Report 1994,:" Oxford University Press, p. 186. 5. Figure of 51.2 percent for state prisoners there for non-violent offenses. Abstract of the United States 1993, p. 211. * * * MAO ZEDONG ON LITERATURE AND ART Budding proletarian artists inside Amerika have a lot to learn and study. On the one hand there is a rich history of proletarian art, from Soviet cinema and music, to Brecht's theater, to Comrade Chiang Ching's operas and ballets. On the other hand, there is much to be learned about making proletarian art here and now in the belly of the beast, from technique to finance and distribution (see review of Jean-Luc Godard on page 9). But we do not suggest that budding proletarian artists bury their heads in books for a decade before starting to practice. We must move ahead now as best we can, while recognizing that the experience of past proletarian artists can solve our problems as they arise. Perhaps the best primer on the problems of proletarian art is Mao Zedong's "Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art." We print a selection form that short essay here, in order to encourage budding proletarian artists to read it and then rush out an apply it. - MC206 In all the world today all culture, all literature and art belong to definite classes and are geared to definite political lines. There is in fact no such thing as art for art's sake, art that stands above classes, art that is detached from or independent of politics. Proletarian literature and art are part of the whole proletarian revolutionary cause; they are, as Lenin said, cogs and wheels in the whole revolutionary machine. Our literary and art workers must... shift their stand; they must gradually move their feet over to the side of the workers, peasants, and soldiers, to the side of the proletariat, through the process of going into their very midst and into the thick of the practical struggles and through the process of studying Marxism and society. Only in this way can we have a literature and art that are truly for workers, peasants and soldiers, a truly proletarian art... In literary and art criticism there are two criteria, the political and the artistic... There is the political criterion and there is the artistic criterion; what is the relationship between the two? Politics cannot be equated with art, nor can a general world outlook be equated with a method of artistic creation and criticism. We deny not only that there is an abstract and absolutely unchangeable political criterion, but also that there is an abstract and absolutely unchangeable artistic criterion; each class in every class society has its own artistic and political criteria. But all classes in all societies invariably put the political criterion first and the artistic criterion second... What we demand is the unity of politics and art, the unity of content and form, the unity of revolutionary political content and the highest possible perfection of artistic form. Works of art which lack artistic quality have no force, however progressive they are politically. Therefore, we oppose both works of art with a wrong political viewpoint and the tendency towards the "poster and slogan style" which is correct in political viewpoint but lacking in artistic power. On questions of literature and art we must carry on a struggle on two fronts. - Mao Zedong, "Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art," Selected Works, vol. III. * * * MIM SALUTES EARLY JEAN-LUC GODARD Jean-Luc Godard Interviews David Sterritt, ed. (Jackson, Mississippi: University of Mississippi Press, 1998) 203 pp. pb MIM begins this review by making self-criticism for passivity with regard to work in film. While MIM has known of Godard's work since before MIM's existence, it never got around to engaging Godard even on a theoretical or public opinion plane. This has set back the proletarian art movement even more than necessary. Jean-Luc Godard was a French Maoist in the 1960s and 1970s and he was also the most influential imperialist country director-producer outside of Hollywood. Godard's political line Middle-aged Godard did much for the Maoist movement. Reading these interviews is like reading the autobiography of David Hilliard, because the trajectory is the same. Godard was wildly successful as a Maoist and then later in life could not quite hang on to his Maoism, much the way the Black Panthers did not. While Godard made his greatest contributions in his thirties and not his twenties, the old adage about selling out with older age seems to ring true and by the 1990s, reviewers were calling his work post-modern. Godard as a persyn in the 1960s and 1970s backed Mao while criticizing Stalin, including "Stalinist" art, which we gather Godard believed was just state- sponsored art and hence evil. This caused Godard to say good things about Yugoslavia where there were some independent film producers. Obviously in China's Cultural Revolution, there was also an emphasis on amateur art, of the workers and peasants producing their own art. Nonetheless, while we note the distinctions Godard makes we continue to defend professional state-sponsored art under the dictatorship of the proletariat and we anticipate its necessity until at least the lower stages of communism. Our only other possible complaint about Godard would be his gender line. Since sex is so important in the imperialist country movies, Godard did develop a razor-sharp gender line. Some of it is feminist and some of it evokes the split between Marxist males and apolitical or reactionary females that Clare Duchen talks about in her book about why French pseudo- feminism arose in reaction to Maoism. On the other hand, parts of Godard's gender line may be considered to be walking that fine line between revolution and macho misogyny. We must point out though that MIM has no right to criticize Godard, because we have not led any filmmaking efforts, so we haven't proved that we would have handled the gender question any better. We salute his efforts to make movies that do not rely on romance to sell. In truth, it would be a disservice to review all Godard's films here, so we will not even try. Perhaps other reviewers could step forward after seeing all his films made between 1962 and 1976. As a persyn, Godard punched his producer at a film showing once and called on the audience to pay to see his version of the film with the money to go to a fund for Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver.(p. 52) Moreover, Godard spoke for "Third World cinema" as the correct phrase for what he was doing instead of "underground." (p. 11) Godard also hooked up the Rolling Stones to his Maoist film. The active support by the Rolling Stones of Maoism in France is an example of the kind of times the late 1960s and early 1970s were. Although Godard championed industrial workers in France on occasion, as far as his art went, he had the correct line on the labor aristocracy. In the first place, he criticized the labor bureaucrats for interfering with his low-budget work, requiring him to use four people instead of three behind the camera as an example.(p. 18) He said the unions were more reactionary than other people and were economically strangling his independent filmmaking. Much more importantly, Godard had the intuitively correct line on the approach of artists to the labor aristocracy, one that is even more correct for our times than for the 1960s. His advice to the revolutionary artist in the imperialist countries was to hold the line: "'Worrying about distribution patterns affects the kind of pictures people make. Only by concentrating on production without any thought of distribution can we create the kind of film that will change distribution.'"(p. 57) Godard on art: lessons for PIRAO Perhaps what Godard is known best for is being a "high-brow" "artsy" film director. He did not like the "art" label as a contrast with other films, but he also spoke of the idea as a reference point to make himself understood on the relationship of artists to finance capital. Godard's most enduring insight is to defeat the "masses-are-asses" line in art while combining that view with a strong orientation toward building independent institutions of the oppressed. In 1962 he hadn't made any Maoist films yet, but he was already a Brechtian. That means he sought to change the world by engaging the audience in his art. In fact, in 1968, he correctly said "we have to fight the audience." (p. vii, 15) That to MIM is an accurate statement about the imperialist country audiences, which are bound to be a majority petty-bourgeoisie and encrusted with reactionary ideas. We believe Godard is correct that there is no essential difference between film and theater, so Bertolt Brecht's theories of engaging audience participation and not encouraging passivity are correct for film as well as the theater Brecht worked in. In 1962, Godard said of making films, "One must be sincere, believe that one is working for the public, and aim at them. In my early days I never asked myself whether the audience would understand what I was doing, but now I do. If Hitchcock, for example, thinks that people will not understand something, he will not do it. At the same time I feel that one must sometimes just go ahead-light may always dawn in a few years time. But of course one must be sure of what one is about, because if one just goes ahead and does something, saying 'They won't understand but it won't matter,' one may be disastrously wrong and that it does matter."(p. 5) To MIM's knowledge, while he gave up Maoism, Godard continues to hold this view. In fact, he argued that filmmaking should be film criticism at the same time, so there continues to be a self-critical view in Godard's work and he continued to believe such criticism is a matter of science, at least as late as 1981.(p. 120) Because Godard was willing to put together art that the masses would not always understand, he received the label "abstract," but he also opposed that label. He considered himself explicitly Marxist-Leninist. Much of the masses' rejection of Godard stems from his unwillingness to utilize sex and violence the way mainstream imperialist producers do. MIM believes it is unreasonable in an ultraleft or right opportunist way to expect proletarian filmmakers to have success any greater than that of proletarian newspaper distributors relatively speaking. Godard had a firm grip on the influence of finance capital on filmmaking. For this reason, he likened himself to a whore. It was not the whore he opposed but the pimp--the finance capitalist in the guise of the producer as usually distinguished from the artist who is the director. Unwilling to work for Hollywood no matter how much they offered him, (p. 21) Godard correctly avoided pie-in-the-sky idealism. He realized he would be making "low-budget" films. On a related note, filmmaking was also brief with only short periods of time requiring professional actors. For the MIM-led army called PIRAO that has responsibility for financial and infrastructure work this all makes sense on how to build an infrastructure for independent filmmaking. Right opportunists in film art capitulate to the demands of Hollywood finance capitalists and sell out. Ultraleft opportunists cling to a non-existent independence of art as if talking about it and waiting for manna from heaven were as good as making art and distributing it. Even in 1980 and 1996 Godard correctly warned artists that "Art and economy are always related."(p. 101) Along these lines, Godard warned that television is absolutely the worst medium, because it is state and monopoly controlled, whereas filmmaking even in Hollywood had slightly more autonomy. We believe this insight continues to this day, where the main television channels in the imperialist countries are the worst purveyors of reactionary drivel. Even attempting to work from within television backfires miserably as the example of the Archie Bunker character in "All in the Family" proves so well. Since television offers no audience interaction with the directors, there is the definite risk that the audience will identify with and glorify the reactionary characters of television scripts, no matter how bluntly depicted. There is no quick and dirty way to subversion of our video culture, so we must not expect or attempt overnight success. In conclusion, Godard has a very realistic notion of what is possible with imperialist country art. We must steer between capitulating to Hollywood (which is pervasive to Godard the way pornography is to Catharine MacKinnon) on the one hand and blaming all evil on Hollywood on the other hand in order to justify our own economic and artistic passivity. Leadership at this time means challenging thoughts and not gaining popularity. A call to action A minority of Hollywood films and independent documentaries is progressive. To reach the next level of building public opinion and independent institutions of the oppressed, we need more than to cull the best of Hollywood. We need our own proletarian filmmakers, theaters, bands and other artists. "And so for a young movie maker, if he really wants to make a film, it is very easy to do. The problem is getting it shown after you've made it."(p. 19) MIM calls on all young, old, aspiring and existing film artists to be the early Jean-Luc Godard and work with us. Already we have the independent party press. We can assist in publicizing the works of Godards, so all you Godards out there, please step forward! We recommend the following: 1. Keep the day-time job. 2. Do not wait for manna from heaven-i.e. Hollywood or state grants; defeat parasite-think and build economic and political independence. 3. Do not expect colossal success in the imperialist countries at this time or you will water down your work and become useless to the revolution. Since MIM has not worked closely with filmmakers, our first efforts will likely be severely flawed. As materialists we believe any effort is better than nothing and after some years we may hope to surpass Godard. At this time, we believe we must recognize that we would do very well right now just to copy what Godard said in the first 84 pages of this book. * * * UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS Brutal Assault Revolutionary Greetings to one and all. My Brothers in the struggle, I was attacked, assaulted, kicked, and stomped. My head was rammed into the chain link fence and the concrete building. I was put in four different head locks, grabbed around the throat and choked until my eyes rolled back into my head; until spit gushed out my mouth and my nose starting bleeding. All of this was done to me while both of my hands were handcuffed behind my back. This was done at 3:25 in the morning in the dark hallways. I was being escorted to Pre-Hearing Detention by Lt. Boyle a racist, Aryan, white official who works here. They pull a race hate crime on me behind their prison walls. As you all know, hate crimes against Black males in prison are going on all over the U. Snakes. This racist Lt. Boyle is the same Lt. who was run out of Ad Seg [Administrative Segregation] for excessive use of force, abuse of authority and abuse of power. Just like this Lt. Boyle, the whole Allred Unit located in Iowa Park, TX, 89% of the unit is run and operated by white Aryan Brotherhood employees. This race hat crime against me was done in July 1998. At this time Lt. Boyle has charged me with assault on an officer. He wrote a ticket saying that I rammed my head into him. They have now placed me in Ad Seg. I'm protesting the treatment I'm receiving. I'm an innocent man. I'm on a hunger strike. I have been on this hunger strike since July 4, 1998. Racist guards here have attacked four other Black males. Each prisoner has been put in Ad Seg. The same racist guards deliberately go around provoking Black males daily. All the paperwork we file on these white officers has no effect whatsoever on this unit. Here is a list of the racist guards on Allred Unit: Lieutenant Boyles, Lieutenant Gentry, Lieutenant Sperry, Captain Patty, Captain Cooks, Captain Wilkenson and his wife, Sargent Skelton, Sargent Freeman, Sargent Bull, Officer Tolber, Officer Saunders, and Officer Bria. I am unable to physically fight back but I'm never giving up the struggle!!... -- A Texas Prisoner, 10 July 1998 Pigs Kill Four Prisoners ...Comrade, we are going through continuous trials with these pigs or human devils you know. These human devils have killed four inmates deliberately. They were audacious in admitting it verbally, when it was asked how many people were killed. These human devils have brutally beaten down Blacks and Hispanics. After they have beaten them down, they deliberately deny them medical treatment. I have also witnessed these human devils serving another brother in here, with a tray with a racial mark, Nazi sign on it. Then they had one of these Uncle Tom, house negro, captains try to cover it up. These human devils are poisoning the food with some kind of drugs that enslaves the inmates' mind, where they always feel tired mentally, where they are too weak to workout. This drug that these human devils are putting into our food has robbed us of our physical physique and mentally too. One of the reasons I feel that they think they are getting away with it is because they are at psychological war, playing off people's reasoning. They have the people believing that Blacks and Hispanics are ignorant. [The officers claim prisoners] can't read or write, so they don't know what they're talking about --so people won't believe that they are poisoning the food, which is robbing us mentally and physically. The human devils don't even provide education, especially [absent is any information] dealing with the law. There's a lot more, I'm just briefly filling you in with the pragmatics. We need your help and I'm hoping you can aid us. One more reason why the pigs are doing what they doing is because they realize we don't have any outside help. The majority of us are indigent, so it's going to be kind of hard paying for the books from you.... -- A Connecticut Prisoner, 26 August 1998 MIM responds: This letter illustrates why we run a political Books for Prisoners program and why it is important that everyone outside the prisons supports this program with donations of money and books. We also hope people who read this letter and want to help out will get involved with the Prisoner's Legal Clinic that MIM runs to help prisoners with these legal fights by providing briefs on relevant legal issues. On the outside we need help with legal research as well as typing in and proofreading the information sent to us by prisoners. And on the inside we need jailhouse lawyers to send us briefs on issues of importance to the hundreds of thousands of people under lock and key. Exposing Abuses in Lockup ...This around, I've been called Spic, half-breed, nigger, etc. Well I got tired of it all and cussed them pigs every which way. Then they jumped on me roughed me up. Well I had them under investigation. They put me on lock-dawn for 45 days in the swine cells. I dropped the investigation 'cause the pigs said they would let me off lockdown and all these little promises, so I did! Two days later they transferred me to another prison on C/M (Close Management). There I was locked down for 13 months. Because I had this bullshit DR [Disciplinary Report] that said I assaulted one of the pigs at the last camp -- the pigs at the new camp started in on me. This time I ended up with an outside charge. The pigs set me up once again! Since I've been at this camp I have been written several DR's and set up on a third outside charge -- but I beat that case cause the Pig was lying. But they are stilling screwing with me here and little nit-picky stuff. ...Medical co-payment went up from $3.00 to $4.00. On the close management unit the nurse walks by our door. We don't holler sick call because if they don't like you they'll go ahead and charge you $4.00 and write down that you were seen for whatever reason, without sending you to medical. Just January 1997, a convict who was having pretty bad seizures was placed on C/M for thirty-seven months. He had to wear a football helmet all day and night long. He should never been here in the first place! He was complaining for days straight all day. Well one night he had a bad seizure and died back here. When the guard made their rounds they found him lying on the floor dead. If he had been at a prison that deals with medical problems I believe he would be alive today.... -- A Florida Prisoner, 26 July 1998 Racial Bias against Black Prisoners ...In 1995 I wrote letter to the Regional Director. I asked that a thorough investigation be done of the conduct of the Evans Correctional Institution's staff regarding the blatant acts of racism that are being perpetrated against the African-American inmates. Here at ECI, when white inmates desire to be transferred to another institution they are claiming that they had been sexually assaulted, extorted, and/or raped. As a result of their statements, regardless of the improbability of their assertions, we the Black inmates are being accused of these assaults and repeatedly assigned to the administration segregation unit. White inmates are using this technique with an overwhelming degree of regularity and are experiencing amazing amounts of success, whenever they choose to use it. The white inmates are more often than not transferred, usually, to the institution of their desire. I have personally been a victim of this type of racial manipulation three times since being incarcerated at SCDC [South Carolina Department of Corrections]. ...Black Prisoners are not given the opportunity to make a statement prior to being assigned to segregation. This results in an intensely negative feeling toward the white inmates and a deep sense of disrespect for staff. When the white inmates do not bring disciplinary charges against the Black inmates -- the Black inmates will, as a matter of practice, be reassigned from investigation to administrative hold (ML5). This is an unjustifiable punishment of innocent individuals. These prisoners are still placed on ML5 even after going in front of the adjustment committee and the charge has been dismissed. These are very serious matters, resulting in a report that is unilateral in scope and racist in its application. In the three times that I have been victim of this type of racism, not once have I been found guilty! I am requesting your assistance in my endeavor to be transferred away from here before something evil happens to me as a result of some sick- minded individual's racist concept of nationalism. Last year the nurse and a pig woke me up. They were trying to force me into taking some liquid medication. After I refused it, I filed a grievance. Then they made it look like it was only a mistake. I'm now being denied medical care.... Power to the strong spirits, -- A South Carolina Prisoner, 31 July 1998 Physical Effects of Lock-Up Nationwide inmates must fight the atrocities that are inflicted upon us by our oppressors. Especially in segregation management units [SMU's] and isolation. Long-term lock up causes psychological stress, which is a plausible etiology for sleep disturbances, depression, and cognitive difficulties. The goal of SMU's is clearly to disable prisoners through spiritual, psychological and physical breakdown. Physically we are faced with sick-building syndrome (SBS). It is caused by being in an enclosed area with shut windows, and lack of fresh air circulation, which entraps chemical fumes, molds, mildews, and airborne pollutants in the building. The effects are, but not limited to, headaches, itchy or burning eyes, hoarseness, dry mouth and breathing difficulties. The laws of our oppressors that inmates will not be subjected to physical or psychological harm. What do they think lock up is! Short term for a disciplinary measure is one thing, but anything over 6 months isn't discipline, it's cruel and unusual punishment, which violates their laws and correctional policies. I urge all inmates, especially jailhouse lawyers, to work on this problem, so some type of maximum term can be established. They take our privileges, our good time etc, isn't that enough when inmates get a charge? Sooner or later, chances are, most inmates will find themselves in lockup for something. So fight before it's too late. Far too many inmates let the injustice system get over on them. By doing nothing, things will only get worse. Instead of fighting amongst ourselves, fight the oppressors legally! -- A South Carolina Prisoner, 23 September 1998 Forced Labor in Florida ...We are assigned jobs. If we refuse to work it carries 60 days confinement, 180 days loss of gain time, restriction from the weight room and 120 days after we get a Disciplinary Report (DR)! We are NOT paid any money. The state of Florida gives gain time instead. No restitution monetarily, just time, which they take back by writing a C.C. [Corrections Citation] for anything from not having our shirts tucked in, or not having our ID cards in an exact spot, to cussing or yelling. I am "receiving" 20 day per month [as payment for my labor.] A C.C. takes away up to 10 days. Yes, we suffer drastically from censorship. They authorize magazines and subscriptions and then deny each issue. ...As to lockdown, I have been there recently. It's 95 degrees back there. The lights are very warm but we receive a DR if we turn them out during the day. The walls are concrete and there is a "window" that allows light in and small quantities of air. The doors are solid, no bars. As if it wasn't hot enough, the pigs must have thought we were a little chilly -- so they turned the heater on for two hours every morning. I personally lost 16 pounds in 12 days back in lockdown. The weight was written down three times a week when we took a shower. We have to be in lockdown for 30 days before we are allowed to go outside three times a week, 1 hour per day. Before 30 days, we are not allowed to go outside. Medical staff? It's a joke! ...I had two ingrown toenails that were hideously infected. It took seven months for full treatment. They pulled both nails completely off of both big toes. They are growing right back in because they don't have any brogans to fit me. ...We do have a Pride boot factory on the compound but they do not have the ability to make my size shoe. The [commissary] prices are equivalent to 7/11 in a large city. ...We are taxed for everything including food items.... -- A Florida Prisoner, 30 July 1998 Pigs Target Oppressed Nationals Dear MIM, On March 4, 1998, the Assistant Commissioner put out a memo to all New Jersey State Prisons, informing inmates of the STGMU (Security Threat Group Management Unit). Those groups considered a threat are the ALKQN (Almighty Latin King Queen Nation), Association Neta, Five Percent Nation, and the East Coast Aryan Brotherhood. What they failed to say was that a first shipment of inmates was already made, a list was made for a second shipment and that so-called Gang unit was completely illegal! The proposal for this unit wasn't presented by the commissioner until June 15, 1998. Yet before this, two shipments were already made and the system itself contradicted the Commissioners notice. Members of these families were already targeted and absolutely none of them were given the chance to comply with the notice. To show the inmate population that the Department of Corrections wouldn't stop bringing forth oppressive forces even less to inmates in Segregation, they opened up a separate gang unit for those serving lock up time, which was the only unit which rebelled. It was the very first time that all families united and protested against the pigs. When the Segregation Unit shipment came in, the cells had no mats, no cell numbers, no personal hygiene supplies and no officers, staff or administrators wanted to answer questions. The inmates were told that they would soon find out what was going on. After two weeks of no showers, no telephone calls, or explanations, everyone was told that they were part of the STGMU program and when they are done serving Seg. Time, they would be taken to the regular Gang Unit. What they didn't say was that we were supposed to be given a Hearing and only be classified STGMU if found guilty. We were denied access to the law library and given one phone for three tiers to use. They couldn't identify individual family members, so at times, enemies would share a rec. yard. The medical attention was so hard to get, that a month later, a Neta died of lack of medical attention (RIP). The Latin Kings urged rebellion and the Aryan Brotherhood wanted all out war, yet things remained calm. The administrators tried to help get things in order, so we thought and everything started running like a regular segregation. Verbal confrontation started and worsened with each day against the pigs. On May 15, 1998, a Neta was being removed from his cell to be placed in detention. Once outside the cell, two officers smashed his face against a security fence and he was beaten while being escorted. Two Kings saw him being beaten, so they decided to make an example for all inmates to see that oppression has no distinct color, race, religion, or nation, it only has victims! The two Latin Kings lit fires in their second floor cells and started a chain reaction on every floor. The pigs maced both Kings and opened on cell at a time. Each King fought against 6 pigs. I say an even fight, because it takes about six pigs to bring ruckus to any true Latin King Warrior. After a struggle, the Kings were finally shackled and beaten down the steps and met by a gauntlet of over 60 officers who repeatedly stomped and punched them. They were hospitalized and released the next day. Back on the unit, everyone was confused, not understanding why two Latin Kings took a beating for a Neta. The rest of the families continued to rebel, yet no one else was beaten because the other pigs called internal affairs, brought in cameras and the administration got shocked to learn that two inmates were beaten. Over fifty inmates were given more than five hundred days segregation time and the two Kings over fifteen hundred days in false charges. Once everyone completed their detention time, everyone involved was placed back in the Segregation Gang Unit and given late hearings, finding them all guilty and classifying them as part of STGMU. All family members decided to fight the system legally, before any other steps were taken. At this present time, many are studying prison litigation and a few have beaten their Gang Unit Hearing decisions. To all families, I want to say that not only are we familiar in the way we stand for each other, we must also know we share one struggle. Put your differences aside and be true to not only your family, but also the cause of our shared union. Help educate each other and stop the contradiction. Don't preach to show otherwise, instead organize and help abolish these cages modern day slavery and capitalist society we live in. My King Love to the ALKQN. Forever in the struggle, -- A New Jersey Prisoner, 31 July 1998 Revolutionary Greeting Comrades, I am a Latin prisoner being held hostage in New Jersey in one of their new Security Threat Group Management Units (STGMU). I have been placed here because of my affiliation with the Latin Kings. Since I came to this state in 1996 I have been kept locked down in Ad Seg on charges that these Pigs have formulated against me. I have never been in the inmate population, therefore I can't understand how these Pigs can claim I pose a threat to the safety of these Pigs or other prisoners. Now I have been placed in STGMU. In this unit you can only find three members of the racist groups known as the East Coast Aryan Nation and the rest are Latin and Black prisoners. This out of a unit made up of 78 cages, plus 78 more prisoners being that they are double locking us, so there can be up to 156 prisoners on one unit at a time. It is a fact that these Pigs are only targeting prisoners of color, Almighty Latin King Queen Nation, Neta and the Gods 5%er Nation. The white boys are not being bothered, but there are many Aryan's in the population in this state. So it's clear that the Beast is looking after their own and trying to cage up all that pose a threat to their plans, which is to eliminate all races of color, or to have them submit to their will. Since this unit has been opened on March 4, 1998, there has been one death of a Latin comrade. This needless death was due to the neglect of the medical staff who did nothing when this comrade was complaining about urinating blood. They killed him by denying him medical assistance. He passed away April 14, 1998, found dead in his sleep. This comrade was a Neta and his own brothers did nothing in retaliation to his death, which makes me wonder just how true is their cause. On May 15, 1998, we, the Kings, had a riot in which many brothers were sacrificed. Some Neta's did get involved as well as some 5%ers, The abuse is something that can't be tolerated on any level and will not be, at least not by the Latin Kings. We will keep sacrificing ourselves if need be before submitting to the evil forces. Since this riot, the following has been taken from us: all typewriters, all our personal clothes, which have been replaced by gray jumpsuits. No personal sneakers are allowed. We can't receive any more food packages from home, but the limit of our canteen purchases has been increased to $110.00. So it's clear that they want our loved ones money being that they are the only financial supporters. We can no longer have pens, pencils, markers, etc. They have replaced ours with some short flexible pens, which after writing a letter are no longer any good. Our toothbrushes have been taken from us, and replaced with some 3-inch toothbrushes. This is just some of the things that the Beast is doing in order to break those who stand for what they believe in. Comrades, it's time to stand and fight by doing whatever it takes, so that the lives of those who came before us will not have been lost in vain. Wake up and understand that we are as one. Just because one is darker than another, or is not a part of your Nation does not mean he is not your brother, for we of color are brothers. Know who your true enemy is. I'll keep live in the struggle. Our Struggle Continues, -- A New Jersey Prisoner, 29 July 1998 MIM responds: We join in these two prisoner's call for unity in the struggles of the oppressed nations against the pig imperialists. It is time to stand and fight. But we must wage this battle by building up our forces so that we can over throw the system. This means taking on winnable battles, a very difficult task behind the bars where the pigs have all the power and the choices are often between a defeat or a bigger defeat. We urge all our comrades behind bars to carefully weigh the outcomes of your decisions. We must always fight back, but the way we fight back should be the way that will gain the most for our struggle.