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 178 January 15, 1999 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. DROP SANCTIONS, NOT BOMBS AMERIKA LAUNCHES AIR STRIKES AGAINST IRAQ 2. AMERIKAN WIMMIN BOMB IRAQ 3. MUMIA CASE PROVES NEED FOR PARTY PRESS 4. REVIEW: THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS: WHY SOME ARE SO RICH AND SOME SO POOR 5. CAMPAIGN TO EXPAND MIM NOTES DISTRIBUTION 6. CLINTON TRIES TO SEAL PALESTINIAN NEOCOLONIALISM; PLO THROWS OUT ITS CHARTER 7. HEAT IS UP IN THE MOVEMENT AGAINST THE PRISON-STATE 8. AMERIKAN RULING INSTABILITY INCREASES: CLINTON IMPEACHED 9. PUERTO RICANS VOTE ON COLONIAL STATUS 10. BORICUAN REVOLUTIONARY MAOIST: "LIFE MISSION TO DESTROY IMPERIALISM!" 11. LA DISTRICT ATTORNEY PURSUES CASE AGAINST GERONIMO JI JAGA 12. BPP MEMBER GETS NEW TRIAL IN CRACKERVILLE, AMERIKKKA 13. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION 14. ENEMY OF THE STATE 15. UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS 16. LETTER ON MIM NOTES ART 17. RAIL INITIATES RADIO PROGRAM ON PRISONS 18. DOUBLE YOUR MONEY, DOUBLE YOUR SUPPORT FOR RAIL NOTES! 19. STUDY, STRUGGLE AND BUILD OPPOSITION TO IMPERIALISM! BOOKS ON BLACK REVOLUTIONARY NATIONALISM IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE 20. 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 * * * DROP SANCTIONS, NOT BOMBS AMERIKA LAUNCHES AIR STRIKES AGAINST IRAQ ORGANIZE FOR ANTI-IMPERIALIST REVOLUTION The governments of Amerika and England launched four nights of air strikes against the Iraqi people starting December 16. The recent air strikes continue the decade long war against the Iraqi people. The bombings will bring about increased death and destruction in the name of expanding U.$. imperialist power. To defend the continued genocide and recent military campaign, the imperialists pointed to the UN weapons inspectorís report on the status of UNSCOMís operations. The report stated that Iraq did not cooperate with Amerika. The imperialist report -- written with the advice of the $tate Department -- stated that Iraq "compromised" UN inspections of alleged weapons of mass destruction. The inspection process and its underlying premise of Amerikan authority are bogus. The deployment of weapons of mass destruction has overwhelmingly been at the hands of Amerikan imperialism. The imperialists attacked civilians under the guise of destroying Iraqís hypothetical future use of weapons of mass destruction. Because Amerikan imperialism relies on being the most powerful economic and military force in the world, the u.$. is willing to use its weapons of mass destruction any time a country does not bow to its will. And in this case as others, the imperialists create a show to justify genocidal military attacks. Beyond the number of direct deaths (estimated at 75 civilian), the bombings increase the deaths from preventable health problems. World War III continuesImperialist military strikes are only the shooting aspect of World War III waged against the Third World. Since 1990, the U.$., with the blessing of its puppet U.N., has enforced an economic blockade against Iraq. MIM recognizes these economic sanctions as an act of war. It is no surprise that the Iraqi people oppose the U$. So far more than 800,000 civilian Iraqi people have died from starvation and lack of medicine and adequate water treatment facilities. (This total is in addition to the number of civilians killed during the Gulf War bombings.) More than half of the dead have been children born after the Gulf War.(2) Every ten minutes an Iraqi child dies from malnutrition, preventable disease or other effects of the sanctions. When sanctions result in massive deaths and destruction, it is impossible to rationally reject the analysis that this is genocide.U.$. imperialism benefits from continued economic sanctions. The sanctions keep Iraq from upsetting investments in other parts of the region and keep Iraqís commerce out of commission. With the current low oil sales due to the economic crisis in Asia, more Iraqi oil on the market would be unwelcome competition for Amerikan companies and client states. The military attacks strengthen the imperialist hand against Iraq. The ruse surrounding weapons inspections helps to ensure prolonged implementation of the sanctions. The military campaign and economic sanctions as well as the tripling of imperialist ground troops in the region aid the long term imperialist goal of installing a puppet dictator that will kowtow to Amerikan demands. Until a U.$.-puppet is installed, the U.$. will continue its attempts to control Iraqi participation in the oil market through its current methods. Amerikan hypocrisy & hegemony Because Iraq has given up Kuwait, the blockade is illegal by UN resolutions. (Not that blockades were ever legal.) Now, the United Snakes of Imperialism uses Resolution 687 to justify the bombings and continued sanctions. U.N. Resolution 687 calls for Iraq to destroy its alleged weapons of mass destruction and to commit to inspections. Even taking for granted the U.$. claim that it was right to bomb Iraq if it violated the inspections, it is instructive to look at the Butler report. UNSCOM chief Richard Butler complains that Iraqi compliance with resolution 687 is "unacceptable." Since November 17, 1998, there have been 427 inspections of Iraqi sites. According to Butler's report, there have been only 5 "disruptions.": 1) a 45 minute delay, 2) an Iraqi rebuff to UNSCOM attempts to interview undergraduate science students in Baghdad, 3) restricting access to the small office of a Ba'ath party leader, 4&5) delays in getting access to buildings on the Muslim sabbath. By many accounts, Iraq has destroyed its weapons of mass destruction. It is not in the interests of U.$. imperialism to admit that Iraq has met the terms of Resolution 687. To do so would mean that the u.$. would have to lift economic sanctions against the Iraqi people, stop its strategy of genocide and lose the prospects of controlling Iraq to protect U.$. imperialism. Whether or not the accounts are accurate, MIM opposes the bombing of Iraq or other forms of coercion to control its military capacity. MIM opposes imperialism entire, including the imperialist power to act as world kop. Just as white pigs occupy the territory of oppressed nations within the u.$., the imperialists act as world pigs ñ in both cases, the pigs implement rules which benefit the economic, military and political interests of imperialist Amerika. MIM opposes the imperialist power to dictate the political, economic and military systems of other nations. We support genuine self- determination of oppressed nations and see this is the only way oppressed nations can negotiate with others on more equal terms and internally develop the best means to meet the needs of the people ñ proletarian dictatorship.The United Snakes would never allow another country, especially an enemy, to inspect its weapons systems. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee attached provisions to the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention that are like Saddam Hussein's protests to UNSCOM inspections. One provision says: "The President may deny a request to inspect any facility in the United States in cases where the President determines that the inspection may pose a threat to national security interests." It further states that "any objection by the President to any individual serving as an inspector shall not be reviewable in any court."(11) Amerikan citizens are even denied the right to document illegal Amerikan weapons. Six members of the Citizens Inspection Team, a pacifist group, were arrested for trespassing during attempts to inspect Davis Monthan Air Force Base for the presence of depleted uranium ammunition. This armor piercing ammunition is dangerous because of its radioactivity. Since its effects last for a long time and can cause high rates of death, it is illegal under international law.(8) These are simply a few examples that the United Snakes of Imperialism expects and enforces maximum protection of its military activities while simultaneously invading (what are supposed to be) sovereign nationsÖ to inspect and destroy weaponsÖ and to murder civilians. Who uses biological, chemical and nuclear weapons? When Iraq used poison gas against the Kurds and Iran in the 1980s, it was defended by the United States and UN. Gassing the Kurds in their fight for independence wasn't original to Iraq, it was first done by Great Britain in the 1920s.(4) The United Snakes is the only country to have actually used nuclear weapons, and did so against civilians. Additionally, the key ingredient in pepper spray -- used daily by police and prison guards -- is banned by the United Nations Biological Weapons Convention in 1972.(4) Current warnings of the threat of biological weapons from Iraq continue to tell only the imperialist side of the story. In the Persian Gulf War, Amerika used such weapons as napalm and fuel-air explosives against both military and civilian targets, in violation of the Geneva Convention. A fuel-air explosive releases a "shockwave" whose "concussive force would surely rupture internal organs or eardrums of Iraqi soldiers pinned down in their bunkers. This is not even to mention incineration and asphyxiation, as the fire storm of the bomb sucks all of the oxygen out of the area."(5) According to the CIA, Iraq did not use or deploy chemical and biological weapons in Kuwait.(7) Even after the war was over, Amerikan armed forces used both biological and chemical weapons on the "Highway of Death," a road from Kuwait to Iraq along which retreating Iraqi troops and Palestinian, Jordanian, and other war refugees traveled at the end of the 1991 war.(6) Again, these are only a sampling of imperialismís attacks against the masses of the world. This is why MIM organizes against U.$. bombings and sanctions within the context of building revolution against imperialist control entirely. Masses protest bombings The bombing may have stopped after four nights, but evidence points to a renewed military campaign. One key factor is that Amerika has been increasingly quicker to jump into military enforcement of imperialism in the past year. Amerika uses military force at times during the current World War III to try and scare the masses back into obedience. But from the long-term perspective, it has the opposite effect of exposing Amerika for the genocidal murderer it is. After the bombing began, demonstrations were immediately organized around the world. The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) organized rallies, video showings and teach-ins. In the West Bank, thousands of Palestinians demonstrated against the attack, and one was shot and killed by Israel police.(9) Palestinians chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Clinton". Indonesian protesters were photographed with signs such as "Clinton=Hitler" and "Clinton is mass murderer of the year." The Iraqi people know that Clinton's claim to oppose not the common people but only Saddam Hussein to be false. The December attacks merely teach the new generation why they should oppose imperialism. One Iraqi told a reporter: "Last night my daughter asked me, 'What is it?" when the bombs started," ... describing how his three children cowered in fear and cried next to him n bed as the missiles rained down. "I told her it was America. She asked me 'Why does America do this to us?' And I told her it is because they have hatred for the Iraqi people.... There is no factory, no presidential palace, no weapons site here. There are only people. So why do you bomb us?"(10) Notes: 1. NPR - "All Things Considered" December 16, 1998 2. http://www.web.net/~gccwat/iraq/ 3. The Independent 14 October 1998. 4. "The pot calling the kettle black: A history of bio-chemical weapons," http://www.Al- Bushra.org/temp/grossman.htm. 5. Ramsey Clark and others, War Crimes: A Report on United States War Crimes Against Iraq. Maissoneuve Press (Washington, D.C.: 1992), p. 86. 6. Ibid, p. 18. 7. CIA report on Intelligence Related to Gulf War Illnesses. http:///www.gulflink.osd.mil/cia_report/102496_war.htm l 8. Iraq Notes, Houston Coalition to End the War Against Iraq, 281-546-7173 9. Agence France Press Dec 17 10. Boston Globe Dec 18 1998 p. A19. 11. The Progressive March 1998 p. 8. * * * AMERIKAN WIMMIN BOMB IRAQ Score one imperialist pseudo-feminist point for Amerikan wimmin in Operation Desert Fox. Aboard the USS Enterprise (yes, thatís the real name of the aircraft carrier) several female pilots were the first to drop bombs in combat during this latest attack on Iraq. This is the kind of "progress" that pseudo-feminists across the U.$. fight for: The right of wimmin to participate actively in the mass destruction of nations that refuse to bow to every demand of the U.$. government. In fact, many pseudo-feminists are upset that wimmin still are not allowed to participate in ground combat. These people believe that it is only by fully participating in imperialist domination and murder can wimmin achieve equality to men. MIM has an alternative. We fight for wimminís equality through their full participation in the revolution to overthrow imperialism and end class, nation and gender oppression. We do not want full equality with men on the level of equal rights to oppress and exploit the majority of the worldís people. We demand the right of all wimmin around the world to be free of imperialist domination. Only by recognizing the principal enemy, imperialism, can we take on the battle against gender oppression on the side of the oppressed. Note: Associated Press, 23 December 1998. * * * MUMIA CASE PROVES NEED FOR PARTY PRESS On December 9, the television show "20/20" aired an half hour presentation on Mumia Abu-Jamal's legal case and openly scorned the protesters seeking his release.MIM hopes that many people who have read about this case saw the "20/20" show with Sam Donaldson. It was a case of concrete proof why we must insist on building independent institutions of the oppressed, including media.Many people naively beg or pull stunts to attract the major news media's attention. They don't understand that coverage is not the same thing as truth. Even if begging for coverage works, there is no guarantee on what the result will be. In the whole half-hour show, "20/20" found no place to mention that all major prosecution witnesses have been uncovered as being coerced by police. It just so happens that the prosecution's witnesses had charges against them outstanding. In 1996, one signed an affidavit to this effect. Yet no new trial has been granted. Hence, on a strictly legal and narrow journalistic basis, "20/20" exposed itself to the public as another vile imperialist media organ. Even more importantly, we must have independent media of the oppressed built from scratch, because after arguing with Sam Donaldson and Judge Sabo type reactionary morons, we ourselves will become reduced to their level. We must discuss amongst ourselves the full range of issues of right and wrong. The fact that Mumia had a trial with 9 whites on the jury, and not his peers -- this is something that we need to discuss in terms of national liberation struggle. We can let the lawyers talk about what they think is important to the white man's judges, but in the end, there is the question why Daniel Faulkner was patrolling in the first place. Faulkner was white and even Philadelphia cops and Sam Donaldson admitted he was beating up a Black man, Mumia's brother, when Mumia came on the scene. If the Black nation had its own police and courts, that never would have happened. Despite the fact of Mumia's arriving in the midst of a beating, Maureen Faulkner says he was a "cold-blooded" killer. As demonstrated in the first Rodney King trial of the white officers beating him on video-tape the Euro-Amerikan nation does not get it. The simple idea that criminals are criminals even if they are wearing blue does not occur to the crackers populating Amerika. They are oh-so proud to win a case in which the system gave Mumia's lawyer $150 to conduct his defense. They think it grand to count as "truth" the verdicts from cases involving testimonies from people about to go on trial themselves. If good samaritans came across Rodney King getting beat by four officers along the side of the highway and decided to aid Rodney King by shooting the officers, they would be righteous. MIM opposes armed struggle at this time, but we must not think as the crackers do -- that it's an automatic given that cops should do as they please. White cops in contact with Black people should be treated as an occupying army. * * * THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS: WHY SOME ARE SO RICH AND SOME SO POOR by David S. Landes New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998 650 pp. reviewed by MC5 David Landes is a retired Harvard professor aiming squarely at an issue we Maoists see underlying what we call the "principal contradiction" between oppressor nations and oppressed nations. He claims to examine the last 1000 years of history and finds that Europe is the main contributor to economic and technological progress, modernity. Review of reviews MIM's glee over the publication of this book is also connected to all the ivory tower leading lights willing to go down with Landes' imperialist chauvinist sinking ship. As Reason Magazine's contributing editor Deirdre McCloskey practically admitted in a review of the Landesí book, the field of economic history is dominated by Marxism even in the ivory tower. Rarely do we find anything that the bourgeois economists (and Landes claims to be one) will hoist as their banner and be accountable for. In the case of this book, we have Nobel Prize winners Robert Solow and Kenneth Arrow in addition to John K. Galbraith lined up to champion Landes' book. In addition we have the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times singing the praises of Landes. As such, the book is irresistible target practice for us Maoist scientists. Generally, Landes received favorable but lightweight reviews. We will add a few remaining points of agreement with these reviewers. Landes indeed has launched a very lucid attack on post-modernism and Marxism. Partaking in frequent sentence fragments, Landes clearly indicates a willingness to pay the price for clarity. We agree with him and his reviewers who pointed this out. However, we find it regrettable the Kirkus Review could only say the book borders on the chauvinist. Landes has long been about as conscious an imperialist chauvinist as there can be. Third World anecdotes, not systematic evidence What Landes does say about Third World societies is either stereotypical or ad-hoc. It takes little analytical effort to say that Third World culture must be holding back industrial development, because the Third World is relatively underdeveloped compared with Europe and Amerika. Such becomes a circular argument when the details of Third World society are either unknown or not gathered up in systematic ways. J. Bradford De Long points out that Landes talks about China being the most scientifically advanced in the earlier part of the millenium but fails to offer a convincing reason for why China lost its edge. Relying on the academic work of others, Landes puts forward that China's Confucian culture vested business and state power in one place and thwarted the efforts of a potential business class to innovate. In contrast, Marxism does not attempt to explain development by timeless cultural arguments. Marxism refers to modes of production that change over time. We Marxists also do not feel compelled to justify European superiority on the basis of evidence that does not exist. Landes and many others in the tradition of "cultural" explanations cannot explain why Confucian culture was the most advanced scientifically at one time, because Confucianism is a constant and China's global scientific leadership role has been a variable. Furthermore, since Landes believes that Taiwan, Hong Kong and southern Korea have "made it," he has no explanation there either. They should still be stifling under Confucian mores against profit. Other reviewers gave Landes credit in the sense that we are "all postmodernists now." He admits that European civilization was inferior to Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations for thousands of years. The reason he gives is that Europeans didn't have the tools to handle Europe's dense forests (p. 19) and today many tropical countries still do not have the tools to deal with their environment. Landes does not tell us whether other societies were ahead in their forest-chopping technology, but he only asks to be accountable for the last 1000 years of history anyway. Also in the everyone-is-post-modernist-now spirit, Landes trots out a story about a fabulously wealthy African king (p. 73-) without ever explaining the details of how this African king and his culture failed along the criteria that Landes say are necessary for development. In the case of India, Landes tells us that Hindu religion saw no need to minimize the use of labor.(p. 227) He does not connect that to anything specific in the culture, so it is a fairly circular argument buttressed by ad-hoc arguments, such as that India had no screws.(p. 228) What is more he misses a chance to discuss diversity within Hinduism along the lines of his own concepts of "openness" and "tolerance" of discussion. Instead, what Landes does is explain the trivial with the trivial on an ad hoc basis. He admits that when it comes to India and its relationship to British imperialism, he found published works lacking. "Almost no written documentation comes down to us from the Indian side."(p. 163) It seems to Landes that even Indian scholars base their books on Western documents. While Landes bashes the post-modernists, he is simply the twin evil of post-modernism. Landes conducts poor science or pseudo-science in the name of not having to study or know much about Third World society. The post-modernists point to those like Landes and conclude (correctly) that we must study Third World society as part of "diversity." Yet on account of poor science by the likes of Landes, post-modernists reject all science. Accelerating inequality "The difference in income per head between the richest industrial nation, say Switzerland, and the poorest nonindustrial country, Mozambique, is about 400 to 1. Two hundred and fifty years ago, this gap between richest and poorest was perhaps 5 to 1, and the difference between Europe and, say, East or South Asia (China or India) was around 1.5 or 2 to 1."(p. xx) Landes himself raises the fact of accelerating economic inequality, but none of his arguments address that acceleration. He contents himself with pointing out differences, differences that have been more or less constant and hence not useful to explain larger and larger gaps. In fact, the differences Landes notices have gotten smaller over time while the economic gap between imperialists and oppressed nations has gotten larger. Readers can judge for themselves whether or not Landes' own criteria have become more true or less true in the time that acceleration of inequality took place: "If I had to single out the critical, distinctively European sources of success, I would emphasize three considerations: (1) the growing autonomy of intellectual inquiry; (2) the development of unity in disunity in the form of a common implicitly adversarial method, that is, the creation of a language of proof recognized, used, and understood across national and cultural boundaries, and (3) the invention of invention, that is, the routinization of research and its diffusion." (p. 201)(italics removed) In other words, Landes says Europe took up science and engineering and had the openness and freedom to do so. Science led to overall economic leadership, he says. Readers need to ask themselves if it is not true that more of the world has been exposed to science and even the Anglo view of things than ever before. Yet just as Anglo "openness" and media and demonstrations of science and engineering reach more people more often in faster communication than ever before, the gap between rich and poor continues to widen. Ironically, Landes does acknowledge the obvious facts of the situation. Science has made the rounds globally now. He derides those who believe China still needs to be cheer-led into science.(p. 349) Even more telling is some evidence he presents from Africa in 1962: "Without significant exception, all African leaders . . . share the passionate desire to acquire all the good things which western civilization has produced in the two millennia of its history. They want especially to get the tehnological blessings of American civilization, and to do so as quickly as possible.(pp. 499-500) Despite this fact, Africa is where the most countries with negative income growth can be found. Once again, if it is true that scientific method and Anglo influence are global now more than ever, why is the gap between rich and poor expanding if Landes is right? For us Marxists with the labor theory of value, it is not difficult at all to come up with a theory about an exponential growth rate in one group of countries and stagnation or regression in another group. Quite simply, the surplus-labor of one society contributes to the wealth of another. Even only a few percentage points of the total labor being appropriated from the Third World will explain European growth the same way a savings account grows exponentially in size over decades and centuries. In addressing similar arguments from the "dependency" school of thought in Latin America, Landes said that even if foreign interference is the real reason for poverty, it would be better to "stow" the theories that were true and concentrate on self-improvement.(p. 328) On the last page of the book, he returns to this theme talking about the need for an optimistic and striving culture and not a pessimistic one.(p. 524) To the extent that talking about imperialism is an excuse for whining, MIM has to agree with Landes. However, his remark on this in all italics shows an improper understanding of the importance of science. A bleak theory blaming foreign influence of imperialism, if it is true, means that development can only occur by destroying the link to imperialism. In other words, there are practical implications of "science" and they cannot just be "stowed." An accurate view of a problem is necessary before one solves it with the least waste of energy. Social-democratic view of imperialism In reply, Landes says that the imperialists already withdrew from the colonies. The reason they leave is that the cost of administration of colonialism became too expensive.(pp. 393,423) Social-democrats have always differed with Lenin's theory of imperialism. According to the social- democrats, when imperialism becomes too costly, policy changes. Landes accepts that view. >From the Leninist view, the imperialists only withdraw when the cost to them is too great. The imperialists hardly care if the exploited or the oppressed bear the costs of empire. A war may be very expensive, but if the imperialists are not paying the taxes, then they see benefit in that war for colonial plunder. It is also important to point out in this context that Lenin never said a system had to export capital steadily without crisis to be imperialist. If a society is characterized by export of capital but more capital flows back as accumulation from foreign investments, then that is exactly what we Leninists believe. Lenin's theory of imperialism is a theory of crisis. Certainly there is much capitalism that never reaches the multinational corporate stage, but once it does reach that stage, we Leninists never claimed it would be stable or successful. Pre-capitalist militarism Although Landes does discuss the genocide committed against indigenous peoples, he is untroubled by the possibility that militarism might have been the real reason some societies failed or ceased to exist while the Europeans went ahead. Perhaps development has not much to do with protecting private property and quite the contrary many societies more advanced perished on its account already. The discussion of militarism by Landes is totally lacking. He is irked that some progressive historians treat European military superiority as an accident of history.(p. 89) He knows that all of European progress can be linked to the use of force against Third World peoples, so he goes to great lengths to show that Europe was already more advanced than the Third World and that is why it had military superiority. His own story on the Chinese undercuts him. The Chinese invented gunpowder; yet they did not plunder the world with the invention. In fact, Landes implies the Chinese didn't really understand their invention and mystified themselves with war as if it "were a display of recipes."(p. 53) This observation and many similar ones did not stop Landes from saying later that imperialism "is the expression of a deep human drive."(p. 63) A mere 12 pages later, he quoted Columbus on how the natives of North America did not covet property and "they know nothing of killing one another."(p. 75) So much for Landes's "deep human drive" idea. Landes admits that the white man was baffled by the indigenous people and that contributed to genocide, but Landes seems unwilling to consider the possibility of peoples more restrained than Europeans and also perhaps less restrained in militarism and now gone forever. On the other hand, Landes also never tallied up all the imperialist military aid from Anglo-Amerikan imperialism to pre-capitalist ruling cliques. Even mentioning the global military aid of U.$. imperialism to repression would have undercut the European tradition he wants to credit for economic progress. Thus, if openness is crucial to development as Landes said, then U.$.-backed military repression throughout the world is a perfect explanation for lack of Third World development. No Soviet Union treatment It appears that at least in the case of the Soviet Union, the more Western openness, the slower the economic growth. Economic growth was fantastic under Stalin and has steadily decelerated since his rule. The more capitalism the Soviet Union took up, the worse its economy became. Now in this last bit of Yelstin-era capitalism, the economy has shrunk 40 percent. The success of Stalin and the failure of Yelstin is something Landes does not even attempt to address. What little he says treats the Soviet Union as one thing from 1917 to 1986.(p. 497) We Maoists say it went state-capitalist after Stalin died in 1953. Points of unity with LandesDavid Landes is an historian who attacks Marxism as "too simple." When he needs to use a little Marxism, he uses it, but in an explanation with several other chains of reasoning as well.David Landes rejects Marxism as too simple essentially because he rejects the discipline of science. That is why he is unable to sustain his own comparisons and analysis throughout the world and the book he wrote. Thanks to his deliberate eclecticism ("Monocausal explanations will not work." (p. 517)), it is necessary to point out those snippets of work he did that we do agree with. Examples would include his admission of genocide by the white oppressor nation against the indigenous peoples of America and his admission that slavery also killed millions even just in the voyage over. This kind of thing that is impossible for the slightly-read historian to ignore anymore without looking dumb in front of the masses -- Landes is inclined to concede.One of his theses going along with Western Liberalism is that societies with religious restrictions fell behind economically. Landes's message is tolerance of Jews and Protestants. Islam and the Inquisition and other religious intolerance cut into business and technology. According to Landes, religious bigotry is such a problem that Portugal and Spain started out leading the quest for empire in the last several hundred years, but they lost on account of their reactionary religious views.(e.g., pp. 134-5)MIM agrees with Landes on this point. He serves as the memory of the bourgeoisie and we agree that capitalism is superior to pre-capitalist modes of production, so his pointing to pogroms holding back economic development -- we see this as a case of the superstructure holding back the mode of production. Historically the bourgeoisie is correct about its struggles against pre-capitalist societies in which religious authority was higher than business authority. Landes did not discuss British intolerance of Catholicism. His book is solidly pro-Protestant and he admits to adhering to Max Weber's theses on the Protestant Ethic; (p. 177) although they have been disproved specifically with regard to Protestantism many times since Weber wrote his theses. Overall amongst religions and cultures, the book is most favorable to the Jews, Anglo-American imperialism and Zionism as contributors to modernity. He notes correctly that the Catholic Church squelched the famous scientist Galileo 400 years ago and is only now getting around to rehabilitating him. (p. 181) For the Germans, he mentions their racial intolerance.(p. 467) Thus, the typical bourgeois view includes tolerance -- gender, race and religious tolerance. Another important thing is "openness." Japan ordered its people not to travel in the 1600s.(p. 356) Ocean vessels have been put under restriction many times in history. Yet opposing immigration, emigration or foreign travels is just another way inquiry falls down and contention of views is diminished. According to Landes, and we believe he is correct in the transition from pre-capitalist to capitalist, lack of openness will lead to lack of development.Another area we agree with is Landes's attacks on post-modernism in defense of science: "One must reject the implication that outsideness disqualifies; that only Muslims can understand Islam, only blacks understand black history, only a woman understand women's studies, and so on. That way lies separateness and a dialogue of the deaf."(p. 417) * * * CAMPAIGN TO EXPAND MIM NOTES DISTRIBUTION MIM Notes is initiating a campaign to expand distribution of our newspaper in 1999. As the end of the century approaches we must stress the importance of summing up the lessons of the 20th century for communists and of applying these lessons to the advancing struggle against imperialism. Independent media of the oppressed is crucial to building a movement that can take on imperialism. Right now we don't come close to competing with the New York Times or the other daily newspapers across this imperialist country. But with your help we can expand our distribution and advance the fight towards the day when we can take on and defeat the imperialist mouthpieces. If you live in a city where there is no regular MIM Notes distributor, your help is crucial. But even if you live in a city where there are already distributors, your help will expand our outreach into more communities in your city. We ask that our distributors help with the cost of printing and shipping the paper if possible but whether or not you have the money we need your help. 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Name______________________________________ Address ____________________________________ City _______________________ State__________ Zip__________ * * * CLINTON TRIES TO SEAL PALESTINIAN NEOCOLONIALISM; PLO THROWS OUT ITS CHARTER by MC12 The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has finally, really finally, abolished the radical parts of its charter at the demand of Israel and Amerika. The step, timed to coincide with President Clinton's historic visit to Gaza, marked another big step on the road to Palestinian neocolonialism. The back and forth between Israeli leaders -- in which Likud party leader Netanyahu is currently on the ropes -- is a relatively small distraction from the overall movement toward Palestinian integration into the imperialist fold as a dependent neocolonial state. Clinton's trip and the PLO capitulation signal the possibility that Palestine may eventually end up as an "independent state," after all the real independence has been driven from its liberation movement, and its economic and political dependency on imperialism has been fully ensured. The main task of Amerika and the Israeli government now is to ensure that the Palestinian state not end up under the leadership of the radical Islamic movement, which makes neocolonialism more difficult to administer. MIM takes this opportunity to repeat: formal political independence is not necessarily liberation, it is not necessarily victory for a national liberation struggle. This is the case even if the achievement of an independent state is itself positive compared to the failure to achieve such a state. National liberation for oppressed nations is only possible through breaking the bonds with imperialism, politically and economically, that prevent full self- determination. Such an achievement has so far in history only been won by proletarian-led national liberation struggles, principally China, which lead to socialism as well. Clinton pressed hard for the formal PLO capitulation, and he is also pressing hard to influence the Israeli government in the direction of accepting bogus independence for the Palestinian people to weaken the Islamic movement's base of support, reduce tensions in the Middle East, and get the economic gravy train up and running for imperialist economic interests. The intransigent Israeli government has stalled the process, leading to what the imperialists see as unnecessary conflict; Netanyahu and the extreme right wing in Israel don't share Clinton's long-term confidence that the Palestinian movement can be co- opted. Now Clinton's former campaign consultant James Carville, and his pollster Stanley Greenberg, are on the case to help the Labor party take power from Likud.(1) The Palestinian people, despite the lure of Clinton's political and economic attentions, showed that their militancy remains intact, turning out for protests of the U.$. bombing of Iraq, in solidarity with the oppressed nations of the Middle East.(2) Others did celebrate Clinton's visit, on the promise that the Palestinian "Authority" will soon have what the Washington Post generously called "full or partial administrative control of 40 percent of the West Bank." At the moment, Israel is reneging on that deal, which was also supposed to include the release of 750 Palestinian prisoners. But Clinton's visit was also greeted as a symbol of the U.$. willingness to back the creation of a Palestinian state. "We are profoundly affected and touched by the sincerity of the respect he professes for the Palestinian people, and his readiness to support us," wrote the Palestinian newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida. "We perceive in your visit a great symbol of hope in the future."(3) During Clinton's visit -- while Clinton was plotting the bombing of Iraq -- the PLO leadership voted to reaffirm a letter Chairman Yasser Arafat had previously sent promising to nullify parts of the PLO charter that deny Israel's right to exist. The vote nullified 11 clauses, and parts of 18 others, out of 33 total articles in the charter. These four articles were among those cancelled: Article 7: "That there is a Palestinian community and that it has material, spiritual and historical connections with Palestine are indisputable facts. It is a national duty to bring up Palestinians in an Arab revolutionary manner. All means of information and education must be adopted in order to acquaint the Palestinian with his country in the most profound manner that is possible, both spiritual and material. He must be prepared for the armed struggle and ready to sacrifice his wealth and his life in order to win back his homeland and bring about its liberation. Article 9: "Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine. Thus it is the overall strategy, not merely a tactical phase. The Palestinian Arab people assert their absolute determination and firm resolution to continue their armed struggle and work for an armed popular revolution for the liberation of their country and their return to it. They also assert their right to normal life in Palestine and to exercise their right to self-determination and sovereignty over it. Article 19: "The partition of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of the State of Israel are entirely illegal, regardless of the passage of time, because they were contrary to the will of the Palestinian people and to their natural right in their homeland, and inconsistent with the principles embodied in the charter of the United Nations, particularly the right of self-determination." Article 22: "Zionism is a political movement organically associated with international imperialism and antagonistic to all action for liberation and to progressive movements in the world. It is racist and fanatic in its nature, aggressive, expansionist and colonialist in its aims, and fascist in its methods. Israel is the instrument of the Zionist movement, and a geographical base for world imperialism placed strategically in the midst of the Arab homeland to combat the hopes of the Arab nation for liberation, unity and progress."(4) Acknowledging the existence of a Jewish nation is not itself wrong, but the language struck from the PLO charter also nullifies the liberatory aspects of the Palestinian movement altogether. White House national security adviser Samuel Berger told the press that the voting PLO members, who also heard a speech by Clinton, "felt validated as human beings ... as Palestinians, as a people, by virtue of the fact that the president of the United States came to Gaza and spoke with them."(5) Besides the personal "validation," Clinton also said he would ask Congress for "several hundred million dollars" to secure Palestinian dependency and reward the capitulationist leadership.(4) But the meeting at which the vote was held was boycotted by a number of PLO factions that object to the leadership's capitulation.(5) These included the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Sa'qa Group, the Popular Palestinian Struggle Front, and the Palestine Liberation Front. Together these groups had only about 100 votes out of the 730 on the council that passed the vote.(6) Unlike a United Front in the Maoist sense, the Palestine Liberation Organization was one of a generation of oppressed nation movements that sought to unite anti-imperialist groups without insisting on proletarian leadership. Like the FMLN in El Salvador and the African National Congress in Azania (South Africa), these groups sought a strategy that would permit them to receive aid from the social-imperialist Soviet Union. To secure that aid, they couldn't have genuinely communist leadership. When the Soviet Union collapsed these groups were left high and dry because they had chosen dependency rather than self reliance. The PLO is one of the last of this type to capitulate completely, seeking to substitute one dependency for another. In contrast, a genuine Maoist-led United Front, such as the National Democratic Front of the Philippines led by the Communist Party of the Philippines, seeks true self-determination, practices self-reliance in the struggle, and depends on the strength of the people rather than the kindness of imperialist super powers. There is no easy road to liberation and self- determination for the oppressed nations under imperialism. But the example set by the Chinese liberation and socialism (1949-1976), and carried on today by comrades such as those in the Philippines, is provide examples of successful paths forward. The example of the PLO, like the many before them, should be a warning to those who believe otherwise. Notes: 1. Washington Post, December 21, 1998; Page A26. 2. Washington Post, December 20, 1998; Page A45. 3. Washington Post, December 16, 1998; Page A33. 4. Jerusalem Post Internet Edition, December 15, 1998. 5. Washington Post, December 15, 1998; Page A01. 6. Reuters, December 8, 1998. * * * HEAT IS UP IN THE MOVEMENT AGAINST THE PRISON-STATE The Atlantic Monthly feature article on the "Prison- Industrial Complex" in the December, 1998 issue is the latest proof that the petty-bourgeoisie is starting to be shaken by the facts of the U.$. prison-state. The movement is gaining ground outside the tiny proletarian political leadership and the lumpenproletariat -- in the petty-bourgeoisie. In recent months, a new publication dedicated just to exposing the prison-state on the drug issue arose that MIM already reviewed. Also Amnesty International is making solid progress in crawling out of its redneck hole. When MIM used to confront Amnesty International on humyn rights abuses, its members would often tell MIM that the U$A is a free country. Local meetings in Michigan featured the U.$. flag as a rallying symbol on publicity posters, in the very arrogant way of saying that humyn rights are something to bring to other countries. It was nice to see the Northeast Regional Director of Amnesty International write for the Quakers in the "December 1998/January 1999" issue of "Peacework" on U.$. prisons. On the whole, the article is a good thing. MIM and a handful of sociologists publishing textbooks have been citing the statistics of the "Sentencing Project" and Marc Mauer for some time to show that except for a brief time under Boris Yeltsin's "state of emergency" the United $tates has been the world's leading prison-state per capita. The rednecks are always quick to tell MIM that communists are wrong because the United $tates is a "free country." These rednecks either lie or live a life of delusion. The Amnesty International article still only admits that "the country now has one of the largest prison populations in the world." Well, Amnesty International does not believe MIM, government statistics, the Sentencing Project or the UN statistics that MIM has been making a stink about. Now Amnesty International can listen to the Atlantic Monthly, which says that the United $tates has perhaps half a million more prisoners than social-fascist China does. That's correct: even though China has more than four times more people, the United $tates imprisons more people. We also leave India in the dust. China and India are the two largest countries population-wise. The United $tates is third. Whether it be total numbers of prisoners in the world or the prison rate per 1000 people, the United $tates is number one. On the whole Amnesty International is also correct to draw the international connection and point out that the United $tates plays a big role in talking about humyn rights law without applying it. In fact, although the United $tates is the world's leading prison-state itself, its largest contribution to repression is through military aid to lackey regimes in the Third World, including the sale of weapons and torture equipment. MIM takes the Amnesty International article as vindication of its line. There is no question that the petty-bourgeoisie in the imperialist countries has to be mobilized by the proletariat. The question is how. Many seek to encourage the petty-bourgeoisie into reformist struggles for salary increases. In contrast, MIM's focus on the student-prisoner alliance and issues of national oppression calls forward a reformism forced to educate the public about politics. The facts about prisons in the United $tates are a very quick political lesson, one most damaging to the system at this time out of all the issues we can focus a campaign on domestically. In prison the issues of poverty, national oppression, torture and the U.$. global role all intersect and now even Atlantic Monthly can see someone making a profit in prison- building. This article is by a former Amnesty International member. * * * AMERIKAN RULING INSTABILITY INCREASES: CLINTON IMPEACHED On December 19, 1998, President Bill Clinton became the second president in history to be impeached by the House of Representatives. Andrew Johnson was the first 130 years ago. Impeachment is not conviction for a crime. It is a charge of crime. The House charged Clinton with perjury and obstruction of justice. It rejected the idea of his influencing others to perjure and the idea of his abusing his office. We Marxists refer to this as an intra-ruling class conflict. The impeachment is a sign that there is a serious crisis in the system. It is unclear at this time whether Clinton will be able to continue with "business as usual." It seems unlikely the Senate will convict Clinton next year when it raises the question, but breakdown of intra-government relations may increase pressure for resignation in the meantime. What the real reason for getting rid of Clinton is appears to be political. Some House representatives said that Clinton broke too many promises in his dealings with the Republicans. MIM would have to concur that the Republicans are not used to dealing with a Democrat with political skill and the ability to fight and with the help of people like James Carville, who runs campaigns. Generally, Democrats have been pansies so long -- losers like McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis -- so the Republicans perceive this president to be a radical threat. The New York Times of December 19th also mentioned further sexual evidence to come out against Clinton and the fact that 76 percent of conservative Republicans favored impeachment (and only 49 percent of other Republicans). The perjury charge received the most votes, and five Democrats supported the charge against Democrat Bill Clinton. Five Republicans voted against. Otherwise, the entire Republican Party voted for impeachment and the entire Democratic Party voted against with two abstentions.(1) Sexual politics On the same day, the incoming House Speaker Bob Livingstone resigned his House Speakership, because of the news reports uncovering his marital infidelity. The major media has reported the concept used by some that the whole thing is a matter of "sexual McCarthyism." Instead of obliterating communists, the sexual McCarthyists ask "are you now or have you ever engaged in adultery?" What we are seeing is the victory of sexual politics unleashed by pseudo-feminism and supported in what is now seen as a direct way by the Christian Right. Clinton is being charged in connection to perjury in relation to a relatively new pseudo-feminist legal theory that says Paula Jones and other plaintiffs have the right to dig into men's sexual histories to advance their own cases. It is the bastardization of radical politics into some new reformist fowl that has resulted in the shame Amerika is in now. Most mainstream "feminists" are now complaining bitterly about how their baby is being used against Clinton, who stands for their causes against the Republican Right. Typical is the founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW), Betty Friedan: "It might be grounds for divorce, but not grounds for impeachment. . . . Clinton's policies and programs have been very good for women. He stood up for family leave, right to choose and affirmative action, and he had Hillary give a wonderful role model of a marriage between equals."(2) Open anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly said the "feminists' mistake in standing by their man, despite his lies and crimes, has cost them all credibility. They are just a shrill subset of the left wing of the Democratic Party. If they were truly for women's rights, they would have stood up for Paula Jones' civil rights and against the big CEO having an affair with a very junior subordinate."(2) Nonetheless, MIM sees no obligation to defend Clinton or oppose only "sexual McCarthyism" and not Liberal Freudianism of the Friedan sort. MIM seeks transformation of gender relations at the institutional level and we let the Christians, petty- bourgeois radicals and pseudo-feminists argue amongst themselves on whether Livingstone should remain as Speaker or not. Within their own logic, the only time they "do something" to "reform" patriarchy is by scrutinizing individual behavior at a pornographic level. In this case, it was hard-core pornographic magazine Hustler providing one million dollars as a reward to those who exposed the Republicans by unearthing the details that nailed Bob Livingstone. That should be a clue to these reformists what the real basis of their politics is, that Hustler could ever hold the balance of power. Hustler's role in bringing down the second most powerful man in Amerika (and third in line to succeed the president after the vice-president) -- House Speaker-elect Bob Livingstone -- is proof of what MIM has been saying all along about pornography's pervasive role in imperialist patriarchy. Under socialism, production for profit is illegal and pornography disappears to a great extent. It was a true coup for Hustler magazine to nail Livingstone. Forever the openly pornographic magazines have said that they should not be censored because they have a right to "free speech." The surprising truth is that these pornographers and many in the sex business do play a critical role in supporting the political media, especially by the purchase of ads for everything from models to escort services. Many slightly out of the mainstream publications have relied on such money since the 1960s. In Amerika as it stands now, repressing the pornographers is repressing "free speech." That is why it is impossible to use the Catharine MacKinnon strategy of reformist change for progress. The Christian Right uses MacKinnon with ease, so we have to modify our MacKinnonism for revolutionary use. Under a socialist dictatorship informed by Mao's theories of Cultural Revolution, it will not be necessary to have pornographers funding the media. The masses will have direct access to the media. Production will not be for profit, so the masses will be able to express themselves with free government resources. What Friedan said about the conservatives is true and what Schafly said about Friedan and the rest is also true. Individualism is so weak as an approach in contrast with Marxism, that "doing something" about patriarchy results in absurdity within individualism's framework. Pseudo-feminism is not progress; it is a sign of the decay of imperialism. The current paralysis of the U.S. Government is great proof of the logic of pseudo-feminism. Pseudo-feminism can express the divisive decadence of the system but it cannot provide relief. Even in the single case of Clinton, the result is prolonged pornography. Prosecutionism and the principal contradiction MIM will say that what the Republicans have done to Clinton is less than what well-paid prosecutors with large budgets have done against underfunded defense lawyers with poor clients on a daily basis. If the charges against Clinton seem exaggerated in their importance, it is a dialectical result of the war on the oppressed nations. Since the United $tates is prosecuting oppressed nationalities at rates exceeding that of the many fascist states in the world, it is not surprising that some of that attitude rubs off within the oppressor nation. MIM realizes that comrades globally would like some sense of the intra-imperialist rivalry from MIM. The theory that this impeachment was really about Iraq was undercut when Clinton bombed Iraq and he still got impeached. The Progressive Labor Party had said it was Big Oil behind this, but Clinton bombed Iraq harder than ever in his administration and he still got impeached the next day. MIM would say that the impeachment reflects the tension within the United $tates which is moving toward the birth of several new nations. The oppressor nation finds its unity in born-again Christian fascism. Other varieties of oppressor nation politics show too much tolerance for other nationalities to be a true root of white identity. The minority that supports the Republican Party through thick and thin is composed of irrational settlers. These are like the settlers so crucial to reactionary politics in colonial situations everywhere, including the Zionist entity and in the situations of white-ruled South Africa and Rhodesia to name the most recent historical examples. According to Marx, the masses get the leaders they deserve. The leaders cannot be historically much more advanced than the masses and they can also be as bad as the masses let them be. Although it will appear laughable to many of education and differing culture, the impeachment is a genuine reflection of the people, the hard-core minority of the white oppressor nation and the rest of the white nation that is unable to stop them from carrying out their "coup" against an elected president. The cracker Christians of Amerika were behind this impeachment all the way and lobbied for it well before the perjury happened. The mass basis of the right face of U.$. imperialism would settle for nothing less than impeachment of Clinton, just as much as the hard-right in the Israeli oppressor nation is able to call the shots to the extent of assassinating the Labour Party's leader and the Zionist entity's fifth "prime minister," Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. The desperate politicking by the right-face of imperialism at this time is a reflection of the global beating it has taken. Without the United $tates under its control, the IMF-style faction and those to its right in the capitalist class have nothing. Neither European nor Japanese imperialism is likely to go down the neo-liberal road of imperialism unless the United $tates does. The left-face of imperialism remains in power and generates the desperate efforts at a "coup" from the traditional right-wing authoritarians. Whether or not it succeeds in reining in the U.$. government, the right-wing of imperialism has raised the stakes and the political consciousness of the masses. The furor surrounding impeachment is a small taste of the kind of civil war to come in the United $tates. A large portion of the masses are alienated at this moment by the direction one brand of reactionary politicians is leading them. The born-agains behind the impeachment drive strive for the creation of a pure white nation, some consciously, others unconsciously. If they could be isolated to a small area in Idaho it would be a small matter, but in fact, the oppressor nation nationalists are not sure they shouldn't be running the United $tates. The oppressor nation's unity leaves open the possibility it would rather be yanked along by the chain in the nose into ousting Clinton and similar behavior. The success of impeachment ensures that many white nationalists will be encouraged and continue to try imposing their agenda on a country they are not sure will respond to their call. At the same time, the risk to the oppressor nation is that a good hunk of the country will realize it does not have much in common with the forces for impeachment. It will shake the integrationist illusions of the oppressed nations within the U.$.A. and force a majority of whites to decide where they really stand politically. It is not likely that impeachment in itself will result in the kind of clarifying political crisis that would result in the creation of several nations or a tendency for such. Nonetheless it is now a part of the background thinking of the masses. Notes: 1. If you live in the United $tates and you need a source for this story, you need to consider getting a life and pulling your head out of the sand. Concentrate on learning research skills. http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/19/impe achment.01/ 2. USA Today 18 December 1998, p. 27a. * * * PUERTO RICANS VOTE ON COLONIAL STATUS On December 13 a plebiscite was held in Puerto Rico which gave Puerto Ricans a choice between the status quo or a new slant on its status as a colony of the U.$. The big winner: "none of the above." Puerto Ricans were given a choice of four options: current territorial status under the U.$., "free association" under a treaty with the u.s. government, independence, statehood, and none of the above. With about 75% of the eligible population voting, over 50% voted for none of the above. The second victor was statehood with 46.5%. The "none of the above" vote was supported by the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) which opposes statehood but supports the status quo and did not like the definition of commonwealth used on the ballot.(1) Based on results of recent similar votes, it is likely that most of the people who voted for "none of the above" support the current colonial relationship with the u.s. As the 100 year anniversary of the U.$. invasion of Puerto Rico draws to a close, there is significant support for some kind of colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the u.s., whether in the current form or as a state. Puerto Ricans who earn an average per capita income of $8,000 are significantly poorer than Amerikans with the average U.S. income at $25,660.(2) But the country has benefited from its neocolonial relationship with u.s. imperialism. U.$. citizenship makes Puerto Ricans eligible for welfare and Puerto Rico enjoys far more wealth than most u.s. neo- colonies. Because of its proximity to the u.s. as well as its unusual status which allows for u.s. citizenship, the U.$. has put enough money into the country to buy off a segment of the population. In response to the vote President Clinton said he said he remains "committed to implementing a majority choice for Puerto Rico's future status."(3) Of course the U.$. is not willing to remove u.s. political, military and corporate control of the island and then let the people really have a free choice. Since the Puerto Rican people have never had the opportunity to develop a self-sufficient economy, their livelihood is dependent on the many foreign (mostly Amerikan) corporations that set up shop for the cheap labor and good tax deals. As an amerikan colony, Puerto Rico has provided the u.s. a very strategic military base, a source of cheap labor for manufacturing plants, and a vacation resort close to home. U.$ corporations control 90% of the Puerto Rican economy. The PDP opposition to the way the commonwealth status was phrased is ironic: the PDP claimed that the definition was a "colonial" one. But the definition on the ballot was an accurate description of the current status. The PDP wanted to add a few benefits to the status which the U.$. has already rejected. Included is the provision that Puerto Ricans acquire the ability to make treaties with other nations and veto federal laws.(3) In reality the PDP supports the status quo, with or without these enhancements. Their push for "none of the above" seems like more of a political maneuver than a real attempt to gain more autonomy and move away from a colonial relationship with the u.s. As a "Freely associated state" or commonwealth, the Puerto Rican people have u.s. citizenship but if they live in Puerto Rico they can not vote on u.s. ballots. Puerto Rican's can and are expected to fight in u.s. wars, and Puerto Ricans sustain combat causalities in u.s. wars in numbers far exceeding their proportion in the population. Rosello' acknowledged that the "none of the above" option was being used as a protest vote by many who oppose his administration, the privatization of the island's telephone company as well as his position on statehood.(3) The plebiscite was called for by Puerto Rican governor Pedro Rossello' in an attempt to pressure the u.s. congress to admit Puerto Rico as a state. MIM supports the Puerto Rican peoples right to self determination. And for true self-determination the u.s. must first end its imperialist domination of the island. Join MIM and support the Puerto Rican national liberation struggle. Notes: 1. Washington Post, 14 December 1998, Page A02. 2. Reuters, 13 December 1998. 3. Washington Post, 15 December 1998, p.A10. * * * BORICUAN REVOLUTIONARY MAOIST: "LIFE MISSION TO DESTROY IMPERIALISM!" Dear comrades, P.R. is being forced by Violence to accept statehood. So far, 2 days ago, everyone has voted for the [none of the above ballot option], which means that the people are not sure what they want. No one in the U.S. were informed of how the elections were going. Everything was being censored from the very beginning. Our people are being fed this big lie that being a state is the best thing for us. I have met a lot of people that believe that Puerto Rico should stay the way it is. But the funny thing about this bullshit is that the people that want P.R. to stay the way it is (commonwealth) are the very people that want Imperialism to keep on plundering Third World Countries. They want to benefit from the superexploitation, alienation, & oppression; because to these people, in which I am ashamed to say that they are my fellow countrymen, that means more jobs, security, privilege, status, prestige & more hand- outs. Personally again, I cannot stand a person or a group that wants P.R. to become a state or, to continue it's present course into hell! As a Maoist, I know that these kind people are brainwashed &, that they are also cowards for not being able to come to their own senses. For years, as far as I can remember, we (MIM, RAIL & I speak for those that feels the same way as me & the nationalists) have been trying endlessly to educate, organize, politically mobilize the Latino nations within the U.S.; Puerto Ricans in particular. For more that 500 years, the P.R. people have been up- rooted from our original existence, reshaped & molded to fit a specific purpose & reason. No consideration has been given concerning our interests. Could it be that we as a people, don't know what we want, what our interests are &, that we need U.S. imperialism to guide us? Bullshit! Only we can know what we want if we only had the courage to do so. We don't need Imperialism to guide anyone because they have always guided us into war, poverty, international oppression & starvation. They have always cared about their own interests, which is to continue being a tyranny, a monster, an enemy of humanity, international proletariat &, the world it self! Only a true Maoist political revolutionary organization, such as MIM, can led us out of the capitalist wilderness & into the promise land!!! If worse comes to worse & P.R. becomes a state, I hope that there will be bloodshed, civil war, revolution; because if it becomes a state, we as a people will have no flag of our own, our culture, history & language will vanish forever... I know &, I speak for everyone that feels that same way I do, concerning P.R., that we have a duty, an inescapable, sacred duty that cannot be neglected -- for the sake of communism, true freedom, & Third World proletariat. If blood needs to be spilled in order to save more blood in the future, so be it! But for now, all I can say is that if P.R. becomes a state, I really don't know what I will do. I really don't know what my reaction will be, knowing that I have no country, flag of my own. I will truly be a shame to be called a Puerto Rican. I will deny my race if I have to...No, I don't think a have the courage to do that, I will always be what I am: a Boricua revolutionary Maoist! Not even U.S. Imperialism will change that. But I will make it a life mission to destroy Imperialism, even if it takes 5, 10, 15 or even 20, 30 years. I will dream & think of only destroying our enemy: Imperialism. * * * LA DISTRICT ATTORNEY PURSUES CASE AGAINST GERONIMO JI JAGA Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti continues attempts to re-imprison former Black Panther Party leader Geronimo ji Jaga (Pratt). Geronimo was framed and convicted for a murder he did not commit in the early 70s. He spent 27 years in prison before the Orange County Superior Court overturned his conviction. Garcetti appealed this decision earlier this year and presented oral arguments to the California Court of Appeals on December 15. The FBI and Los Angeles law enforcement framed Geronimo with the help of an FBI informant, Julio Butler. Butler claimed that Geronimo confessed that he had killed Caroline Olsen on December 18, 1968. This lie formed the basis for the original indictment and played a key role in Geronimo's trial. Last year, conservative Orange County Superior Court Judge Everett Dickey called Butler a liar and found that the prosecution had withheld important evidence from Geronimo's defense attorneys. Among the information withheld were the facts that Butler had been an FBI informant for three years and was an informant for the LA District Attorney's office at the time of the original trial. Dickey threw out the original conviction and freed Geronimo on bail.(1) Garcetti claims that even without Butler's testimony the evidence against Geronimo -- eyewitness testimony of Olsen's husband and ballistics on the alleged murder weapon -- is "overwhelming." Olsen's husband originally identified another innocent man as the killer on the basis of his voice, and later (two years after the murder) switched to accusing Geronimo on the basis of his "intensive eyes." Recent scientific studies have shown that eyewitness testimony is frequently swayed from the truth because of human error and suggestions by police and prosecutors.(2) The ballistics testimony of LAPD investigator DeWayne Wolfer equally shows the madness of a system controlled by imperialist pigs instead of the people. A California appellate court earlier ruled that Wolfer had "negligently provided false demonstrative evidence in support of his ballistics testimony." Another forensic scientist said Wolfer's testimony lacked "credibility in the minds of most forensic scientists." The LAPD and FBI will stop at nothing to ensure that revolutionary leaders are stopped from organizing. Garcetti's claims of overwhelming evidence against Geronimo are bogus. MIM will work to expose the current round of lies, but genuine justice is only possible when the oppressed masses control the laws, enforcement and the trials as part of the dictatorship of the proletariat. In addition, there is clear evidence that Geronimo was in Oakland attending Black Panther Party meetings the night Caroline Olsen was murdered in Santa Monica. Oakland is more than 300 miles from Santa Monica. Kathleen Cleaver testifies that Geronimo was in Oakland at the time of the shooting, and retired FBI agent Wesley Swearington said the FBI knew that Geronimo was there because the Panthers were under surveillance and their phones were tapped. When Geronimo's defense requested the logs of the FBI's phone taps, however, the FBI reported that the logs from the night of the murder were "missing."(3) We present these facts to illustrate in detail the political nature of the case against Geronimo. The original trial was not about discovering the truth about Geronimo's innocence, and neither is Garcetti's appeal. Rather they are about providing a justification to take a revolutionary activist off the street and try to break his will to resist. Representatives of the injustice system admitted as much during Geronimo's many parole hearings. Despite no major desciplinary actions against him, Geronimo was consistently denied parole, because in the words of one parole board member, "he remains a revolutionary man."(2) Consequently the innocent Geronimo spent 27 years in prisons for a crime for which the average time served is under eight years. The FBI's framing of Geronimo was part of their covert war on the Black Panther Party and other revolutionary organizations during the 60s and 70s, called the Counter Intelligence Program or COINTELPRO. COINTELPRO involved intimidation, phone taps and surveillance, active efforts to create suspicion and hatred within organizations, false convictions of activists for non- political crimes, and assassinations, as in the case of Black Panthers Fred Hampton, Bunchy Carter, and John Huggins. For more information about COINTELPRO, we recommend "Agents of Repression" by Ward Churchhill and Jim Van der Wall, available from the address on page two for $20. MIM has also published numerous articles on COINTELPRO and current covert operations against activists inside u.$. borders. Ask your local MIM Notes distributor for more information, or write to the address on page two. Notes: 1. Los Angeles Times, 15 December 1998. Unless otherwise cited, the information reported here can also be found in this article. 2. MIM Notes, no 140. June 15, 1997. 3. "Framed: The story of Geronimo Pratt," video. * * * BPP MEMBER GETS NEW TRIAL IN CRACKERVILLE, AMERIKKKA December 7 was the start of a new trial for Albert Woodfox. Albert Woodfox, along with Herman "Hooks" Wallace, started the Angola chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1971. In 1972-73, these righteous revolutionaries were framed, charged and convicted of the killing of a white prison pig. They were portrayed as racist killers and sentenced to life in prison by an all white jury. Known as the ëAngola 2í, both have served more than 20 years each in solitary confinement because they organized for revolution within one of the most heinous prisons in Amerikkka.(1) In 1992, a state court overturned the conviction of Woodfox, though he has remained imprisoned. Wallaceís conviction has not been overturned and he remains in solitary confinement in Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. Woodfoxís re-trial is an important opportunity to free a revolutionary within the confines of bourgeois white nation justice. MIM supports Woodfoxís struggle and build public support for his release as we continue to expose the political imprisonment throughout the Amerikkkan prison system.(1) The battle to free Woodfox takes place within the kkkorrupt white nation justice system. MIM organizes masses to fight against the system in its entirety because that is the only definitive way that we will be able to free the thousands of brothers and sisters in similar situations to Woodfox and Wallace. The prosecuting attorney for the current re-trial is proof that no revolutionary will get justice in Amerikkkaís Injustice system. "At Woodfoxís upcoming trial, the prosecution intends to place the Black Panther Party on trial. The Louisiana authorities do not acknowledge the Panthersí history of establishing childrenís breakfast programs, working for safer neighborhoods, and inventing the practice of "copwatching." Instead, Assistant Attorney General Julie Cullen believes the stabbing of Miller was a hate crime. "I think it was a racially-motivated Black Panther murder," she said. Cullen intends to introduce evidence of political statements Woodfox once made, such as spelling "America" as "AMERIKKKA," and denouncing "fascism" and "pigs." To Cullen, such statements constitute evidence that Woodfox committed murder."(1) Kkkullen has used fictional dung as evidence against Woodfox as a means of criminalizing his political activity. She used an unsigned, undated "statement" that an Angola pig official "took down" from an inmate. This so-called evidence couldn't be otherwise admitted because it was blatant hearsay, but Kkkullen was able to oink it in through a legal back door. The Woodfox trial is being held in Amite. Amite is a small rural town dependent on the prison industry and is the hometown of the slain guard. A nearby bar proudly displays huge crossed Amerikkkan and Confederate flags to attract the local settler homeboys. Kkkullen oinked it up in her cross examination of Woodfox, where her intent was to play to the mainly white jurors' well founded fears of the Black national liberation movement. She repeated several times that Woodfos had used the term "pigs" in referring to prison guards, that he had written that "pigs should be killed", and that he had once raised his shackled hands, shook his chains, and said, "I want you to see what these racist, fascist pigs have done to me." It is clear, that the Black Panther Party and revolutionary politics are on trial. Kkkullen knows that the continued imprisonment can be achieved by proving that the Panthers and revolutionaries are threats to the system of white nation hegemony. She knows the conviction is not dependent on proof that Woodfox killed the guard. In the first week of the trial, Kkkullen introduced several righteous statements from Woodfox regarding the revolutionary Black national struggle. "Revolutionaries "should constantly reevaluate the lines between being a liberal or being a revolutionist." "It is the job of the revolutionary forces in this country to manufacture revolution instead of trying to avoid it, to do otherwise is the act of an opportunist." Woodfox's supporters in the courtroom became noticeably agitated as Kkkullen "accused" Woodfox of writing letters "spelling America (sic) with three k's." "Order!" was immediately called by a pig enforcement official as supporters shifted in their seats -- it was clear that the "order" of the white state was what was at stake in this trial. Albert Woodfox's testimony under these conditions was riveting and inspiring. He was not intimidated by the massive weight of the state apparatus against him. Time and again he answered Kkkullen's attacks with firm statements of the facts of the case and explanations of the Panther's prison organizing efforts. Kkkullen's efforts to trip up or agitate Woodfox came to nothing as he remained defiantly resolute in his testimony, once sending kkkullen oinking to the judge for protection as he looked at her intently and said, "You know I didn't kill that guard. And you know that I passed a lie detector test." This was clearly a comrade steeled in the struggle against white Amerikkka and all the Kkkullens of imperialism. After 20 years in solitary, where he is allowed out of his cell only 1 hour a day, Woodfox remains a leader by revolutionary example and a testament to the fact that leadership of the proletarian revolution will be forged in the heat of the struggle against the white settler oppressors. Note: http://www.prisons.org/Panther.htm * * * STAR TREK: INSURRECTION Directed by Jonathan Frakes 1998 review by mim Film number nine from the Star Trek dynasty is about the modern miracle of a highly advanced, supposedly idyllic 24th century society that somehow has not managed to eliminate the patriarchal concept of gender. The Baku have reached great technological advance, but rejected technology for the sake of happiness and isolation on their own planet. The Star Trek crew stages its Insurrection to defend this idyllic society from forced relocation. In doing so, the crew briefly rebels against its own government and army. The guiding principle of the insurrection is that "every forced relocation in history has been disastrous for its victims," and its premise is that this forced relocation is being made to steal natural resources from its victims. It is true for example that Europeans forcibly relocated millions of Africans to steal their labor; and that settlers throughout the Americas, Pacific islands, parts of Asia, Africa, etc. have forcibly relocated Indigenous people to steal land, labor and other natural resources from them. And MIM generally supports even bourgeois renditions of struggles to defend people from these forms of colonization. But MIM rejects the universal moralizing of Insurrection. Forced relocations can be to the benefit of the people being moved, as when Stalin internally deported Jews in the Soviet Union to move them away from the advancing German troops. MIM would rather see Jews moved to undesirable locations within the USSR than worked into disease in concentration camps and then gassed or shot. We also generally oppose the fiction that liberation will come from a segment of the conquering army. While it is true that occupying troops are often won over by the strength and correctness of an Indigenous liberation struggle, the officers of an occupying force tend not to be the leaders of any liberation struggle. In truth, the strength of the people's will can win over segments of the opposition, but this will must originate with the people who liberate themselves. Even though the Baku society in Insurrection has been living in tranquility for 300 years, it retains such stone age constructs as marriage, ownership of children, and feminization of wimmin. In Star Trek style that hasn't changed since the Cold War episodes of the 1960s, part of the attraction of this ideal society is beautiful wimmin who never age and wear revealing clothing. The neat thing about science fiction is that it can play with modern social constructs by stripping away all their structural baggage. Ursula Le Guin's book The Left Hand of Darkness for instance gets rid of gender by taking the premise that men and wimmin work the same jobs, have the same level of importance in government and social life, and have all differences in appearance eliminated by living in a very cold climate that requires wearing so much clothing that one's body shape is hidden. She winds up with people who have no biological sex for most of their lives, but occasionally mate with whomever they happen to be around when the time comes. MIM likes books like Le Guin's because we also think of gender and other superstructural divisions among people in terms of what will come of them once we have completely replaced the capitalist substructure. This is the only correct way to approach thinking about futuristic social relations because it understands that human nature and relations are not fixed or static. In failing this test -- in terms of how it sees relations between oppressors and the oppressed -- Star Trek: Insurrection is a pretty boring movie. * * * ENEMY OF THE STATE Review by MC17 The movie Enemy of the State tells the story of a man who accidentally stumbled on evidence of corruption and murder by a congressman who was trying to get legislation passed to expand the surveillance powers of the government. He used the power of the Nationall Security Agency (NSA) to try to destroy all evidence of his actions. The movie actually paints a pretty realistic picture of the powers of the government to conduct surveillance and track individuals without their knowledge. Although MIM does not have access to details about the specific tools used by the NSA, FBI, CIA and cops, we know from the information that leaks out that these organizations keep close tabs on activists. They can easily monitor phone conversations, can scan the general phone lines for key words like revolution, can use voice recognition technology to pick up individual voices from any phone and they can plant listening devices in buildings, cars and even on people without their knowledge. It does not matter if all the details of Enemy of the State were precise, the general capability of the government to carry out operations like those described in the movie exists and they do use this technology illegally and against anyone who is considered a threat (which places anti-imperialists high on the list.) We don't just speculate about this, we have concrete evidence. The prosecution in the case against Leonard Peltier worked with the government to bug the defense team and listen to the lawyersí discussion of strategy to have a better shot at convicting an innocent man. And for those activists not convinced of the power of the state, anyone who has been an activist more than 10 years can request their FBI file through the Freedom of Information Act and will see details that could not be known without heavy surveillance. The biggest problem with the movie was its portrayal of the corrupt congressman and his flunkies as a few bad apples. And of course, its lack of solution to the problem of government powers and corruption. The wife of the main character, an ACLU lawyer, kept criticizing the legislation that would give the government greater surveillance powers but in the end when the legislation was defeated she just sounded like an anti-power nihilist. In response to a news report that the government would have to set up an oversight committee to get surveillance powers expanded she asked the rhetorical question "who will oversee the oversight committee." This underscores the real problem: The government can't be trusted to watch over itself. With the power in the hands of the imperialists, the less power they are given the better. Only with power in the hands of the people will the people be able to control the government. This is why MIM calls for a dictatorship of the proletariat. We want a society where the majority, the oppressed exploited people of the world, controls the government and forcibly keeps the minority from stealing power and wealth for themselves. Only with this power will the people be able to build a truly just society where the government does not need to spy on people who are politically active as enemies of the state. And with this power the people will be able to build a communist society where all people truly are equal. * * * LETTER ON MIM NOTES ART Dear Comrades, I received the issues of MIM Notes dated November 1st and 15th, and I distributed primarily in a neighborhood in southern Phoenix consisting primarily of oppressed nationalities (primarily Blacks and Chicanos). I had noticed that the front page of the November 1st issue began with the headline "End the Amerikkkan Lockdown" and that the November 15th issue had a picture of an American flag, crosses, and a klansman. At first this didn't seem unusual to me, because I am used to your paper and understand that these things are to associate the U$ government with white supremacy and to associate Christianity with white supremacy. These are, of course, correct associations. Unfortunately many of the oppressed nationalities are not well educated and are not sophisticated enough to read into this symbolism, and to them seeing the name of the country spelled with three K's or seeing a picture of a klansman with the American flag indicates that the newspaper is a publication of the Ku Klux Klan or some other racist group allied with the Klan. I overheard one person to whom it was distributed say to someone next to him, "This is a white supremacist newspaper." I corrected him and suggested that he read the statement on page two to learn what MIM is about. Another fellow asked me if I was a racist after I gave him the newspaper. I explained to him that I was not and that neither was this newspaper. While it was gratifying that I explained matters to these two people and perhaps they will seriously consider MIM's message, I am certain that there were many others who seeing the KKK and the klansman on the front page simply threw the paper away, convinced that I was a klansman distributing racist literature. These may have been people who would be with us if they had overcome the first impression and read the paper. For this reason I think it is a mistake for us to use such symbolism and to spell the country's name with a K. I believe that we can make our point without such potentially deceptive references. Perhaps it would be better to just use "United $nakes" instead of "Amerika" or "Amerikkka", and perhaps we should show an American flag with a skull and crossbones in the field where the stars go instead of a klansman. Comradely Yours, --A supporter in the south November, 1998 MIM responds: This reader raises a good point about art. Art is an important tool to convey messages in MIM Notes. Some of the messages we publish involve condemnation of Amerikan prisons, imperialism, the Klan and religious hegemony. We do not want to conceal the intended messages in our art, or hide behind abstractions or ambiguous subtleties. For example, the image that the writer mentions is now on the MIM art web site (http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/art/art.html, where it is clearly titled "Religious repression of prisoners in Amerika" as it was in MIM Notes. The other issue cover was titled "Advance the Struggle against the Amerikkkan Lockdown." We state this slogan proudly and clearly as part of our work to end oppression. Some people won't get or will misinterpret the message. Still, the majority of oppressed masses understand and appreciate the critical art which we publish. And feedback from members of oppressor groups also shows that our art generally depicts the genocidal nature of the current system. Beyond initial clarity, the best way to ensure that the art as well as the written content of the paper is understood is through conducting mass work to raise the level of revolutionary political organizing. Through discussion and organization with the masses, it is clear that MIM's publications reflect criticism of the imperialist system and the need for revolution - including control of culture by the oppressed. We suggest that distributors leave papers where the masses will pick them up, but that distributors also make themselves available for discussion of revolutionary politics - either through educational events or through distributing the paper in person. MIM strives to make art clear and to make it depict the evils of imperialism. Our ability to improve this depends on mass work and organizing which then utilizes the creativity of the masses. In general, we need anti-imperialist art as well as art on specific topics, i.e. massive imprisonment of oppressed nationals. Artists can obviously contribute but even if you can't do better than stick figures you can make art. Cut out pictures from newspapers and magazines to make revolutionary collages and send 'em in. * * * RAIL INITIATES RADIO PROGRAM ON PRISONS With the help of allies, RAIL has created a weekly radio program on prisons to be aired on one college radio station on the East Coast. We would like to distribute this program to stations across North America. If you can get this program on the air in your community, contact RAIL at the address on page 2. It will cost $5-$10 to produce and mail a tape/CD with 4 shows on it. Pay more if you can, as we needs funds to do some initial promotion. Checks should be made out to MIM Distributors, not RAIL. The program consists of 15 minutes of news, commentary and prisoner letters. Contributions of money and equipment (tape decks, microphones, computer equipment including a CD-burner) are needed to expand the program and make it self-sufficient. For more information contact RAIL PO Box 3576 Ann Arbor MI 48106 or email RAILRadio@mim.org * * * DOUBLE YOUR MONEY, DOUBLE YOUR SUPPORT FOR RAIL NOTES! A RAIL branch has offered to match all new contributions to RAIL Notes up to the amount needed to fund an expanded, more frequent paper. So send your money ASAP. Make checks payable to MIM Distributors, not RAIL to the address on page 2. * * * STUDY, STRUGGLE AND BUILD OPPOSITION TO IMPERIALISM! BOOKS ON BLACK REVOLUTIONARY NATIONALISM IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE "The Making of Black Revolutionaries" by James Foreman. [$15] "Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton" by Bobby Seale (before he sold out). [$15] "The Black Panthers Speak" by Philip S. Foner [$12] "Maoism and the Black Panther Party" by MIM. [$2] "Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson" by George Jackson. [$7] "Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement" by Ward Churcill and Jim Vander Wall. [$20] "Revolutionary Suicide" by Huey P. Newton. [$10] "To Die for the People" by Huey P. Newton [$10] The above prices reflect increased printing costs as many are photocopied books. The prices include postage inside the United Snakes. If received before December 15th, orders for above literature will be sent within one week upon receipt. YOU CAN PURCHASE THESE BOOKS FOR DONATION TO A REVOLUTIONARY PRISONER: these are among the most requested books by prisoners to MIM and RAIL. Better yet, you can buy the book for yourself and a comrade under lock and key and study together. * * * UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS Exposing Maryland Torture ...There are some issues that need to be addressed with urgency by the Committee to End the Marion and Control Unit Lockdown! We Brothers need help. As of last week, the Pigs here have begun a new humiliating torturous tactic that is to put prisoners in a hog- tied position. Meaning we are being hog-tied with mechanical restraints, handcuffs, black box lock, and leg irons. The cuffs are put on backwards, in this cruel and torturous act. You cannot eat, sleep or use the bathroom. Prisoners are kept like this for hours and days. This is barbaric to say the least! As I write this there are prisoners on my tier in this brutal condition. If you refuse, you are gassed and physically assaulted by these pigs. --A Maryland Prisoner, 21 July 1998 SC segregation kills At Allendale Correctional Institution in South Carolina, the torture chamber is called lockup or officially called Segregation Management Unit. On October 27, 1998, at 2:41 p.m. an inmate tried to hang himself. Luckily, other inmates were able to let the CO's know the man was hanging. If it had left up to the officers he would have died. This goes to prove this torture must stop! Not all human beings can take the isolation and sensory deprivation of lock-up, especially for months or years. The dumb ass pigs asked the inmate why he attempted suicide. Isn't it obvious! Here at Allendale the staff doesn't even follow proper procedures according to the department of corruptions policy OP22.12 (OP). Officer are to check inmates every half-hour, they don't. Each inmate is supposed to be checked daily by medical staff, they're not. Nurses come around and give out medication to inmates who are on it. They don't check all inmates according to policy. Basically every three months inmates are supposed to be reviewed by mental health professionals, they're not. Caseworkers are supposed to come around at least once a week, again this doesn't happen. All this violates SCDC policy, but nothing is done about it! In fact I don't even believe these specialized staff are even professionally trained. They are just given these titles to make a job position. If they were truly professional, wouldn't they know the effects of these torture chambers? The worst thing about this situation is that the man will be back after a couple of days of observation, only to suffer the torture again, instead of being helped. -- A South Carolina Prisoner, 27 October 1998 Prisoner Murdered in Texas ... On October 18, 1996 at about 10:00 p.m. a 25 year- old Black man was murdered by the Harris County Jail officials in Houston, Texas. His name was Willy Watts. His death was written off and covered-up as just a heart attack. His family was told that he died of natural of causes, this may be true, but he could have been saved. I was there and saw it all! Harris County Jail officials killed this man because they refused to give him any medical treatment. I tried for two and a half years to get the medical staff to help this guy. The pigs almost beat me up because I refused to stop trying to get this man help. This man struggled for his life for two and a half years in a medical holding cell and died right in front of me and about 25 other prisoners. I filed a sworn statement with the Harris County Internal Affairs Division on November 11, 1996. I am having it copied so I can send it to y'all. I beg that anyone, with any knowledge of the whereabouts of any member of Mr. Willy Watt's family to please contact me through MIM Notes. This is very important, so show that you care. -- A Texas Prisoner, 3 November 1998 Medical Negligence Kills Prisoners ...At this point here in NJSP [New Jersey State Prison], we prisoners are undergoing yet another transformation imposed upon us by the Department of Corruption. In July new rules went into effect. As of the month of October we will not be allowed to receive clothing packages, food packages or appliances. We are already paying for inadequate medical services. In the month of April, three prisoners were allowed to die because of the negligent practices of the medical staff. Since then two more inmates have died because of inadequate services. In 1994, Governor Whitman allowed the Department of Corruptions to give CMS (Corrupt Medical Services) a contract knowing that this company had failed to re-sign contracts with other states' Department of Corruptions because of their negligence. This company had also requested to NJDOC that they no longer allow us to receive books on medical terms and health care. This tells me not only do they want an illiterate population in here, but they want to continue killing us without being held accountable. What irks me the most is the fact that we have no unity as prisoners. There is no trust or loyalty to our struggle in here. Without these qualities as a whole, I don't think we can survive. Fact of the matter is we need more support that people are willing to give. I commend your paper, for your intentions are pure but for us, we need people who will sacrifice more that what they're giving. I read how people in other states come out in masses to confront the DOC and show strong concern for their friend and relatives who are held kkkaptive. We need that kind of support here in New Jersey to engage in physical confrontation with those who interfere with their act of support would be even stronger as it would expose the vindictiveness of this injustice system. Your Comrade in Aluta, -- A New Jersey Prisoner, September 1998 MIM responds: We agree there is a need to organize and unite more masses to fight against oppression and toward revolution. The best method to do this is expansion of the peopleís independent institutions like MIM Notes. We must expose the pigsí injustice and arm the masses with tools necessary to fight winnable battles and eventually revolutionary armed struggle. An essential prerequisite for successful revolutionary armed struggle is independent institutions built through intensive mass work. MIM does not currently organize physical confrontation against the oppressor because of the need to organize stronger mass bases of support for revolution. The masses must be well organized and armed to avoid unnecessary defeat. Physical confrontation for comradesí defense for survival is sometimes necessary, but this remains the decision of individuals. And in these situations, we urge prisoners to learn from the successful lessons of Maoism to make an informed and correct decision. We also recommend MIM Theory #5 which outlines correct political decisions concerning armed struggle and fighting to win. Murder and Medical Neglect ...I have been caged on the Mark W. Stiles Plantation for over two years now. In that time I have witnessed two prisoners die due to straight up medical neglect. One of my Muslim brothers had an asthma attack at 2:00 p.m. Security refused to authorize him to go to medical for treatment. Five hours later, while still trying to make it into breathing treatment, this brother collapsed and died on the sidewalk in route to the infirmary, unescorted! This unit has been deemed a Chronic Care Facility for PWA's (Prisoners with AIDS) and I too am infected with the plague. Though I am healthy and as strong as a bull, I have no disillusions whatsoever about the plight of Pharos's blind sheep here who are suffering a storm that seems unending. Recently a couple of redneck KKKlansmen assaulted a Hispanic Comrade who later died of head trauma, which as you may have guessed, was of a serious nature. I was assaulted myself, back in February of '98 for no reason, other than my willingness to unite with other brothers against oppression. My assault fortunately was not fatal, but there is a pattern of brutality here that goes beyond your wildest nightmares. They've assaulted people in wheelchairs, people on crutches, and even one dude with a missing limb. They have no qualms about letting it be known that they despise people with AIDS and practice racial hatred and bias. The whole is on week one of institutional lockdown. Today makes day number 5 of a 30 day affair. They informed us that it would be this way until our conduct shows improvement. Problem is, nothing happened to warrant this extremely drastic measure. No one has been killed, stabbed or assaulted and no one has escaped. They did the second major shakedown in as many moths this week, and still came up clean, no guns, knives, etc. The previous cell search cost me my prayer rug and kufi, which they threw away in the trash. I'm in the Control Unit section of this slave camp. We too are being fed cold Johnies, which consists of a cheese, meat or peanut butter sandwich three times a day. No showers, no recreations, and no visitation. This is the consequence of being sick and being housed in a death camp whose sole purpose is to breakdown the spirit while killing the body. They practice psychological oppression here as well as physical abuse, oppression and tumult. They even sprayed gas on one man who was having an epileptic seizure. They have a repetitive routine that they use. If one were to examine all the facts, their offenses would be obvious. For instance, after they assaulted me, I was charged with attempting to assault a Lieutenant. Then when my comrades who witnessed my assault, spoke out against it and unified to oppose it, the pigs systematically eliminated all these prisoners by planting shanks, framing and sometimes straight up brutality and assault. At this time, we are all in the control unit. When I say all, I speak of my Nubian and Islamic brothers who stood up against this madness.... In Struggle and Solidarity, -- A Texas Prisoner, 10 October 1998 No wages in Texas ...Prisoners here in Texas do not get paid at all for working. The (TDCJ) officials give us good-time credit for working, which they take back the first time you get a major disciplinary case, which is as easy as breathing. If you have a short sentence, once you lose that good-time credit it will hurt your chances on release or parole because you can not get that good- time back. If they take three years good-time and you got a six-year sentence, you start over. Inmate abuse by plantation's guards is widespread and well covered up by the prison's Internal Affairs and Grievance Official. Half of the officials are related to one another. We are charged $3.00 for sick calls (whether or not you are treated). If you are outspoken, as I am, then you are considered a violent gang member or some other kind of threat the TDCJ uses to silence you. I appeal to all my black and brown brother and sister Comrades to bond with MIM and unite in this struggle! It's the only way we can rise above our oppression in and out of prison. Peace Out! -- A Texas Prisoner, 27 October 1998 South Carolina Wages Eliminated In South Carolina inmate pay no longer exists, unless you were in Prison before 1998. Those who do get paid get pre-depression era wages. If an inmate refuses to work he gets cell restriction, loss of privileges and finally ends up in lock-up. This is discipline for not working as a slave for the prisoncrats. I would like to see them work for nothing, or pay of 20 cents an hour. Try supporting your family on that! The prison system, staff, counties, etc. get skilled labor for these insane wages. Welders, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc. are in prison. Recently inmates in Pennsylvania saved that state $300,000.00 by doing so-called community service. Here in Allendale, SC inmates provided many hours of slave labor to the community. The council members of Allendale thanked the DOC for their assistance! They forgot who really did the assisting -- the inmates or should I say slaves. I wonder if any inmates who did the service will be recognized come parole or furlough time. This so-called community service (forced labor) puts another feather in the cap of the SCDC and gives more reasons to keep us locked up. After all, free labor reduces taxes and puts more money in the oppressor's pockets. In South Carolina the elected officials are pushing for reduction or doing away with state taxes. Using inmates as slaves is a good way to do it. The savings instead should be passed on the inmates for school, training and equipment -- not lining the oppressors' pockets. Prison is supposed to rehabilitate inmates and make them assets to the community when released. Therefore it is only sensible to use the money for the training of inmates. Millions of dollars and labor hours are saved throughout the country by these practices, but I have yet to see any inmates benefit. The only benefits are bad backs, calluses and no pay! -- A South Carolina Prisoner, 20 October 1998 Kentucky Wages and Working Conditions ...The conditions here are ridiculous. The "work options" or OJT (On the Job Training) are despicable. They consist of: 1. janitor's jobs, 2. outside landscaping (cutting grass and picking up cigarette butts), 3. kitchen jobs, 4. prison industries (where they make license plates and furniture, starting at 25 cents an hour with at 10 cent raise ever 90 days.), or 5. Maintenance (windows, putting in benches, roofing, carpentry, drywall, etc for $1.25 a day). Every time you get a cut or need some aspirin, you have to have a doctor's note. To see the doctor it's a $2.00 copayment. This $2.00 charge prevents many inmates who only make $12-15.00 a month reluctant to get medical attention whey they really need it. Two dollars doesn't sound like a lot, but when you're only getting one dollar in whole day, it makes a dent! I'm sure they read my mail, but they don't black anything out. Of course I haven't been getting anything worth censoring yet! ...Another gestapo tactic they use around here is the "investigation technique". These people will come get you and put you in what they call the segregation unit without provocation. They can hold you for 90 days without issuing a write up. In the segregation one is subject to dehumanizing conditions. You get one phone call when you get up there and then that's it, no more contact with the outside world via phone no matter how long your stay. They shave your head, when you enter segregation. The worst thing is the plumbing. When the guy in the next cell flushes his toilet it comes up in your toilet, unless you flush at the exact same time. There are cells where the windows are out and the in the winter it is too cold to get out bet. The bullshit just goes on and on. It's the antithesis of rehabilitation. It's pure degradation and I'm sick of tired of being sick and tired. It's like you're screaming at the top of your lungs but no sound is coming. Keep me informed. Yours in the struggle, -- A Kentucky Prisoner, 27 October 1998 Prisons are Capitalistic Tools of Oppression While the poor in this capitalistic society are forced to pay higher taxes to generate this machine "modern day slavery" the rich are investing into privately owned prisoners to insure maximum capacity. A capitalistic society could not exist without someone to capitalize on. This so-called justice system is out of control. Everybody from the public defender to the warden sees the benefits of a conviction. The tax dollars are being used to generate more wealth for the rich, while exploitation overwhelms the poor. The infrastructure of this system is incapable of producing positive results. These racist pigs walk around with their chests puffed up with pride, as if they're victorious conquerors. With all of the potential Guerrilla fighters locked down in this supermaxium facility, they must feel secure in their position. The warden runs this facility like a ruthless dictator. Although I've never seen the warden in physical form, I've seen his reflection through his guards' exploitation. Anytime an inmate is being transferred from point A to point B, inside the prison's walls, the guards intentionally create an altercation as an excuse to use excessive force. Any type of resistance leads to 6 or 7 guards pinning you to the floor for security purposes. Although you already have on belly chains and handcuffs, excessive force is applied to restrict your movements. As soon as the backup pigs bring leg irons, you're hog-tied. Occasionally your clothes and shoes are cut away from your body, then you're carried naked to an observation cell. A lot of souljahs hold high respect for MIM. Thank you for the newsletters that you sent to me. I'm passing them around to comrades so that they can understand MIM's cause. Before reading some MIM Notes, I thought that the war was based on Black and White. Now I realize that it is based on rich against poor. Power to the people! -- A Kansas Prisoner Tracking Device After Parole ...Unfortunately, when I'm finally released I will not only be on paper (parole) but I will also have a tracking monitor attached to my ankle for the remaining five years of my sentence. In September of last year a law was passed by the state of Texas that all cons released from plantations who have violent cases must have monitors attached to their ankles. All ex-prisoners with violent cases must wear this monitor for the remainder of their sentences on parole...." -- A Texas Prisoner, 24 July 1998 Crooked pigs ...I got a homeboy, back here, who is a Level 3 now, due to the fact that an officer was harassing his family at visitation. One day my homeboy was at visitation with his family and this pig all of sudden, with nothing else to do, just started harassing his family. This officer just stood over his mom and stepfather and looked down at them like they had shit on them or something. So my homeboy told the pig to get his ass from behind his family and go do something else. So the devil got smart with the guy and his family -- and went and wrote my homie a "threatening an officer" case. So they rolled him from Level 2 back to Level 3. Now my homie wrote his family and told them about his situation. So his family came up here and had a few words with the warden. I guess the warden felt threatened by their words. So the warden had these family members removed from his visitation list. Now I don't think that was necessary. Now, you tell me if that's not crooked, what is? I can't see a straight line in this situation at all. These devils need to get a grip. -- A Texas Prisoner still struggling, 14 October 1998 Federal Photo File of prisonersí supporters I am writing to warn all federal prisoners and their families. The Federal Bureau of Prisons [FBOP] retains a copy of all photographs taken with a commissary "photo ticket". That means when your friends visit you, a picture is taking and the government retains a copy. The purpose is to keep a dossier of your acquaintances so they can implicate everybody in various purported "conspiracies". This matter is presently being litigated at Maydak v United States Civil 97-2199 (USCS Dist. Col.). This matter violates the Privacy Act 5 USC 552, and the FBOP uses the inmates' 31 USC 1321(22) trust funds. If you have fallen victim to this scheme, and wish for all your photographs to be destroyed, file an intervention petition in the above action. If you wish to file your action the clerk will provide five pages free upon your request. Write to Clerk, US District Court, US Courthouse, Washington, DC 20001 and request "pages 5-9 of the complaint in 97-CV-2199". -- A Federal Prisoner, 15 October 1998