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

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         THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

  MIM Notes 180        February 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. PRACTITIONERS OF MAO'S PEOPLE'S WAR UNITE
2. EVIDENCE THAT UNSCOM SPIES: 
   IRAQIS DIE WHILE U.$. BLOWS SMOKE
3. MAOISM GAINS MOMENTUM IN RUSSIA
4. LETTERS
5. REVIEW: 
   THE WAR AGAINST IRAQ: A HANDBOOK FOR ANTI-IMPERIALISTS
6. "SNITCH" EXPOSES INJUSTICE SYSTEM'S USE OF INFORMANTS
7. STATEMENT BY THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT ON 
    MLK DAY
8.  CIA OPERATIONS EXPOSED
9.  RAIL STATEMENT ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE SECOND 
    MENDIOLA MASSACRE
10. YOUNG LORDS FOUNDER RECALLS MAOIST HISTORY:
    CHA CHA JIMENEZ HIGHLIGHTS MLK DAY EVENTS
11. PROSECUTORS LIE, SAYS BOURGEOIS STUDY
12. COURT SUPPORTS PROSECUTORS BUYING TESTIMONY
13. NEW PRISON DATA SHOWS EFFECTS OF ANTI-PAROLE TREND: 
    BLACK PRISONERS DO MORE TIME THAN WHITES
14. COMRADES: BE SECURITY CONSCIOUS!
15. NEW ORLEANS DA OINKS THE BLUES, 
    FORCED TO DROP SHAREEF'S MURDER CHARGES
16. UNDER LOCK AND 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


* * *

PRACTITIONERS OF MAO'S PEOPLE'S WAR UNITE

On January 11th, the Communist Party of the 
Philippines released a document prepared in December, 
1998 by the existing practitioners of People's War. 
The document was proof of the unity of parties 
practicing Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. It is also the 
single greatest step forward in international 
communist movement unity since the death of Mao in 
1976.

In the world today, the most advanced communist 
parties are all to be found in the Third World. For 
this reason it was a brilliant stroke for them to meet 
and unify. The exchange of experiences in fighting 
imperialism alone would make this a greatly 
significant event in the history of the international 
communist movement. 

The document hailed Mao's theories on protracted 
people's war, new democratic revolution, socialist 
revolution, and the continuing revolution under the 
dictatorship of the proletarian. It also hailed the 
practitioners of people's war for their persistence, 
and recognized that the practitioners of people's war 
are the leading elements in the struggle against the 
imperialist "new world order."

The document lists the following practioners of the 
People's War in the world. Seminar organizers 
attempted to reach the Central Committee of the PCP 
("Sendero Luminoso") in Peru, but failed. They hope to 
add the PCP soon. The two organizations with asteriks 
next to them also were not present, but participated.

1. Proletarian Party of Purba Bangla (PBSP) - 
Bangladesh* 

2. Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) 
People's War 

3. Maoist Communist Centre - India 

4. Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)* 

5. Communist Party of the Philippines 

6. Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist

The leaders of the international communist movement 
agreed on the following:  

"1.We honor Mao Zedong as the great exponent of the 
theory and practice of people's war in the new-
democratic revolution in China against imperialism, 
feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. The historical 
experience proves that Mao's theory and practice of 
people's war is in consonance with the teachings of 
Marx that the class struggle must lead to the 
dictatorship of the proletariat. Mao's proletarian 
revolutionary line consistently runs from people's war 
and the new democratic revolution through socialist 
revolution and construction to the theory and practice 
of continuing revolution under the proletarian 
dictatorship--which is his most outstanding 
contribution to the development of Marxism-Leninism.  

2.We acknowledge Mao as the master strategist of 
people's war. His development of the strategy and 
tactics of people's war remains unsurpassed to this 
day. His works on people's war involve the application 
of materialist dialectics and the revolutionary class 
line in the process of revolutionary war. Mao's theory 
and practice of people's war consistently carries 
forward the fundamental principles of Marxism-
Leninism. It is a further development of Lenin's 
theory and practice of the two-stage revolution, in 
which the socialist revolution follows the bourgeois-
democratic revolution of a new type.  

3.The strategic line of protracted people's war, 
involving the encirclement of the cities from the 
countryside, is the revolutionary expression of the 
fundamental democratic alliance of the proletariat and 
peasantry. It is applicable in many countries, like 
those where the peasant masses are the majority among 
the basic producers and fight for agrarian revolution 
as the main component of the democratic revolution.  

4.There are a number of Communist parties 
successfully carrying out the strategic line of 
protracted people's war in accordance with the 
teachings of Comrade Mao. They avail themselves of the 
inexhaustible participation and support of the people. 
They have built or are preparing to build democratic 
organs of political power.

They have consolidated and expanded the organized 
strength of the masses in the course of fierce 
revolutionary struggle. They have overcome all kinds 
of enemy offensives including the enemy's use of the 
"low intensity conflict'' strategy , the anticommunist 
ideological and political offensive related to the 
fall of the revisionist regimes, the misrepresentation 
of armed revolutionary movements as terrorism and, in 
certain cases, offers of peace negotiations and the 
sham calls for "peace and development''. In 
maintaining their revolutionary position, they have 
outlasted the armed movements previously enjoying the 
support of revisionist-ruled countries as well as 
bourgeois mass media hype. Such movements have been 
betrayed by opportunist leaders and led astray to 
capitulation and neocolonial compromise.  

5.The people's wars and the revolutionary uprisings 
constitute the most advanced detachment of the 
struggle against the "New World Order". Objectively, 
they are inflicting severe blows against imperialism, 
are showing that the people's resistance cannot be 
suppressed, and are strengthening the self-confidence 
of the masses. They are giving the general signal for 
the advancement of the struggles against contemporary 
imperialism, and they are playing a crucial role in 
the reconstruction of the communist movement. They 
answer the central question of revolution, which is 
the seizure of political power." 

* * *

EVIDENCE THAT UNSCOM SPIES: IRAQIS DIE WHILE U.$. 
BLOWS SMOKE

By MC12

The Amerikan press has documented new evidence that 
the United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq, known 
as UNSCOM, have been acting as spies for the U.$. 
government and military. UNSCOM's job has really been 
to spy all along -- to collect information about 
Iraq's military operations -- but the new evidence of 
a direct link between Amerikan military operations and 
UNSCOM "monitoring" undermines the U.$. talk of "law 
enforcement" in Iraq and makes it clear that UNSCOM 
has been part of the U.$. plot to overthrow the Iraqi 
government. It blows the United Nations as the U.$. 
cover.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands if not millions of 
Iraqis have died as a result of the military 
destruction from the U.$. war in 1991 and the economic 
sanctions enforced ever since. In 1996, UNICEF 
estimated that deaths among Iraqi children were 
running at 3,900 more per month than they had been 
before the war.(1) That would be 374,000 extra 
children dead over eight years. 

The Washington Post reports that, "The United 
States for nearly three years intermittently monitored 
the coded radio communications of President Saddam 
Hussein's innermost security forces using equipment 
secretly installed in Iraq by U.N. weapons inspectors, 
according to U.S. and U.N. officials."(2)

At first, the Post reports, UNSCOM "inspectors" 
used simple scanners and recorders to monitor Iraqi 
government transmissions, then relayed them to 
intelligence operations in Britain, Israel, and the 
U.$. Then, the UNSCOM became worried, and the U.$. 
replaced the equipment with automatic monitors they 
wouldn't have to carry around, and the data was 
relayed by satellite to the U.$. National Security 
Agency. Then, "information, including material that 
might be helpful to the United States in destabilizing 
Saddam Hussein, was retained by Washington."(2)

The U.$. originally denied the reports, but then 
they admitted it, knowing they could count on the 
Amerikan press to help them make it seem low-grade and 
relatively innocent -- just a minor extension of the 
"legitimate" work of UNSCOM. And the press did their 
best: "U.S. officials have said the purpose of the 
radio intercepts was to help UNSCOM do the job 
assigned to it by the U.N. Security Council. To the 
extent the operation provided additional information 
was a bonus that did not deviate from UNSCOM's 
mandate, the officials said." In fact, the Post even 
admitted that it had the story for months, but "agreed 
last fall not to publish details about sources and 
methods used to gather the information after U.S. 
officials said the disclosure would damage national 
security."(2) (A great feature of Amerikan "democracy" 
is the secret collaboration between the government and 
the bourgeois media, deciding together which "free" 
speech will be published.)

Contrary to all protestations by the U.$. over the 
last eight years, the Post now reports that 
"intelligence agents from several countries, including 
the United States, were assigned to work on UNSCOM 
inspection teams." This policy is said to have 
originated with Scott Ritter, the former Marine who 
quit UNSCOM last year in a dispute over what he called 
Amerikan weakness toward Iraq, but it was approved by 
the head of UNSCOM at the time. Now it turns out 
Ritter quit because he was not getting access to all 
the information they were stealing.(2)

The U.$. has long been using the United Nations as 
a cover for its own self-interested machinations. In 
the process, they try to convince the other 
imperialists that what's good for the U.$. is good for 
the whole international bourgeoisie. Usually they have 
been successful. The U.N. Security Council has five 
"permanent" members who can veto anything -- the U.$., 
England, France, Russia and China. France and Russia 
have been agitating for lifting sanctions against Iraq 
because their own economic interests outweigh the 
threat they perceive from Iraq. When the other powers 
won't rubber-stamp the U.$., the press reports that 
they are "divided to the point of paralysis."(4)

The inter-imperialist rivalry in the Middle East 
underlies these tense negotiations. The U.$. uses its 
military superiority to coerce the other imperialists 
to bend to the U.$. will. But France and Russia, and 
increasingly China, would like to increase the profits 
rolling in their direction from the region, and they 
are coming to denounce the U.$. insistence on 
"security" and "stability" as self- interested, which 
it is.

Revolutionaries have at least two duties here. 
First, we have to expose the real atrocities going on 
in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. While 
profit-making strategy is debated at the U.N., the 
Iraqi people continue to suffer and die. Second, we 
have to take advantage of the inter- imperialist 
rivalries whenever we can. Splits between major powers 
can lead to good opportunities for revolutionaries, 
and we must be vigilant to this potential.

Notes: 
1. Associated Press, August 1, 1996. 
2. Washington Post, January 8, 1999. 
3. Washington Post, January 7, 1999; Page A18. 
4. Washington Post January 9, 1999; Page A14.


* * *

MAOISM GAINS MOMENTUM IN RUSSIA

MIM is happy to report that revolutionaries in 
Russia are picking up the theories of Mao Zedong, both  
in order to better understand the treachery of  the 
Soviet revisionist and social-imperialist clique which 
took power after Stalin's death, and in order to guide 
them in making a correct assessment of their friends 
and enemies in the contemporary situation. MIM 
recently exchanged greetings with Russian comrades on 
the occasions of our respective congresses.

Russian Maoists greet MIM

Letter of thanks from RYCL(b)

In October, 1998 MIM sent greetings to our comrades 
in Russia upholding Marx, Lenin and Stalin against 
subsequent capitalist restoration. We note with 
pleasure that the Congress saw the strengthening of 
the Maoist pole in Russia. The Secretary of Ideology 
of the RYCL(b) wrote to explain the results of the 
Congress and his letter of January 11 is below.

The works of Mao were long forbidden in Russia for 
obvious reasons while those of Trotsky and other 
revisionists were readily available. For this reason 
our comrades struggling in Russia start with some 
disadvantages. On the other hand, they have struggled 
long and hard and now they have contact with the 
Maoist movement outside Russia. So the Russians are 
doing their share of the work for revolution!

In fact, the Russian comrades read our work and 
other works in English; they have set up multiple web 
sites on the INTERNET and they have figured out which 
parties in the outside world resemble the ones in 
Russia the most. Here we learn that the youth group in 
Russia feels more akin to MIM while its parent is more 
similar to Workers World Party.

Hi, comrades! I thank you for a greeting to the 2nd 
Congress of RYCL(b). The Congress was held on October 
25, 1998 in Leningrad. The delegates from two dozen 
organizations participated in it. The Congress has 
shown, that RYCL(b) had overcome the right deviation, 
consisting in denying of an organizational 
independence of the Komsomol and expressing in 
attempts completely to subordinate it to the party--
Russian Communist Workers Party.

The RYCL(b) is guided in USA by MIM and has 
relations with the Socialist Workers Party of 
Mauritius. The RCWP is guided in USA by WWP and has 
also relations with the Belgian Party of Labor, 
Workers Party of Turkey (Dogu Perinchek) and CP of 
Greece. The largest "communist" party in Russia CPRF 
is guided in USA by CP-USA, in other countries -- by 
large opportunist parties like CP of France and CP of 
Japan.

For the best understanding it is possible to carry 
out an historical parallel--Germany, 1918, the CPRF is 
Social-democratic Party, and RCWP-- Independent 
Social-democratic Party. Despite of revolutionary mere 
verbiage in RCWP, revisionism also has developed. Its 
management does not recognize ideas of Mao, considers 
the European proletariat is revolutionary, and someone 
shows anti-Semitism (but does not wish to cooperate 
with revolutionary nationalists!). 

The recently arisen strong right wing accused the 
proletariat of prostitution and is dragging behind 
CPRF, moreover-- cooperates with bodies of security. 
Centrist management connives with the rights. The 
leader of a RYCL(b) P. Bylevskiy is twice expulsed 
from the party. 

Therefore, the revolutionary youth was included in 
the conflict with the management of the party, but is 
not resolved yet on complete organizational break with 
opportunists. The Congress has shown, that the line on 
independence of a Komsomol is not exposed to doubt. 
After a defeat on plenum in November 1997 the right 
deviation has came to naught.

Unfortunately, strong influences on the Congress 
have various leftish deviations--workerism and 
rejecting of work in official trade unions (Gamov), 
aspiration "to provoke" revolution (former secretary 
of the CC on ideology Buslayev), identification of 
socialists from CPRF and revolutionary nationalists 
from National-Bolshevist Party with the fascists from 
Russian National Unity (Salnikov). However, none of 
these deviations has a prevailing rule, though all of 
them were reflected in the resolutions of Congress.

One of the successes of Congress has become that it 
has strengthened positions of the Maoist current in 
RYCL(b). As the new secretary on ideology I openly 
declared, that I'm going to use the post for promotion 
of Maoism. 

One place in the Control Comission also Maoist 
Seliverstov from Obninsk has got. Now, after routing 
right leningrad-syktyvkar group, basic ideological 
tasks in RYCL(b) - struggle of Stalinist current 
(Moscow, Perm etc.) against crypto-Trotskiyist (Kirov, 
Nizhni Novgorod) and promoting thus Maoism.

There are the significant difficulties on this way 
-- Brezhnevist propagation of long years forged the 
essence of the Sino-Soviet split. 

There are practically no Maoist books in Russian 
(as against Trotsky's books, which in a plenty were 
issued during Perestroyka). There is no Maoist 
organization, and the majority of the enthusiasts 
concern to "new left" and anarchists, at last, the 
Russian variant of Maoism is not developed. However, I 
am sure, that these difficulties will manage to be 
overcome. The young communist league armed with 
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, will lift the Russian 
proletariat on new revolution!

 With companionable greetings, 

Oleg Torbasow

The secretary of the RYCL(b)-CC on ideology 

RYCL(B) SALUTES MIM'S CONGRESS

I give a comradely salute to MIM's Congress on 
behalf of the Revolutionary Komsomol of Russia and 
Ukraine--RYCL(b). Despite essential distinctions 
between conditions in Russia and in the U$A and the 
language barrier, I consider ideology of MIM is the 
most correct among ideologies of organizations in the 
U$A and closest to our ideology. Your contribution to 
the cause of the world revolution--struggle in most 
reactionary and powerful capitalist country--is very 
important. I wish successful work to Congress and hope 
for development of collaboration between our 
organizations. 

Long live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism! 

Oleg Torbasow Secretary of Ideology RYCL(b) January 
11, 1999

GREETINGS FROM OBNINSK MAOISTS

Dear Comrades!

The Obninsk City Organization of the All-Union 
Leninist Communist Union of Youth (VLKSM) and of the 
Revolutionary Young Communist League (RKSM(b)) extends 
its fraternal greetings to the 1999 Congress of the 
Maoist International Movement (MIM) and wishes it 
success in its functioning. Let this Congress become a 
major milestone on the road to fulfilling MIM's 
principal goal--building a united proletarian-led 
front within the borders of the citadel of world 
imperialism, the U$A.

Despite MIM's relatively limited numerical strength 
and its extremely difficult working conditions, we are 
glad to find in your organization's activities the 
most consistent and the least dogmatic application of 
the science of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to the 
realities of today's world. We sincerely hope MIM will 
continue proudly carrying forward the red banner of 
proletarian internationalism and world revolution!

Our country, Russia, belongs to the circle of 
countries 'intermediate' between the oppressed 'Third 
World' and the imperialist nations. On the one hand, 
there is the presence of a genuine proletariat in 
principle capable of mass anti-capitalist action plus 
Russia's heavy dependence on, and exploitation by, the 
imperialist countries. On the other hand, there are 
survivals of the Khrushchevite-Brezhnevite revisionist 
international policy, deprived of its progressive 
component (support for national liberation struggles 
all over the world) but preserving its essentially 
imperialist character; a growing percentage of the 
petty bourgeosie and the formation of Westernized, 
parasitic enclaves (e. g. the city of Moscow). In 
these conditions we hope for the success in Russia 
both of traditional Maoism (originally elaborated in 
and for underdeveloped colonial countries) and of 
newer perspectives on it developed by MIM.

Proletarians and oppressed nations of all 
countries, unite! 

Long live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!

Russian Federation, Kaluga Region, Obninsk 

Obninsk City Organization of VLKSM and RKSM(b) 

Dar ZHUTAYEV, First Secretary, Member of the VLKSM 
Central Committee 

Denis SELIVERSTOV, Secretary for Ideology, Member 
of the RKSM(b) Central Control Commission 

* * *


LETTERS

Religion and revolution

The following letters and response were planned to 
run in the last issue of MIM Notes. We accidentally 
ran an older edition of the letters page in place of 
the letters and part of the response. We run the 
letters and their response in their entirety here. 

Dear MIM and RAIL,

I've received the books and November issue of MIM 
Notes which come at a great time. It may sound like 
I'm about to contradict my theory of aligning the 5% 
with MIM yet I may have spoken too fast because now I 
can see a little better the theory and practice of MIM 
and 5% movement. By reading MIM Notes 15 November 
1998, no. 174 on religious repression etc, MIM said in 
brief "When Black Muslim groups talk about white as 
being the devil, they are describing in 'mystical' 
terms the same thing that MIM describes through 
science."

The 5% are taught science is the practical 
application of knowledge. So we may be a step behind 
in the revolutionary movement. It's true, we are 
moving in this direction. Yet at a "snail" pace by 
speaking from the theological terms to express a 
point. The best word I can describe 5% doctrine is 
metaphorical revolution if there is such a thing. Most 
of our people are intertwined with some form of 
religious ideology.

We teach through each religion ideology to point in 
the real direction which is communism. And many 5%ers 
go into groups like MIM, the Black Panther Party, New 
Afrika Movement and any movement that is teaching 
political consciousness and not mystical terms of 
expression.

Just from reading the Little Red Book, I've found a 
strong quote: "A well-disciplined Party armed with the 
theory of Marxism-Leninism, using the method of self-
criticism and linked with the masses of the people, an 
army under the leadership of such a Party; a United 
Front of ALL revolutionary classes and ALL 
revolutionary groups under the leadership of such a 
Party - these are the three main weapons with which we 
have defeated the enemy." (On the People's Democratic 
Dictatorship etc.)

I will continue to make progress with MIM and 
5%ers. Many of the advanced "Gods" or 5%ers are 
actually students of MIM, I've come to find out. Now 
when I think about it, I believe they master 5% terms 
and build a language they can relate to, only thing 
about MIM is they give it to us RAW! It's not about 
God or Devil, it's plain and simple, the empire must 
come down! ...

We have a lot to learn yet. My struggle speaks for 
itself almost 4 years in solitary. Now, who's the real 
political prisoner? We've come to learn that what 
really makes us x-criminals to now-political prisoners 
is our consciousness of political activities and how 
its being systematically implemented upon us to the 
lowest elements. Thank you MIM and RAIL. Keep us 
informed on the movement progress and so shall we!

-- a South Carolina prisoner, 15 December 1998.

MIM,

Here at this particular institution, we have 
somewhat of a MIM class. [The leader] has brought much 
insight to our class, which he credits to MIM. I was 
traveling with the Nation of Gods and Earths for four 
years, studying its MetaPhysical science. But I have 
found the science of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to be 
more of a benefit to me in a concrete way.

Not saying that I denounce the Nation of Gods and 
Earth, I think that Maoism should be the main focus, 
well at least for me right now. Because learning of 
what we had, isn't telling me nothing about how to 
achieve it again. Thanks to X and his MIM Notes and 
Theories, I have become more political minded and wish 
to gain more of an insight so that I may teach some of 
these brothers who are potential revolutionary 
traveling with the Nation of Gods and Earths.

I can't say that I agree with everything you print, 
however, I'm not in a position to disagree neither, 
because like I said, my political ignorance. 
Nevertheless, I am willing to struggle with MIM, 
because only through struggle, can I expect to receive 
progress.

I just recently ordered: "Revolutionary Suicide" by 
Huey P. Newton, from MIM. I am very much aware of your 
free Book Program for Prisoners, however, I do receive 
state pay from these oppressors, so while I can, I 
would rather pay for any material I can afford so that 
a comrade who is indigent may receive material he or 
she may not be able to afford. But the way the system 
is set up, I could lose my state pay too. But while I 
have it, I will sacrifice it for the purpose of my 
political awareness. 

-- a South Carolina prisoner, 25 November 1998.

MIM responds:

MIM prints these letters from our comrades behind 
bars to demonstrate through practice the concept of 
the Maoist united front. By uniting the progressive 
forces against imperialism, through building 
independent mass organizations both inside and outside 
of Amerika's gulags, we will build a movement strong 
enough to overthrow the imperialist oppressor -- as 
the first letter says, plainly and simply, to bring 
the empire down.

We also print these letters to continue to use MIM 
Notes as a platform to struggle over religion, an 
important theme in prison organizing. 

In addition to the 
discussions we carry out over the most effective and 
correct way forward in revolutionary organizing, we 
use MIM Notes to highlight the oppression faced by 
progressive religious groups in prisons who are 
labeled as "gangs" or "security threat groups" to 
expose the criminal injustice system to our readers on 
the outside. 

The first letter talks about religious language as 
metaphorical. Maoists too understand the value of 
metaphor to express a point -- Mao's own writings are 
filled with analogies to the physical and biological 
world to illustrate social processes. On the 
importance of political struggle, for example, Mao 
writes that "plants raised in hothouses are unlikely 
to be sturdy." ("On the Correct Handling of 
Contradictions Among the People," Selected Works, p. 
465) 

The first letter also points out that by working 
with MIM, RAIL, United Struggle from Within (USW) or 
other revolutionary nationalist groups -- 5%ers are 
practicing in the scientific realm even as they are 
participating in a religious movement. As a Marxist-
Leninist-Maoist vanguard, MIM will continue to 
encourage people we work with to embrace science over 
mysticism, but we do not look upon this as an 
antagonistic contradiction with 5%ers or other 
religious groups working with USW under MIM 
leadership.

USW will work with other groups as long as they are 
not revisionist parties -- that is, falsely claiming 
Marxism or communism. The success of the united front 
depends on the proletarian party's leadership and 
independence, both of which are compromised by 
concessions to revisionists, but sustainable with 
alliances with non-revisionist groups. The first 
letter chooses a quotation from Mao that precisely 
illustrates this point. MIM also does not expect USW 
comrades to quit or denounce other organizations. Some 
comrades will have dual membership as individuals in 
USW and other groups, and MIM welcomes dialogue and 
struggle with other groups in the practice of united 
front work. Again, our disagreements with these other 
groups' lines, within the context of the united front, 
are non-antagonistic contradictions among the people.

Finally, we take this and every opportunity to 
reach out to supporters of MIM and RAIL on the outside 
who are reticent to give monetary donations out of a 
false perception of poverty. Follow this comrade's 
revolutionary example -- someone who receives "state 
pay" behind bars will give money to a program to fund 
revolutionary literature for prisoners working for 
less or no wages.

U.$. SECRETLY SPYING ON IRAQ

Dear MIM:

The U.S. government admitted that it has secretly 
used the UN weapons inspection system to spy on Iraq 
(see article on page 1 -- editor). This came about from 
information released by Kofi Annan and Scott Ritter.

Since the Gulf War our government has said that 
these inspections are necessary to keep track of 
Iraq's weapon's of mass destruction. This, however was 
just a ploy to monitor Iraq's internal communications, 
to track the movements of it's leaders and to keep the 
sanctions in place.

Clinton hoped that he could use this information to 
assassinate Iraq's political and military leaders with 
the air strikes he launched last December. Butler's 
report then was just the excuse and not the reason for 
war. 

There's a quote in Henderson's book from the war 
college report. The quote was made before Aug 1990. It 
talks about taking the initiative away from Iraq 
during some war in the future. Clinton's no fly zone 
serves this purpose. Before Desert Fox U.S. bombers 
could fly into Iraq under the guise of patrolling the 
no fly zone and get real close to their targets. The 
Iraqis wouldn't be aware of any hostile intent until 
bombs were dropped. This happened last summer when no 
fly zone jets fired a missile at a new water treatment 
facility near Basra. 

--a friend in the east January, 1999

* * *

REVIEW THE WAR AGAINST IRAQ: A HANDBOOK FOR ANTI-
IMPERIALISTS
by Arthur Henson
Unity & Struggle Publications 1992 

With a return to the shooting portion of Amerika's 
bombs & sanctions war against the people of Iraq, 
interest in the war has increased. This book presents 
many important arguments about the war that are worth 
reviewing as the anti-war movement gains new life in 
face of the recent overt bombing attacks.

The stated goal of Hensons's The War Against Iraq 
is to bring theory to the anti-war movement. Henson 
correctly explains that the low tide of anti-war 
activism after 1991 was "not because the war ended, 
but because of ideological weakness: problems of 
thought which hinder the ability to act."(p.7)

Henson continues: "For the most part the antiwar 
movement has no theory. Most forces within this broad 
and diverse movement still have not grasped the 
fundamental political contradiction of the war, that 
of imperialism versus the national sovereignty of Iraq 
in conflict over oil production. This is a problem of 
what to think about the war.(p. 7)

In the early 1970s, Iraq nationalized oil 
production. This hurt the imperialists because (a) The 
giant monopoly oil firms were no longer directly paid 
by the Iraqi people to drill and refine oil, and (b) 
Iraq was now in a better position to negotiate a price 
for its oil, instead of having a price rammed down its 
throat. 

In the early 90s, Iraq struggled within OPEC to 
raise the price of oil. Amerika responded by launching 
the Gulf War and splitting the oil-producing states. 

The War Against Iraq never clearly discusses the 
class nature of the Hussein regime. For example, he 
does not discuss Iraq's military strategy: 
Conventional war fought on the terms of the 
imperialists. This is the only method of war open to a 
bourgeois government that does not have the deep 
support of the people. Revolutionary people's war is 
the only method of warfare that can defeat a better 
armed enemy because it uses the support of the people 
as a weapon. Bit by bit, the imperialists can be 
driven out, as in China and Vietnam. Bourgeois 
governments fear arming their populace with such ideas 
and arms because the next logical step would be to 
sweep the domestic bourgeoisie out of power too.

We should defend the sovereignty of countries 
attacked by the United States. If the U.$. military 
respected the official border of other countries, that 
would be progress for the world's people. We must 
train Amerikans that "their" military shouldn't be 
"policing the world." This is part of our duty to 
support the toiling and oppressed masses in the Third 
World. It is also our duty to understand that 
bourgeois governments in the Third World often collude 
with the imperialists to exploit their own people, and 
mis-lead the anti-imperialist movement. Only the 
proletariat can successfully lead a thorough anti-
imperialist movement, because the proletariat has 
nothing to lose but its chains and therefore no reason 
to sell-out to the imperialists.

The War Against Iraq  was published by Unity and 
Struggle (U&S), a phony Marxist-Leninist group. We say 
"phony," because U&S cannot even tell the difference 
between socialism and state monopoly capitalism: U&S 
considers China to be "heading" towards capitalism, 
despite the fact that it has been on the capitalist 
road since the overthrow of the Gang of Four in 1976. 
Unity & Struggle is reviewed in MIM Theory 12 ($6.00) 
and 13 ($8.50). 


* * *

"SNITCH" EXPOSES INJUSTICE SYSTEM'S USE OF INFORMANTS

Frontline: Snitch 
January 12 1999 
Ofra Bikel 
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/snitch

This new 90 minutes PBS Frontline documentary 
exposes Amerikan Justice's use of informants to get 
convictions. It traces the use of informants back to 
the passage of laws mandating mandatory minimum prison 
sentences for drug convictions. The documentary is 
especially effective because it contains interviews 
with snitches who confess to lying in exchange for 
their testimony.

According to the documentary, by the early 1990s, 
$100 million a year was spent paying informants, and 
many thousands of snitches have had their sentences 
reduced. In the last 5 years, one third of those 
sentenced in federal drug cases have had their 
sentences reduced for snitching. 

The documentary argues that the reliance on 
informants corrupts the justice system. MIM would 
argue however, that the reliance on informants is 
merely a sign that the system itself is corrupt. We 
argue that the U.$. justice system has always been 
about repressing the Blacks, Latinos and First 
Nations. The War on Drugs is an escalation in that an 
existing imperialist war and not a significant 
deviation from the norm.

Snitch explains that the passage of mandatory 
minimum sentences for drugs grew out of the Democratic 
Party's efforts to claim the title of "tough on crime" 
for upcoming (1986) elections. In 1986, the House 
Speaker was Democrat Tip O'Neil of Massachusetts. The 
college draft pick for the Boston Celtics was Len 
Bias, who died from a cocaine overdose before he could 
play. With the elections quickly approaching, and the 
Boston Celtics fans particularly outraged over the 
effects of drugs, the Congress quickly passed laws 
requiring mandatory minimum sentences for drug 
offenses. 

Because of the mandatory minimums, judges can no 
longer dole out sentences they deemed "appropriate." 
According to one study cited in the documentary, 
mandatory minimums are opposed by all defense 
attorneys, half of prosecutors, and many judges. 
Congress passed the laws without much research or 
public input, including from Department of Justice and 
Corrections type pigs. 

Whether or policies fulfill their stated goal of 
"fighting crime" is secondary to getting the simple-
minded anti-crime vote and bolstering the growing 
prison industry.

Crime is a real problem, but locking up more people 
has proven itself to not be a solution. The war on 
crime has however led fulfillment of another 
Amerikkkan goal: the repression and control of its 
internal Black Latino and First Nations.

Only way out of a mandatory minimum sentence: Snitch

The only way to get out of a mandatory minimum 
sentence (besides being found not guilty) is to 
snitch. After helping other people go to jail, the 
prosecutor will then file a motion to reduce the 
snitch's sentence.

The imposition of the mandatory minimums removes 
much judicial discretion from sentencing. First time 
defendants can no longer hope to be let off with 
probation. In order to avoid a long sentence of what 
could be 10 years or much more, they snitch.

Many of the cases profiled in the documentary are 
that of outright fabrication or entrapment. As long as 
the prosecution can get a conviction of somebody else, 
they don't care if its true or not. In one case given 
prominence in the documentary, a young white man, 
Joey, is badgered into selling drugs to a friend who 
turns out to be an informant. Because Joey won't turn 
someone else in, he gets 10 years. Joey's father 
spends $100,000 trying to entrap a drug dealer in a 
failed effort to win the favor of the prosecutor. 
Legally speaking, entrapment is supposed to be illegal 
because the government doesn't want to create more 
crime. But with the war on drugs, the prime motivation 
is locking more people up, not logic, the law or even 
ending drugs.

Conspiracy laws examined

The documentary effectively examines convictions 
that legally take place without the siezure of drugs. 
For a conspiracy conviction, only one source (an 
informant) is required to say that s/he saw drugs or 
heard the accused talking about having drugs. Then the 
government can manufacture whatever number of 
kilograms it wishes to accuse the defendants of 
having/distributing/etc.

Do Snitch laws let the king pins off, while 
incarcerating the masses?

U.S Attorney J. Don Foster: "We try to go up the 
ladder if we can, to get the big fish. But sometimes, 
you've got the big fish and you need to come down the 
ladder. So it just works however it fits for that 
particular case." This last sentence is key to 
explaining the incarceration craze and its distance 
from actual crime stopping.

The documentary also examines drug forfetiture 
laws. It explains how easy it is for the government to 
seize property.

The documentary ends on a strong note with an 
interview of a juror for a defendant who refused to 
snitch. The juror explains that he thought the 
defendant should get a short sentence, like 3-5 years. 
But jurors in federal cases are not involved in 
sentencing. The juror is shocked to learn that his 
guilty vote meant, as a result of mandatory minimums, 
to 3 life sentences without hope of parole.

"He seemed to be such a promising boy", said the 
juror.

The documentary then ends with the text that since 
the enactment of mandatory minimum sentencing laws in 
1986, the supply of drugs has not changed. 

To the millions of Amerikans who saw this 
documentary, MIM must ask: Are you ready to break with 
the anti-crime and embrace real solutions? Or are you 
willing to crush the life out of every "promising boy" 
fingered by a snitch?

* * *

STATEMENT BY THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT ON 
MLK DAY

PRISONS GUT CIVIL RIGHTS: 

AMERIKAN LOCKDOWN UNDERMINES CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT 
GAINS

In 1968, the year Martin Luther King, Jr. was 
killed, there were around 200,000 total prisoners in 
Amerikan prisons. Thirty-one years later, that number 
is almost 2 million. There are more than half a 
million Black men in prison today, and there will be 
4.5 million Black men in prison in the year 2020 if 
recent trends continue. In 1996, almost 60% of men in 
prison were Black or Latino.(1) 

That's a powerful, oppressive contrast to the civil 
rights movement demand for freedom. It is not a 
coincidence that as the oppressed won some reforms and 
freedoms in the legal and social arenas through that 
movement, the Amerikan ruling class poured money and 
resources into a prison system that would literally 
re-enslave a large part of the oppressed population 
behind bars. Since the 1970s, Amerika prisoner 
population has grown at a much faster rate than the 
country's population. As the "crime" rate goes up and 
down, the rate of imprisonment goes up and up. Black 
men are imprisoned at more than eight-times the rate 
of white men. 

About 25% of the adult population in the country 
has completed college(2), compared to only 2% of state 
prisoners; 82% of all adults have finished high 
school, compared to 59% of state prisoners. In the 
year before their arrest, one-third of state prisoners 
were not employed, and more than half had incomes less 
than $10,000 per year.(6) The "post Civil Rights" 
state takes people who have lower education and lower 
income, and then imprisons them in a way that reduces 
rather than increases their chances of success when 
they get out. This isn't just devastating for the 
prisoners themselves. There are also 900,000 children 
whose parents are in state and federal prisons, 
children who are now more likely to end up in poverty 
and prison themselves. Further, in 1991 750,000 
prisoners had immediate family members in prison 
too.(3) The injustice system increases inequality and 
oppression, for prisoners, their families, and their 
whole communities and nations. 

The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) and the 
Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) take the 
opportunity of the Martin Luther King, Jr. events to 
remind everyone that the struggle for freedom is 
principally a material struggle. We cannot be content 
with "can't we all just get along" politics or 
attempts to frame the issue of racism as one of 
consciousness or attitude. RAIL organizes around 
prisons as a leading manifestation of inequality, 
national oppression and social control in the United 
$tates. 

Under imperialism, the struggle of the oppressed 
nations for freedom is a struggle for self-
determination.

Notes: 
1. From http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM.  
2. U.S. Census Bureau, 29 June 1998. 
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-105.html. 
3. Comparing State and Federal Inmates, 1991. Office 
of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. NCJ#-
145864. 

* * *

CIA OPERATIONS EXPOSED

Recently the New York Times (NYT) ran a series on 
the CIA based on a television series produced for 
Showtime and aired in early December entitled "The 
Real C.I.A.: Enemies, Secrets and Spies." This is news 
worth reporting in MIM Notes because of the 
information the NYT presented as fact which until now 
was dismissed by the general public as fantasies of 
radicals. In their discussion of the history of the 
CIA the NYT describes its work to overthrow 
governments, back coups, and attempts to kill Castro 
and other disliked people in positions of power, all 
on orders from the President of the U.$. 

"In the 1950's the agency went to work in a hundred 
other nations, always seeking to advance American 
power, sometimes trying to overthrow governments it 
saw as threats. It ran coups in Iran in 1953 and in 
Guatemala in 1954, installing pro-American leaders who 
ruled, sometimes brutally, for decades. 

"In the 1960's the agency worked to overthrow 
Cuba's Fidel Castro, running the infamous Bay of Pigs 
invasion and even trying to kill Castro. In the 
documentary, John McMahon, a former Deputy Director of 
Central Intelligence, says the agency was acting on 
orders from President Kennedy. Indeed, the C.I.A. very 
rarely behaved like a 'rogue elephant.' Almost 
invariably, when it ran coups and mounted plots, it 
was acting on orders from the President of the United 
States."

The NYT further detailed the history of the CIA use 
of secret arms sales to finance paramilitary 
operations against whichever governments it considered 
enemy. 

"In the 1980's, the battle over the C.I.A. erupted 
again when William Casey, then the Director, went 
behind the back of Congress and undertook acts of war 
against the left-wing government of Nicaragua. 

"Congress cut off funds for the C.I.A.-backed 
contra rebels in Nicaragua, so officials of the White 
House and the intelligence agency began schemes to 
raise millions of dollars in secret. Among other 
things, they secretly sold weapons to Iranian radicals 
to get cash for the contras, setting off the worst 
foreign-policy debacle of the decade. But meanwhile, 
halfway around the world in Afghanistan, the C.I.A. 
was conducting a huge gun-running operation, sending 
billions of dollars of weapons to the Islamic rebels 
fighting the Soviet Army."

None of these details are new, but the fact that 
they are now being presented in the New York Times 
should help those readers of MIM Notes who didn't 
believe our statements about the CIA's role in 
destabilizing unfriendly governments.

It is interesting that the New York Times had no 
problem running this story while the stories in the 
San Jose Mercury News in 1996 about the U.$. 
government involvement in drug sales within u.s. 
borders caused such controversy and ultimately ended 
the career of the reporter who investigated the 
stories. Reporting in mainstream media, which takes 
its cues from the government and the corporations who 
feed it news stories and pay for its production, 
reflects what the government considers safe 
information to give to the general public. Apparently 
the level of outrage at U$ intervention in other 
countries is low enough and the chauvinist support for 
white supremacy and global dominance is strong enough 
that the government believes it is now safe to 
publicly take pride in its imperialist plunder.

We ask those who would claim that the majority of 
the people in this country are just miseducated and 
would oppose the u.s. government if they were given 
the information about what it does, where is the mass 
outcry against this public information about the CIA? 
MIM does believe that by getting this information into 
the hands of the people we will win over allies who 
will be unwilling to sit by while the u.s. government 
murders and steals around the world. But we don't 
expect the majority of the u.s. population, which has 
been bought off by superprofits stolen from the Third 
World, to immediately stand up and join the 
revolutionary struggle. Instead we expect many of them 
to be proud of their government for this work the CIA 
did just as the majority supports the ongoing overt 
bombing of Iraq.

Notes: These reports on the CIA can be found at: 
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/index-cia.html

* * *

RAIL STATEMENT ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE SECOND 
MENDIOLA MASSACRE

On January 22, 1987 troops loyal to newly installed 
"democratic" president Corey Aquino opened fire on 
peasants demanding that Aquino honor her promise to 
undertake genuing agrarian reform. The troopers killed 
13 demonstrators and wounded 63 more. RAIL delivered 
the following statement at a commemoration organized 
by BAYAN-International US and PESANTE-USA. 

The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League 
commemorates and salutes the struggle of the Filipino 
masses against the three mountains which oppress them: 
Feudalism, bureaucrat capitalism, and imperialism. We 
take their willingness to make tremendous sacrifices 
in the struggle for true self determination -- even to 
the point of shedding their own blood -- as an 
inspiration and example. We recognize that they -- and 
all other people in the colonies and neocolonies 
struggling against imperialism -- are in the forefront 
of the anti-imperialist struggle. They bear the 
heaviest load. In turn, we offer them our support, 
both directly, by publicizing their struggles to the 
peoples of North America and helping out where we can, 
and indirectly, by struggling against u.$. imperialism 
from within Amerika's borders.

The Mendiola Massacre is an example of the evil 
nature of u.$. imperialism and the local reactionaries 
in the Philippines. It clearly exposed the puppet 
nature of the u.$.-Aquino regime. Although the u.$. 
imperialists tried to sell Corey Aquino as a promoter 
of democracy, her regime actually surpassed the Marcos 
regime in human rights abuses.

But we and the struggling masses of the world are 
not scared by the brutality of u.$. imperialism, 
either abroad, or here within u.$. borders, where the 
u.$. imperialists are threatening to assassinate Mumia 
Abu Jamal, and where the u.$. imperialists lock up 
more and more of the masses for petty "crimes" simply 
to keep a lid on the masses' discontent. We are not 
afraid of their reactionary violence, because we know 
that it springs from their ultimate weakness and their 
fear of the oppressed masses. The vast majority of the 
world's people in the colonies and neocolonies are 
oppressed by u.$. imperialism. Repression and 
oppression breed resistance. It follows that u.$. 
imperialism's days are numbered.

Down with imperialism!

Long live international solidarity!

* * *

YOUNG LORDS FOUNDER RECALLS MAOIST HISTORY:
CHA CHA JIMENEZ HIGHLIGHTS MLK DAY EVENTS

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Cha Cha Jimenez, founder of the 
Young Lords Organization in Chicago, was the highlight 
of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day events at the 
University of Michigan. Other events included some 
progressive historical lectures and a student rally in 
defense of affirmative action polices.

Ever since a student strike and protests 
successfully won University recognition of MLK Day at 
the University of Michigan, the occasion has seen a 
host of presentations and events around civil rights 
issues. Most of these are apolitical or liberal 
reformist events, but this year there were some 
notable exceptions.

Cha Cha Jimenez gave a speech on the history and 
origins of the Young Lords Organization (YLO), founded 
in 1967 in Chicago. The Young Lords Party (YLP) in New 
York City and the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers 
Organization (PRRWO) grew from the YLO. These 
organizations formed the Maoist pole among Puerto 
Ricans at the same time as the Black Panther Party 
exerted Maoist leadership among Blacks.

Jimenez's parents were part of a big wave of Puerto 
Rican immigration in the early 1950s. Many of them 
were fruit-pickers, but when they moved to Chicago, 
settling in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, many worked 
in the hotel industry in bottom-rung jobs. His father 
was in a "street gang" that fought discrimination and 
defended the Puerto Rican community. His uncle and 
grandfather were soldiers for the U.$. in previous 
wars.

Chicago Mayor Daley's urban renewal program drove 
all the Puerto Ricans out of Lincoln Park, which 
helped spark a political consciousness in the 
community. "What got us involved was not the 
independence of Puerto Rico," Jimenez said, "but that 
they were taking our neighborhood from us. . . . 
Everyone else thought urban renewal was good. They 
still think it's good. Urban planners all over the 
country emulate what they did in Chicago."

His involvement with local street gangs and drug 
use got him in trouble with Chicago police, and landed 
him in jail as a young man. There he saw the guards 
beating up the undocumented immigrant workers they 
were hauling in. His early activism was helping these 
immigrants with translating. While in jail, he started 
reading Martin Luther King, and then Malcolm X. "Then 
I wanted to go to confession," he recalled. "And after 
confession I wanted to overthrow the government." 

His early reading also included material from the 
Brown Berets and the Black Panther Party. With this 
influence, he helped turn the Young Lords, then a 
street gang, into a political organization. They read 
Marx and Lenin and Mao. "Some of it related to us, you 
know," he said. "The Red Book was pretty good. We 
could relate to Mao because he could relate to the 
community."

Their early actions were very militant, and they 
didn't realize how much trouble they would get into. 
They took over a local police station, and the urban 
renewal office: "We trashed it . . . It got shut down 
for a few months" because of the damage they caused, 
he said. They also took over the McCormick Theological 
Seminary and held it for a week, demanding investments 
in public housing. And they took over People's Church, 
and it became national headquarters. They gave free 
day care, health clinics, lead poisoning screening, 
and legal advice. "We needed a lot of lawyers," he 
said.

Jimenez met with Fred Hampton, the local leader of 
the Black Panther Party (BPP), and Hampton told him 
that they were going to be in big trouble from the 
takeovers, and they would need better organization. So 
they created more formal organization, including 
ministries like the Panthers had. Then the Young 
Patriots, BPP and the Young Lords together created the 
original "Rainbow Coalition," whose name was later 
stolen by Jesse Jackson.

Jimenez said such alliances were essential for 
them. "One of the things in the Red Book, Mao said, 
'United the many to defeat the few.'"

The FBI's COINTELPRO program targeted the Rainbow 
Coalition for destruction. Fred Hampton was murdered 
by the Chicago Police in a raid on his apartment in 
late 1969. The raid was made possible by the work of 
an FBI infiltrator named William O'Neal, who provided 
the pigs with floor plans and schedules of who would 
be where (see Agents of Repression, by Ward Churchill 
and Jim Vanderwall, South End Press, Boston, 1990).

According to Jimenez, O'Neal, who was in charge of 
security for the BPP, was also in the Young Lords 
offices. Jimenez was also targeted, though not killed. 
He was arrested on a bogus hostage- taking charge, 
which was eventually thrown out after he spent nine 
months in jail. He was arrested many times by the 
Chicago police, who also arrested people just for 
wearing Young Lords buttons.

Jimenez was not uncritical of the early Young Lords 
work, for example with regard to gender. "In terms of 
women, we were just like the rest of the community," 
he said, "and we were very discriminatory. We were 
macho . . . We're the first ones to admit that." 
However, like the YLP, they had a separate women's 
group, "They [the wimmin] had a group called 'Mothers 
And Others' - - MAO -- and they met separately." The 
wimmin's work also led to the day care and breakfast 
programs: "We just put programs in place -- you know, 
we didn't do a lot of analysis of the woman question," 
Jimenez said. From what MIM knows of the YLP and the 
PRRWO, they did do explicit analysis of the role of 
wimmin in society and in the revolution. In fact, the 
wimmin in these organizations stepped forward and 
siezed positions of leadership (see MIM's review of 
the YLO, YLP, and PRRWO in MIM Theory 7).

* * *

PROSECUTORS LIE, SAYS BOURGEOIS STUDY

A Chicago Tribune study of court records has shown 
what MIM has long said: convictions matter to pig 
prosecutors more than punishing those guilty of 
crimes.

"The records show prosecutors have won convictions 
against Black men, hiding evidence that the real 
killers were white. They also have prosecuted a wife, 
hiding evidence that her husband committed suicide. 
And they have prosecuted parents, hiding evidence that 
their daughter was killed by wild dogs."

Being a prosecutor is a stepping stone to higher 
elected office in Amerika. A MIM Notes 176 study 
reported that of the 50 state governors and 100 U.$. 
senators in 1997, 30 were former prosecutors.

According to the Tribune, "at least 381 defendants 
have had a homicide conviction thrown out because 
prosecutors concealed evidence or presented evidence 
they knew to be false" since 1963. 

Sixty-seven of the 381 had been sentenced to death. 
Some came within hours of being executed. 

These are of course only the cases that were 
exposed. Many prisoners can not afford a lawyer to 
properly appeal their conviction and so can not ever 
be released or add to the statistics above.

Furthermore, convicted murderers are only a tiny 
portion of those in prison. The number of other 
innocent prisoners is likewise much higher, especially 
since some other crimes (such as drug crimes) require 
a much lower standard of so-called evidence than 
murder.

That prosecutors lie and cheat to get a conviction 
is more evidence that the Amerikan Justice system is 
about Amerikan Just-Us.

Note: Boston Globe 11 January 99, p. A5.

* * *

COURT SUPPORTS PROSECUTORS BUYING TESTIMONY

On 8 January the full 10th U.$. Circuit Court of 
Appeals overturned a previous ruling that declared the 
common practice of exchanging plea bargains for 
testimony to be illegal. A three judge panel of the 
same body had ruled in August against the practice. 
This January ruling is a big victory for the 
government in its war against the Black, Latino and 
First Nations.

When a defense attorney offers a witness money in 
exchange for favorable testimony, it's called bribery 
and it's against the law. But when prosecutors do it 
with money or something far more valuable--freedom--
it's acceptable to this system. According to a Dallas 
Morning News study, 86% of federal criminal cases in 
the Dallas and Forth Worth area between 1995 and 1997 
"involved the use of informants or co-conspirators who 
received deals from prosecutors in return for 
testimony."

Sonya Singleton was arrested in 1998 as part of an 
alleged money laundering and cocaine distribution 
conspiracy. Singleton's specific charge was aiding in 
a wire transfer from Kansas to California. Singleton 
denies the charge, but one witness at her trial 
identified her as part of the conspiracy: Napolean 
Douglas, a convicted coke dealer who cut a deal. His 
prison sentence was reduced from 15 years to 5 years. 
Singleton was convicted and sentenced to 4 years. 

Federal bribery law prevents "'whoever' from 
giving, offering or promising 'anything of value' to a 
witness in exchange for testimony. The law doesn't 
exempt prosecutors." Referring to Douglas, Singleton's 
attorney said "With the deal he got, he was going to 
tell the government anything they wanted to hear, even 
if that meant lying."

The August victory for Singleton put hundreds of 
thousands of the government's criminal cases at risk, 
and the pigs quickly mobilized against it. Dallas u.$. 
attorney Paul Coggins said "This case makes every 
prosecutor, every judge, every defense attorney co-
conspirators in a federal bribery case. I don't think 
that can be allowed to stand." Not taking any chances 
that the courts wouldn't right the reactionary 
applecart, the Justice Department immediately began 
lobbying Congress to exempt prosecutors from the 
bribery statutes. 

Declaring the practice illegal, Paul J. Kelley Jr., 
wrote in August: "If justice is perverted when a 
criminal defendant seeks to buy testimony from a 
witness, it is no less perverted when the government 
does so." The Judges said in August that if Congress 
wanted to exempt prosecutors from bribery, they should 
change the law.

The August ruling put the U.$. Injustice System had 
gotten into quite a pickle. It got itself out by 
reversing the horse and the cart of law authorship and 
law application. The January ruling said that "if 
Congress had intended to overturn the accepted 
practice, 'it would have done so in clear, 
unmistakable and unarguable language.'" 

Of course, that Congress could have changed the law 
to formally exempt prosecutors from the law further 
proves MIM's point that the government is the real 
criminal conspiracy. Already the pigs have little 
reason to follow their own laws, and when forced to 
(as they almost were in this case) they can change the 
laws. 

Note: AP 8 Jan 99, 17 Nov 98.

* * *

NEW PRISON DATA SHOWS EFFECTS OF ANTI-PAROLE TREND: 
BLACK PRISONERS DO MORE TIME THAN WHITES

By MC12

As of this year, 15 states have eliminated parole. 
New York Gov. Pataki is proposing eliminating parole 
in his state, too. And many other states are cracking 
down on granting parole. Texas, for example, paroled 
just 20% of eligible prisoners in 1998, down from 57% 
in 1988.(1)

The trend toward denying parole, or even 
eliminating parole, is contributing to the boom in the 
fascistic explosion of Amerikan imprisonment. Some new 
data released by the Injustice Department demonstrates 
this.

A big part of the growth in prison populations is 
because people are serving longer portions of their 
sentences. State prison populations increased 57% from 
1990 to 1997, but admissions only increased 17% in 
that time. So the population is increasing partly 
because more people are being locked up, but also 
because fewer people are being released. In 1990, 37% 
of state prisoners were released, but in 1996 it was 
only 31%. The release rate for people convicted of 
murder fell from 10% to 5% in that time -- meaning in 
1996 one-in-20 people convicted of murder was released 
-- and the rate fell from 24% to 15% for people 
convicted of rape.

The drop in release for prisoners convicted of 
rapes showed up in a big Black-white difference in 
time served for rape convictions. Among people 
released from state prisons in 1996, Blacks convicted 
of rape had done an average of 70 months in prison, 
compared to 56 months for whites, so Blacks serve 25% 
longer sentences for rape than whites. Black prisoners 
also served 20% longer sentences for assault. (For 
murder, however, the time served was about the same). 
For all types of convictions, Black prisoners released 
in 1996 did an average of 26 months, compared to 24 
months for whites.(2)

MIM has previously explained that Black men are 
much more likely to be arrested for rape than white 
men. Now we see that they also do longer prison terms 
on rape convictions. Rape is endemic in patriarchal 
society. Who gets arrested and jailed for rape is a 
political decision made by the imperialist patriarchy. 
The prison system is a social control mechanism for 
national oppression, as both arrest and prison term 
figures show.

Notes: 
1. New York Times, 10 January 1999, p. A 11. 
2. Paula M. Ditton and Doris James Wilson, "Truth in 
Sentencing in State Prisons." U.S. Department of 
Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice 
Statistics Special Report, January 1999 (NCJ #170032).

* * *

COMRADES: BE SECURITY CONSCIOUS!

At a recent anti-prisons event organized by RAIL, 
RAILers passed around a sign-up sheet for the local 
RAIL mailing list but failed to collect it after it 
had passed around the room. An audience member came up 
to the RAILers after the event and cautioned them to 
keep a closer eye on the mailing list, as anybody 
present could have copied down or memorized the names 
and addresses on the list. 

This is a correct warning, which the RAILers 
present took to heart, as should all  comrades 
organizing public events. We take great pains to keep 
our home addresses and other sensitive information 
from the eyes of the state and other reactionaries -- 
we must take even greater pains to protect the masses 
and set an example in security-consciousness.

There is no guarantee that everybody who shows up 
at a RAIL event is friendly to RAIL. We should learn 
from the example of Malcolm X, who often started his 
public speeches with the words, "Greetings, brothers 
and sisters, friends. . .  and enemies." 

In fact, an enemy of RAIL and the people disrupted 
the very event in question (luckily he left before 
RAIL had passed the mailing list around). A member of 
the so-called Aryan International Movement (AIM) -- an 
organization of white supremacists, fascists, and 
other execrable cretins -- surreptitiously engaged a 
RAILer in a discussion about prisons before suddenly 
passing out his hateful literature and encouraging the 
(minority of) white people present to join his group. 
Met with scorn from all, he quickly turned tail and 
fled. AIM, however, has a practice of spying on anti-
fascist events and following the organizers home.

A lesson that not all pigs wear blue uniforms and 
badges.

* * *

NEW ORLEANS DA OINKS THE BLUES, FORCED TO DROP SHAREEF'S 
MURDER CHARGES

Just three days before Shareef Cousin's retrial for 
murder, New Orleans DA-type pig Harry Konnik abruptly 
dropped all charges on January 8. Oinking that his 
office of injustice really "had the right man" when he 
sent Shareef to Angola's death row in 1996 for the 
killing of a white man in 1995, Konnik was unable to 
explain why suddenly there's "not enough evidence" to 
try Shareef again. Or why he had "disciplined" the 
chief prosekutor in the case. But the pig slop didn't 
end there. Hours later the New Orleans Pig Department 
announced that it had "reopened" the investigation 
into the killing that Shareef was railroaded for, and 
that they'd be rutting around "seeking new leads."(1)

All this porky manuvering resulted in a victory for 
Shareef Cousin against the criminal injustice system 
that makes all prisoners political prisoners. And it 
exposes once again the vile purpose of that system as 
the domestic military arm of imperialism set to 
terrorize and intimidate oppressed nationals into 
submission. 

As commandant of that oppressive force, Konnik is 
the darling of white New Orleans, which looks to him 
as protektor of their hard won privileges, i.e., hard 
won through settler genocide and plunder. And this was 
an "important" case because a white boy was killed 
while with his white girl "date" just outside the Port 
O'Call Restaurant in the French Quarter. This is just 
the area where Konnik likes to stop in and croon some 
tunes like his famous son and join in the general 
merrrymaking and celebration with his white 
konstituents. And if you can't celebrate being an 
oppressor, where's the fun? It was Konnik's job to 
send a message to the Black nation in New Orleans: 
threaten our privilege and we'll murder one of you 
with poision in your veins while you're strapped on a 
white porcelain table in a tiny room with a big window 
for us all to watch.

Of course for Konnik, being the pig he is, this job 
was a snap. Just use the trickkks of the criminal 
injustice trade. First you get a snitch and threaten 
him till you get a name, any name. Then you get some 
"tentative" identifications, while making sure your 
"star" witness lies big and on point. And you keep 
quiet about any witnesses that point in other 
directions. Then you go to trial and do everything to 
keep Black nationals off the jury. And, oh yeah, you 
use your goon squad to kidnap defense witnesses that 
provide an alibi (Shareef was returning from a 
basketball game with his coach and teammates at the 
time of the killing). Throw in some witness 
intimidation here and there, and quicker than you can 
say "David Dukkke," you've got yourself another 
sacrifice for amerikkka's peace of mind.(2)

Konnik's office is well oiled for national 
opprression. From 1990 until 1995, all the people 
sentenced to death in New Orleans were Black. Konnik 
seeks the death penalty almost three times as often if 
the victim is white. If a Black national is charged 
with the murder of a white settler, he goes after the 
death penalty 72.7% of the time. But he asks for the 
death penalty in only 21.4% of the cases in which 
whites kill Blacks.(3)

Oh, it hasn't been all smooth sailing for New 
Orleans' singing storm trooper. In 1995 Konnik was 
slapped on the wrist by another wing of the injustice 
system, the "supreme" kourt, for withholding evidence 
favorable to the defendant in a kapital kase.(4) In 
this way the injustice system appears "fair" in 
getting the "right" oppressed national to hold out as 
an example in its campaign of terror. And in 1998 
"Time" magazine was out to make a buck by painting 
Konnik as some kind of rogue wart-hog type pig rather 
than the regular all-amerikan type pig he actually is. 
So they ran an issue with Shareef on the cover and a 
story that tells what all Konnik's little piggys have 
really been up to in concocting this "case."(5)

Then shortly after the "Time" story the louisiana 
"supreme" kourt overturned Shareef's conviction and 
"granted" him a new trial. That meant Konnik would 
risk further exposure of his pig tricks in the 
daylight of public opinion. And by the time the trial 
rolled around several progressive and reformist groups 
had taken up Shareef's cause and the bourgeois press 
was ominously reporting representatives of these to be 
"in town."(4) On the other hand, as a good 
representative of the white settler nation, Konnik had 
to satisfy the imperialist bloodlust that protects 
this empire. Solution? Drop Shareef like a hot potato 
and round up the pig possee for another night ride 
through the Black nation. Konnik to white amerika: 
"Don't worry, we'll get another one, and quick."

Konnik can take some temporary consolation in the 
fact that Shareef is still in his plantation cell at 
Angola, the result of having been coerced into a plea 
"bargain" when he was fighting for his very life. But 
his attorneys expect these to meet the same legal end 
as his bogus "conviction." Shareef will be free!

But Konnik remains free. The criminal amerikan 
injustice system remains free. Imperialism remains 
free to dominate, exploit, and terrorize the Black 
nation and all Third World nations in the name of 
insatiable settler greed.

Shareef was the youngest persons on amerika's death 
row, having been railroaded at age 16. Imperialism in 
white amerika is ruthless and respects no age 
boundries in its desperation for hegemony. Among 
youth, the criminal injustice system is most vicious 
in its attacks on oppressed nation youth. Two thirds 
of youth sentenced to death by this system are from 
the oppressed nations, for instance.(6)

Dismal, brute facts, to be sure. But oppression 
does breed resistance. That's brute fact also. As 
Amerika extends its undeclared war on the oppressed 
nations to the youth, the youth will respond by 
resisting. By themselves, paternalistic slogans like 
"Stop killing the children!" are counterproductive and 
detached from reality. The "children" themselves are 
capable of understanding the imperialist and 
patriarchal nature of the system which oppresses them, 
and organizing against it. The Black Panther Party, 
which many members joined in their teens, was a 
vanguard Maoist party with a strong presence in New 
Orleans. One youthful Panther is wiser of heart in 
revolution, more mature in the struggle of the truly 
oppressed, than ten thousand thousand oinking Konnik 
pigs. And Harry, your oppression is breeding more than 
one, trust us.

Notes:
1 The Times-Picayune, January 9, 1999, p. 1 
2 Shareef Cousin Fact Sheet, http://www.shareef-cousin.com/ 
3 Ibid. 
4 Ibid. 
5 Dead Teen Walking, "Time," January 19, 1998 
6 Shareef Cousin Fact Sheet

* * *

UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS

Exposing Indiana Isolation

...Here in the Supermax conditions are the most 
oppressive, in which there is no set requirement of 
why we are placed here and when/if we'll leave here. 

We are locked down most days for 24 hours a day for 
our first 90 days. With the exception of an hour out 
twice a week on a very small recreation pen fully 
enclosed. The only way to see the sun is to look up.

The most we'll ever be able achieve is an hour a day 
out of cell time after six months. In that time no 
audio-visual privileges of any kind. No phone 
privileges as long as you are here. 

To get a visit your prospective visitor must send a 
written request two weeks in advance. This policy 
greatly discourages visitors. We are only allowed one, 
three-person visit, per month anyway. So it is their 
intention to try to isolate us from all outside 
support and communication. This way they [the pigs] 
will have more success in applying ever more 
oppressive tactics and measures....

 -- An Indian Prisoner 19 July 1998

Pigs Maintain Racists

...My harassment and abuse by staff at this prison has 
ranged from spitting in and denial of food; verbal 
abuse; and outright physical attacks. This abuse is 
escalating and is being supported by top officials at 
this prison (e.g. Mark Levenhagen, Captain William 
Hyatte, and Sergeant Anderson.).

I am confined on a "control unit" where security is 
the main focus of all activities. I am handcuffed and 
shackled whenever I am moved from my assigned cell. On 
October 13, 1998 the "corrections officers" left the 
cuff-port (it is a locked door that is cut into a cell 
door used for passing food and handcuffing.) of a 
known racist opened. This person conveniently had a 
razor and as I was being escorted to the shower he 
reached out and cut my arm open requiring 25 stitches. 
Too many things fell into place at the right time for 
this to have been a coincidental mishap. Out of 52 
prisoners his cuff-port was the only one left open. He 
was the only one with a razor at the right time. He 
knew when I was going to the shower, ad infinitum. 
This was clearly planned with the help of prison 
staff.

...Historically, the prison administration has 
supported the existence and maintenance of racist 
inmates and in exchange for petty privileges they are 
used as a buffer against those of who are committed to 
consciousness raising and righteous change. These 
racists have been provided with weapons and 
opportunities to attack and even kill those who have 
dedicated themselves to social change. Since these 
racists are never subject to any type of punishment it 
sends a message that the administration supports these 
acts. In this case, the inmate who cut me is receiving 
only one year of segregation time. He doesn't care 
about this because he will go home before the time is 
up. In contrast, a black guy recently got 20 years 
added to his sentence just for possessing a razor 
affixed to a pencil.

To add insult to injury, I did not see a doctor for 
six hours after the attack. Staff members (Monzon and 
Ketchup) attempted to conceal the administration's 
role in this assault by trying to refuse photos and 
saying that this inmate somehow unlocked his own cuff-
port! [In transporting me to medical care] these 
officers purposely and repeated rubbed the seatbelt 
across the wound. In addition, they handcuffed, 
shackled and chained me in a manner that caused me 
extreme pain. I understand that because I have 
dedicated my life to struggle, that these happenings 
are par for the course. But the contradictions must be 
addressed.

Peace and Solidarity, 

-- An Indiana Prisoner, 16 October 1998

Isolation Tactics

"The government you have elected is inoperative." -- 
KRS One, I forgot the title of the rap and year, but 
never the words and meaning. "The government you have 
elected is inoperative." I hope I spelled the word 
inoperative correctly. I've been in seg [segregation] 
for two years without a dictionary. These modern day 
slave owners are well aware of the fact that Malcolm 
Little studied the dictionary and political books in 
seg and became Malcolm X. So it comes as no shock when 
these oppressors never have dictionaries to loan to 
us. 

I understand the concern over prisoners' right to 
vote. It's the first step. However, voting is 
senseless as long as we have a two parts system of two 
evils to choose from. This is why the government is 
always inoperative. 

It's cold inside our cells. No heat. In fact the air 
condition is still on. The was supposed to get sick 
now that we have to pay, just to see a doctor, even if 
no medical treatment is given. That is if we have the 
money. Dirt poor people like myself are often not 
brought to see a doctor, or we see one two weeks and 
twelve request slips later because we don't have the 
money. 

After people get sick, and a prisoner freezes to 
death, we'll have heat and a cover up. The prisoncrats 
will say. "He covered his vents with wet toilet paper 
and prevented the heat from coming out." When actually 
he did so to block the air condition from coming in 
his cell. 

I've witnessed four prisoners get murdered by goon 
squads and improper or denial of medical or 
psychiatric care. I've read the lies and cover- ups. 
In one case, I saw dogs clean up the murder scene 
before the investigators arrived. But who could I 
tell? The state police? Ha! They probably would have 
charged me with "perjury". May those comrades rest in 
peace.

Northern is a high tech super maximum security 
restrictive segregation prison, where modern day slave 
owners conduct a behavior modification brain wash 
phase program on Connecticut's Nat Turners and John 
Browns. We are without tv, radios and newspapers. A 
decent book is rare. Pussy books are plentiful. Psych 
medication is encouraged. These oppressors cut us off 
from the outside world through disciplinary sanctions: 
loss of visits, loss of phone access, and loss of mail 
(yes, loss of mail.) All at the same time and beyond 
our prison discharge dates in most cases. 

Under loss of mail, they hold our mail hostage and 
give us our mail on the last Wednesday of each month. 
If a relative dies on the 3rd and notification of the 
death is sent to me by letter on the 4th, I'll be 
given the letter on the 25th, long after the mourning 
began. It happened to me last year. This loss of mail 
discourages free people from writing to us. In the 
last letter I received from my mother in February 1998 
she wrote, "I love you very, very much and would never 
abandon you. You must always believe that." Why 
haven't I heard from my mother since? Is she alive? 
...

 -- A Connecticut Prisoner, 2 November 1998

No medical care in prison

What is a medical emergency? I was bleeding for 3 days 
out my anus. I had blood in my stool and was suffering 
from discomfort in my insides. The medical staff is 
telling me to put in a request for this just to get 
$3.00...

...I was using the bathroom and there was blood in the 
stool. I was concerned because there was a lot of 
blood. I pushed the so-called emergency button. The 
C/O [Correction Officer] said he called medical; and 
medical said to put in a request.

There aren't any nerves in your colon, so the only way 
to know if there's a problem is the presence of blood 
in the stool. So I was nervous and covered the window. 
During count I said nothing. So the lieutenant said 
either get tied up or take the paper off. He said he 
would call medical. So they [medical staff] came 
personally and said put in a request. Then I talked to 
Captain Corey. Major KKK came out and said I don't 
care about your rights or anything else. 

Nothing ever happened, I was NOT seen by medical 
staff. So I filed a bunch of sanctions and 
grievances...

 -- A Connecticut Prisoner, 1 November 1998

Health Hazards in Wimmin's Prison

A lady slipped and fell behind the food service line 
in the central dining hall last week because there 
were no mats on the floor. She fell with a scalding 
hot pan into the hot water. She suffered second and 
third degree burns. She was denied to go to the 
outside hospital.

Seizes and asthma attacks are not considered medical 
emergencies. The inmates and guards are left to 
"medically" care for the prisoners. The nurses do not 
come according to this prison policy.

There is no health care outside the prison. 
Emergencies cost $2.00 to pay to go.

There are no safety measures in the kitchen. People 
suffer falls, and burns. The prison officials have 
prisoners with AIDS, HIV, TB exposure working in the 
kitchen. Kitchen staff is paid $15.00 to $20.00 a 
month. The pay for cooks is $60.00 - $65.00 a 
month....

Female guards are allowed to wear wigs, hairpieces, 
weaves and acrylic nails (some as long as three 
inches). My complaint is that these nails (claws) can 
endanger both the health and safety of the guards and 
prisoners. If a guard needs to stop a fight, shakedown 
(touch) a prisoner, and/or assist a seizure patient. 
In any of these circumstances these sharp implant 
nails can cut a prisoner....

 -- An Illinois Prisoner, 16 July, 1998

Plea for help against Medical Abuse

...Prisoners need to boycott the phone system. They 
are robbing our families the rates they charge. I'd be 
more than willing to draft up some work with the 
network with all prisons. The institutions receive 
free phone services and kickbacks based on the calls 
prisoners make.

The second thing prisoners in the US need is a uniform 
medical association. I have been sending scores of 
memorandums out, but no one wants to help. The rate of 
prison deaths is going higher as we speak -- and will 
continue unless we Prisoners do something. 

...Many prisoners have been sentence to an 
unadjudicated death sentence due to unprofessional 
medical treatment, and experimentation without their 
knowledge. It's a sad affair when prisoners' families 
don't have adequate funding to get independent 
autopsies done to determine the cause of death. It is 
probably for the better because their family would 
find that their loved one died due to the 
experimentation and/or intentionally given diseases or 
cancers. This is one of the realities that prison life 
carries with it, unadjudicated death.

...To that end, we prisoners need immediate help in 
combating the mistreatment of prisoners. We need a 
not-for-profit organization that would provide 
informative data by prisoners themselves based on 
prisoners' actual need.

We prisoners need doctors to help edit the articles, 
and we need a printer, post office box number, and a 
person to pick up and send out information. With this 
help, we can arm ourselves to fight for ourselves.

In conclusion, I have a "Prisoners Health Watch" 
Manual being edited/checked for misinformation by a 
doctor. Nonetheless, I have no support base to reach 
the 1.3 million prisoners who would best use the 
information....

I continue in the struggle, 

-- An Illinois Prisoner, 8 August 1998

MIM responds: The tasks that this prisoner proposes 
are exactly the kinds of projects United Struggle from 
Within (USW), the MIM-led prisoner activist 
organization, is taking on. And we encourage all 
prisoners interested in working on these and other 
important struggles to contact us and get involved. We 
have the infrastructure and network to help get things 
like a Prisoners Health Watch Manual to the prisoners 
who need it while at the same time incorporating this 
work into the overall anti-imperialist struggle.

Illinois prison conditions

...In 1996 all Maximum's were locked down for seven 
months. During that time changes were made in a 
drastic fashion. Property was taken from prisoners, no 
more contact visits, restricted phone calls, mass 
beatings and tortures, and new more Draconian rules 
were established.

...If you initiate contact with a nurse verbally, 
you're arbitrarily charged $5.00. If you fill out a 
health care request form, be ready to pay $5.00, and 
additional $2.00 if a quack (doctor) has to see you 
and prescribe a hard drug like Tylenol. 

Regarding WVCF [Wabash Valley Corr. Facility] medical 
staff being private. That has yet to be validated. 
I've heard many different medical staff proclaiming to 
be state paid and regulated (not privatized). But I 
have heard prisoners stating that PHS (Private Health 
Services, centralized from California) is the agency 
WVCF staff is leased from. More investigation is 
needed on this.

GED classes are arbitrarily allowed! This sinister, 
diabolical system of education here at WVCF works like 
so: A prisoner who is in general population, must have 
one year clear to participate in any educational 
programs. The same rule applies for the slave-wage 
irrelevant jobs. The prisoncrats constructed WVCF 
whereby it's contained and concentrated with 
strictness. General population mirrors that maxi-maxi 
control unit environment with very little exceptions. 
Thus prisoners' activities are pre-determined and 
calculated under these harsh extraordinary 
circumstances.

The psychological stress levels are always high. 
Double bunking in shoebox cells only intensifies the 
effect. Thus exploding reactionary activities are 
calculable. For the most part the manmade environment 
of WVCF has been constructed to make it virtually 
impossible to get a year clear without any 
infractions. However, if you happen to catch an A or B 
conduct report and are sent to the SHU [Segregated 
Housing Unit] and have two years or more left, Then 
you are placed on "long-term" segregation. Note, no 
handbook, criteria or policy exist for long-term or 
short-term housing of prisoners on the SHU. It's a 
ghost policy that is arbitrarily enforced.

If you keep 30 days clear of any conduct reports, then 
you may submit a request to your assigned counselor to 
partake in the GED program. But if you're short-term 
with less than two years, then you're fucked on any 
type of educational program. Long-term is looking 
appealing to a lot of prisoners when compared with the 
brunt of sensory deprivation suffered by short-term 
SHU prisoners.

...Phone calls are twenty minutes for general 
population and SHU prisoners. However, SHU prisoners 
are only allowed phone calls every 14 days. The only 
exception is if you have your attorney call the prison 
and/or send your counselor a request. You may also get 
a court order warranting additional phone contact with 
attorney.

The SHU law library is nonexistent. What does exist is 
a law book list of limited law books that may be 
requested from your counselor. If you need help, tough 
luck! If you need case cites, you must request if from 
the WVCF main law library by citation. The law library 
system is merely a paging-system that is not 
adequately run either! A law library clerk comes to 
the SHU three times a week. This person who hasn't a 
clue about the law can only communicate with you via 
phone, in a security max booth. The passing of items 
is not allowed.

The food service here is inadequate and does not meet 
the nutritional regulations. You would think the 
prisoncrats would rush to allow SHU prisoner to order 
from the commissary, in order to reap more profits 
from the prisoners. But this hasn't been done because 
they would rather starve us instead. 

-- An Illinois Prisoner, 19 July 1998

Illinois economic conditions

...The highest you can get paid at this institution is 
$45.00. The medical treatment is really bad. Reading 
material is at times censored, even personal mail. 
Emergency health care visits to outside hospitals are 
$2.00. Inmates are not allowed to receive stamps 
inside the institution. They stopped giving out free 
envelopes that inmates could mail free of charge. They 
have taken the majority of the can good out of the 
store due to a security threat. Access to the law 
library and coping has been made much harder for 
inmates.

...The only jobs in this institution are those 
considered institution jobs. This institution has a 
boot camp that does all the outside work. Jobs range 
from $15.00 -$45.00. There are some inmates that make 
up to $65.00, but they are few in number. There is no 
work for outside companies here. The working 
conditions are not bad because contractors come in and 
do all the major work. There are no jobs that would 
harm an inmate from working it. The worst job in this 
institution is riding the tractors to cut the grass. 
In this institution, a person has a lot of room to 
move around and do what is necessary for the cause.

If the prisoner has a certain amount of money, say for 
example $2,500.00 on the books they [the prisoncrats] 
might try to take him to pay room and board.... 

I continue in the struggle, 

-- An Illinois Prisoner, 11 May 1998

Anti-Muslim treatment

...Let me run down to you brothers what's been going 
on here at Wayne Correction Center in Goldsboro, North 
Carolina. Well as the market for prison continues to 
grow, fair and proper treatment of those incarcerated 
seems to be taking a continuous decrease. 

Wayne Facility is a state institution that is unjust 
and discriminatory against inmates in their facility. 
Though Christianity is embraced and supported, Muslims 
at Wayne are closely supervising and receive limited 
amounts of Islamic literature. 

The only thing we've been provided is harassment. When 
any Muslim walks down the main hallways he is asked to 
take off anything Muslim related. We are not allowed 
to order from the Muslim Institution's Direct, thus we 
have no such books for in-depth research. Our services 
are closely monitored. 

Also religious diets are not being provided to 
incarcerated Muslims. We are being subjected to eat 
only what the facility provides for us. According to 
the Prisoner Handbook of the North Carolina Department 
of Cowards, facilities should provide religious 
artifacts and other Islamic materials. This is just 
another classic example of the wicked oppressing the 
righteous.

Respectfully yours, 

-- A North Carolina Prisoner, 6 October 1998

Illinois censorship

I recently received the notification from the mailroom 
here at the Illinois River Corr. Center. They informed 
that they withheld two of your newspapers from me, as 
it constituted "gang related correspondence". Needless 
to say, I am in the process of challenging this 
confiscation, as the mailroom conveniently "forgot" to 
send it to the Publication Review Committee, and 
instead, just chose to refuse to admit it on their own 
initiative. I'll keep you informed as to the progress 
of my grievance. I did receive your papers of July 1st 
and 15th -- go figure.

In Solidarity, 

-- A Illinois Prisoner, 5 August 1998

Indiana censorship

The prisoncrats proclaimed that last MIM Notes you all 
sent me contain and promote violence. We know any 
words of opposition to the oppressive state are 
considered to be the promotion of violence. It is 
psychological warfare striking to silence any 
resistance, even if it's an idea.

More so, they're not letting me view the papers. Thus 
my defense to argue particular contents is feeble! 
However, send me info regarding the subjects of the 
last papers you sent me. The STG [Security Threat 
Group] Coordinator, Sargent Black, here confiscated 
the newspapers. Are y'all getting my complaints about 
the prisoncrats confiscating these latest MIM Notes?

 -- An Indiana Prisoner, 6 September 1998