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THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

MIM Notes 184  PART I           April 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. AMERIKA PEDDLES WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION TO 
   IMPERIALISM'S ALLIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST 
2. AMERIKAN COURT FINDS WEAPONS INSPECTION TEAM GUILTY
3. FIGHT THE DEATH PENALTY IN MASSACHUSETTS
4. LETTERS 
5. BOOK REVIEW: UNDERSTANDING FORESTS
6. AMERIKAN IMPERIALISM ATTACKS YUGOSLAVIA
7. KOSOVO: IMPORTANT PLACE IN COMMUNIST HISTORY
8. MIM LEGAL NOTES: FIGHTING CENSORSHIP IN AMERIKAN 
   PRISONS
9. ATTENTION PRISONERS: POST OFFICE PIGS CENSOR MIM MAIL
10. P.A. PRISONER PUBLICATION CALLS FOR PHONE BOYCOTT  
11. "THREE STRIKES" LAW NOT LINKED TO DROP IN CRIME
12. MASSACHUSETTS VOTES OUT ELECTORAL BRIBERY; BRIBED 
    POLITICIANS SAYS "YEAH, SO?"
13. AMERIKAN DEMOCRACY: THE BEST VOTES MONEY CAN BUY
14. FILM EXPOSES PARASITISM OF RURAL PRISON TOWN
15. REPRESSION OF WIMMIN IN PRISON EXPOSED (Article withdrawn in MN 186)
16. PHONE RE-SELLERS SCAM IMMIGRANTS
17. UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS

* * *

WHAT IS MIM?

The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a revolutionary 
communist party that upholds Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, comprising 
the collection of existing or emerging Maoist internationalist 
parties in the English-speaking imperialist countries and their 
English-speaking internal semi-colonies, as well as the existing 
or emerging Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties of 
Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the U.S. Empire. MIM 
Notes is the newspaper of MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the 
Spanish-speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM.

MIM is an internationalist organization that works from the 
vantage point of the Third World proletariat; thus, its members 
are not Amerikans, but world citizens.

MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups over other 
groups: classes, genders, nations.  MIM knows this is only 
possible by building public opinion to seize power through armed 
struggle.

Revolution is a reality for North America as the military becomes 
over-extended in the government's attempts to maintain world 
hegemony.

MIM differs from other communist parties on three main questions: 
(1) MIM holds that after the proletariat seizes power in socialist 
revolution, the potential exists for capitalist restoration under 
the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within the communist party 
itself. In the case of the USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power 
after the death of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's 
death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in 1976. (2) MIM 
upholds the Chinese Cultural Revolution as the farthest advance of 
communism in human history. (3) MIM believes the North American 
white-working-class is primarily a non-revolutionary worker-elite 
at this time; thus, it is not the principal vehicle to advance 
Maoism in this country.

MIM accepts people as members who agree on these basic principles 
and accept democratic centralism, the system of majority rule, on 
other questions of party line.

"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is universally 
applicable. We should regard it not as dogma, but as a guide to 
action. Studying it is not merely a matter of learning terms and 
phrases, but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of 
revolution."

-- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208

* * *


AMERIKA PEDDLES WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION TO IMPERIALISM'S 
ALLIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST

On March 12, Secretary of Defense William Cohen returned to 
Amerika after an 8 day trip to the Middle East peddling weapons of 
mass destruction. Cohen met with leaders of six Persian Gulf 
states plus Jordan and Egypt. While the neo-colonial leaders of 
the Middle East were eager to buy these weapons, they weren't 
willing to be seen in public with Cohen.(1) These leaders didn't 
want to antagonize their Amerika master by criticizing the U.$. 
genocide against Iraq in front of Cohen, but couldn't risk the 
wrath of their people by appearing with Cohen and remaining silent 
on the matter.

The one exception was Qatar, where Foreign Minister Hamad bin 
Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani meekly criticized Amerika: "I cannot say 
we support the daily" attacks in the no-fly zones. But Arab 
journalists in Qatar gave Cohen even greater trouble, exposing the 
lie that the no-fly zones in Iraq are mandated by the United 
Nations.

Question: "Iraq says that there is no U.N. resolution behind 
imposing the no-fly zone over its North and South. Can you name 
that resolution and what it says?"

Check out Cohen's slippery answer: "The United States and Great 
Britain -- and indeed the French, up until recently -- have in 
fact, since 1991, been enforcing a no-fly zone in order to protect 
the Iraqi people, both in the North and the South, as well as the 
neighbors in the region. We will continue to enforce the no-fly 
zones, as we have in the past."

Cohen couldn't answer the question because there is no U.N. 
resolution endorsing Amerikan occupation of Iraqi airspace. The 
no-fly zones are not in the Gulf War cease-fire agreement, either. 
What is in that imperialist document is a promise to work towards 
DISARMING the entire Middle East, including Iraq. But the reality 
is that Amerika demands that only Iraq disarm while it sells arms 
to almost every other nation in the region. Amerikan claims to 
desire regional peace are totally hollow.

The journalists in Qatar and other countries also criticized (if 
politely) Cohen for what he is -- an arms merchant and master 
propagandist for Amerika. Cohen travels to the region regularly to 
hype the "danger" from Iraq and Iran, and offers to share 
"intelligence" about the military capabilities of these countries. 
Then when the neo-colonial lackey leaders "ask" to buy weapons, 
Cohen is only too happy to set up the multi-billion dollar deals. 
And if that's not enough, Cohen's fear-mongering serves as a 
justification for extended and increased U.$. military presence in 
the Persian Gulf.

Egypt purchased 24 of the latest model F-16 fighter, a Patriot 
Missile battery and 200 new heavy tanks, for a price of $3.2 
billion. Egypt will pay the bill with it's annual $1.2 billion 
allotment of u.$. military aid.(1)

Jordan got (for free) $200 million in weapons to "solidify the 
strong ties between Jordan and the u.s."(3) Amerika no doubt wants 
to buy the complete loyalty of Jordan's new king so as to most 
efficiently oppress the Jordanian and Palestinian peoples. 

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) bought air-
to-air missiles, and the UAE also bought F-16 planes.(4)

Such sales provide a number of reactionary pluses for Amerika:

1. Pumps up the Amerikan economy

2. Ensures that the neo-colony will stay under Amerikan control 
for the long term, as Amerika is required for maintenance of these 
high-tech weapons.

3. Keeps Third World nations focused on their conflicts with their 
neighbors and not on the need to become self-reliant, and defeat 
imperialism and take control of their own resources.

Amerika may own the neo-colonial leaders of the Middle East, but 
it doesn't own the people of the region. And it is their destiny 
to take back their nations from imperialism.

U.$. out of the Middle East!

Note:

1. Boston Globe 3 12 99 p. A11
2. DoD News Briefing March 9, 1999 Secretary of Defense William S. 
Cohen and Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad 
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar1999/t03101999_t0309qtr.html
3. Boston Globe 3/11/99 p. A11
4. Boston Globe 3/13/99 p. A16

* * *

AMERIKAN COURT FINDS WEAPONS INSPECTION TEAM GUILTY

On March 10, 11 members of a citizen inspection team were found 
guilty of trespass for an incident at the Raytheon weapons 
production facility on October 26, 1998.

The team, comprised of pacifists, hoped to gain access to a 
missile plant, identify weapons of mass destruction and then work 
to eliminate them.  In response, Raytheon called the police and 
had the eleven arrested.

The defendants argued a necessity defense, where by the "harm" of 
their trespass was outweighed by the harm caused by weapons of 
mass destruction. The jury rejected the argument, and they were 
sentenced to probation.

MIM sees no harm in this "trespassing" since it's Raytheon's land 
was stolen in the first place from the First Nations. And the 
parallel to the U.$. war against Iraq should be clear to all our 
readers.  

When Iraq refused to comply with UNSCOM weapons inspectors -- or 
when Iraq did in fact comply but UNSCOM manipulated the truth -- 
bombs fell from the Amerikan planes. When "citizens inspection 
teams" in Massachusetts attempt to inspect for weapons of mass 
destruction, the pigs get out the handcuffs. 

Note: Boston Globe March 13, 1999, p. B3.

* * *

FIGHT THE DEATH PENALTY IN MASSACHUSETTS

The fight against the death penalty is heating up in Massachusetts 
since governor Cellucci introduced, in late February, a bill to 
re-instate the death penalty in the state. Last year a similar 
bill failed by a tie vote in the Massachusetts House of 
Representatives after being passed in the Senate. On March 23, the 
House Criminal Justice Committee narrowly rejected the death 
penalty bill, but the bill will go the full House on March 29. 

In an ever escalating battle which uses Black and Latino men as 
cannon fodder, Cellucci tried to appear even tougher on crime this 
year, introducing a bill which includes even more categories of 
crimes for which conviction would make a person eligible for the 
death penalty. 

Both sides of the debate are relying on emotional appeals to win 
support. A brutal killing of a young boy last year was turned into 
a key argument behind the need for the death penalty. And the 
release of innocent people from death row provides a compelling 
argument for the potential failings of the legal system and fuel 
for the anti-death penalty arguments that innocent people will be 
killed if the death penalty is reinstated.

Boston College Students Against the Death Penalty hosted a forum 
on March 9th which featured four former death row prisoners, all 
innocent of the crimes they were convicted for and released after 
many years in prison. This forum did a good job of building 
emotional opposition to the death penalty based on the possibility 
that a mistake could be made and an innocent person could be 
killed. But it failed to offer an analysis that places the 
question of the death penalty into the context of an imperialist 
government and legal system.

All four speakers focused on the fact that we have an imperfect 
judicial system which means that innocent people will be killed. 
Three of the speakers were Black and one was Latino and they 
pointed out that the makeup of the panel is not just a coincidence 
but that nationality plays a role in who is wrongfully convicted. 
Several of the speakers mentioned the lies the prosecution told 
and falsified statements used to get their convictions. But no one 
clearly drew the connections between the systematic abuses in the 
criminal injustice system that lead to wrongful convictions of 
Blacks and Latinos, which are not accidents of a fallible system 
but instead the result of a clearly targeted and oppressive 
system, and the underlying political system that the prisons 
serve.

Freddie Pitts who, along with Wilbert Lee, was sentenced to death 
in Florida in 1963 and was granted a full pardon in 1975, began 
the forum saying "My case is an excellent case of being the wrong 
color in the wrong place at the wrong time." Wilbert Lee went 
further to point out that "we never heard of a rich person being 
executed." But Lee went on to say to the largely white and wealthy 
audience at Boston College "If you don't [stop the death penalty] 
one day it could be you." This contradicts his statement about 
rich people not being executed and underscores the failure of this 
kind of a personal argument. People should not just be concerned 
about the death penalty because a mistake could be made that would 
affect them personally. The fact is, most white people really do 
not have to worry about this. But people should oppose injustice 
that oppresses whole groups of people for the benefit of other 
groups of people regardless of the personal impact.

Statistics show that Blacks are far more likely to be given the 
death penalty than whites. 53% of the people executed between 1930 
and 1990 were Black but Blacks make up only 12% of the 
population.(1) Convicted murderers are more likely to be executed 
if the victim was white: 50% of murder victims since 1977 have 
been Black but 82% of all capital cases involved white victims. 
Since 1976 85 executions have been carried out involving Black 
defendants and white victims, while only 4 white defendants have 
been executed for killing Black victims.(2)

Shabaka Brown was convicted and sentenced to death for rape, 
robbery and murder in Florida in 1974 even though he had an alibi 
to prove he was not at the scene of the crime. Charges were 
dropped in 1987 after it was learned that the prosecution had used 
false testimony during the trial. 

Making it clear that he sees the criminal justice system as a part 
of the larger system, he said "A system with 400 plus years of 
slavery as its legacy, you can not overturn that overnight." And 
he pointed out that many laws on the books today date back to the 
days of slavery so of course there is going to be bias even in the 
supposedly blind and just laws. In response to a question from the 
audience he made it clear that this is not just a problem with the 
courts saying "the media played a big role in my conviction and a 
very little role in my release."

Several of the speakers addressed the question of the morality of 
a death penalty. Shabaka took the position that "Either all your 
lives are valuable or none" and was very critical of a death 
penalty because restoring the death penalty means "you're gonna 
pick and choose who is gonna die" saying that no one should be 
making this decision. Cruz, on the other hand, said several times 
"I'll support the death penalty in a perfect society." MIM is more 
in line with Cruz on this question. 

This strategy of addressing the death penalty as a question of 
morality mirrors the approach by many others in Massachusetts. At 
a forum organized by the organization Murder Victims Families for 
Reconciliation (MVFR) in Boston on March 13th family of murder 
victims spoke about why they oppose the death penalty. 

While Shabaka and MVFR are correct that this is wrong in 
Massachusetts, their arguments about morality fail to include an 
understanding of the morality of the oppressed. In an imperialist 
country the death penalty is always reactionary because it is a 
tool in the hands of the oppressors to use against the oppressed. 
But Shabaka's statements like those from the MVFR family members 
represent a pacifist political line that has resulted in more 
deaths of the oppressed in the larger battle against imperialism. 
And this moral argument can only lead to a stalemate of people on 
either side arguing over who is more morally correct in their 
individual convictions. Without the context of the perspective of 
the oppressed this debate will never go beyond individual 
arguments about pacifism and retribution.

In revolutionary war people will be killed in order to save more 
people. Even after a revolution when the power is in the hands of 
the people, some of the oppressors may be put to death, especially 
those who committed the most heinous crimes against the people and 
those who continue to try to take power away from the people. 
Ultimately we fight for a society where there will be no need for 
the death penalty or even a criminal justice system but we do not 
lie to the people about what is necessary to get us there.

All of the speakers stressed voting as a key to activism against 
the death penalty. In Massachusetts this year we have the clearest 
example of voting potentially making a difference on this one 
issue. But even the politicians who are opposed to the death 
penalty support life in prison and a life of torture and 
deprivation at that. Cruz pointed out that prison is torture and 
the death penalty actually means less suffering for some people. 
MIM says that because of this it is not enough to just oppose the 
death penalty and pretend that politicians taking this position 
are progressive.

Lee summed up the position of the speakers saying "You have the 
key to the ballot box. You can always select someone who fits the 
needs that you have." And this gets at the root of MIM's 
disagreements with the activism that was advocated by the forum 
overall. It is not possible for the oppressed (which is the 
majority of the world's people) to choose a leader in an 
imperialist country that fits the needs they have. The choice is 
between one imperialist and another: all represent the ruling 
class and all act counter to the interests of the oppressed. 
Whether it is the question of bombing Iraq or building more 
prisons or taking away education programs in prisons, the 
candidates that can win elections are the ones representing the 
imperialist interests. 

It is possible to win small reforms within imperialism and the 
abolition of the death penalty would be one such progressive 
reform. But it's important that revolutionaries don't fool the 
people into thinking that electoralism is the way to change the 
system. There are plenty of people unwilling to take part in more 
radical activism who will lobby their congress people and work for 
electoral change. But revolutionaries need to put their time into 
educating people about the connections between individual issues 
of injustice like the death penalty and the whole criminal 
injustice system and it's foundation of imperialism. And we need 
to be in the streets organizing people against this criminal 
injustice system, including fighting against the death penalty. 

Notes: 

1. H. Bedau, "The Case Against the Death Penalty," American Civil 
Liberties Union, 1992, at 8. See also "Racial Disparities in 
Federal Death Penalty Executions 1988-1994:_ Staff Report by the 
Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, One Hundred Third 
Congress, Second Session (1994). From ACLU of massachusetts: 
http://users.aol.com/mcluf/home.htm

2. R. Deiter, Death Penalty Information Center, "Facts about the 
death penalty." October 7, 1996, Page 2. From ACLU of 
massachusetts: http://users.aol.com/mcluf/home.htm 

* * *

LETTERS:

Struggle over disagreements and unite against imperialism

Dear MIM and RAIL,

First of all, I am a very strong supporter of the MIM and RAIL's 
movement. However, I maintain my individual ideology or way of 
life as a member of the 5% nation of Gods and Earths. You recently 
ran two articles by South Carolina prisoners about the 5% nation 
of Gods and Earths in reference to the 5% and the MIM's movement. 
These articles were apparently written by two young 5%ers...

Let me start by saying although the 5% nation of Gods and Earths 
may fall under certain categories as a religion, we are not a 
religion. One of the brothers quoted MIM Notes no. 174 in 
reference to the Black Muslim Groups' reference to white people as 
devils as being a 'mystical' term. This is absolutely false when 
it comes to the 5% teachings. We 'do not' teach of any mystery 
beings. In any sense. Also we're not a step behind the revolution, 
brothers. If one actually study and know the teachings of our 
beloved father Allah, who founded the 5% Nation of Gods and 
Earths, they would see that father Allah was a revolutionary 
nationalist in every sense of the word.

The 5% nation of Gods and Earths is not based on communism nor 
does its teachings lead one to communism. But it teaches Black 
nationalism or better put cultural nationalism. The 5% Nation of 
Gods and Earths realize that it must be a part of all 
revolutionary front in Amerikkka and abroad. In order to 
accomplish the goal of freedom. Justice and equality, true 
liberation from the fuedalist system of imperialism and capitalist 
ideology. Although we support the movement of MIM and RAIL, we 
hold to our own identity and movement. Remember, Father Allah was 
consulted by a Swedish sociologist and had plans of meetings 
Chinese representatives. Yes, of communist China, but yet 
maintained his identity and ideology of his movement.

I am not striving to bash anyone. But strive to bring about truth 
which will bring about true unity. I've been traveling in the 5% 
nation of Gods and Earths for Almost 25 years and have been a 
strong supporters of MIM Notes since 1992-93. I am a leader in the 
Super Max Unit at South Carolina that holds MIM study classes over 
the door with other 5%ers, Muslims, Christians and others. It was 
I who came up with the title "United Struggle from Within." I say 
this to show that we support MIM and RAIL while holding fast to 
our own movement. Just like the Imperials such as France, England 
and Amerikkka hold different ideologies but join forces to 
accomplish a common objective, so can we. So I say "Proper 
Education Activates Collective Efforts." Peace.

--a South Carolina prisoner, 9 February 1999.

MIM responds:

We welcome the unity of members of the 5% nation of Gods and 
Earths working as a part of the United Front against imperialism. 
And we maintain that this United Front must be led by the 
proletariat. We too recognize the differences between the 5%ers 
and MIM and RAIL. As a communist organization, MIM allies with 
revolutionary anti-imperialists in many organizations. But at the 
same time we put forward the analysis we believe is most correct 
and will lead to a just society the quickest. 

This comrade suggests that the 5% is a cultural nationalist group 
but at the same time identifies it as revolutionary nationalist. 
We agree with the Black Panther Party's assessment of the 
difference between revolutionary nationalism and cultural 
nationalism. From the Black Panther Newspaper (Feb. 2, 1969, p. 
6.): "On the way to and from this shopping and spending they are 
still observing the oppression and exploitation of their people -- 
in different clothes. Cultural nationalism manifests itself in 
many ways but all of these manifestations are essentially grounded 
in one fact; a universal denial and ignoring of the present 
political, social, and economic realities and a concentration on 
the past as a frame of reference."

Our experience with the 5% nation suggests that they are firmly 
grounded in anti-imperialist politics and are a revolutionary 
nationalist organization that is appropriately a part of the 
United Front. 

5%ers and other revolutionary nationalists are encouraged to 
continue discussing religion, spirituality and why communists are 
not spiritual in the context of defining the differences between 
our organizations and the context of working together to build 
unity in general and United Struggle from Within in particular. 
Comrades of United Struggle from Within can both be members of USW 
and other progressive organizations -- in that category, we 
include revolutionary nationalists. 

In general, leading a United Front against imperialism means that 
we work directly with people who are religious, people who are 
pacifist, people who are spiritual, people who are revolutionary 
but not communist. We do not see that the relationship between 
these people and communists to be antagonistic. Yet MIM does 
pinpoint that the science of Marxism-Leninism-

Maoism is universal and most correct for building the path toward 
revolution and liberation. When we say that people who follow 
forms of Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Paganism and other 
religions or spiritualities subscribe to mystical beliefs, we are 
talking about the difference between beliefs in material reality 
and beliefs in things that cannot scientifically be proven.

Historically, religion has been used to further oppress the 
masses. At this stage, there are many comrades (especially in 
prison) who are spiritual or religious who we consider to be 
friends and allies in the struggle against imperialism.

Because the 5%ers refer to Islam, Allah and other aspects of 
spirituality, we understand it to be spiritual and hence mystical 
in some aspects. Obviously the 5%ers understand political and 
economic reality as well. That means you should continue to help 
us to understand what your organization is about and we should 
continue to work together on the common basis of anti-imperialism 
and against white settler hegemony.

Irish understand imperialism

Hello Comrades,

Someone just gave me a recent copy of your newsletter. I am glad 
you are able to get this type of information to the people who 
need it most. [...]

I come from working-class people who came over from Ireland in the 
early 1900s and settled in the ghettos of South Philadelphia. My 
father was a union rep. for over 40 years and my political 
background is similar to certain views you express.

Because I am Irish, and therefore white, don't think I can't 
relate to the oppression that goes on here. I'm Catholic and you 
don't have to explain what imperialism means to me and my kin in 
Northern Ireland!

Please send me your paper. I enjoy reading it and remember that 
not all white people are the enemy. The enemy are rich, white, 
Protestant men who run this country and their flunkies who help.

Sincerely,

A Maryland Prisoner

P.S. I am sending a few stamps to help you out the only way I can 
financially right now.

MIM responds:

We welcome this comrade and other white folks who understand the 
realities of imperialism. But we recognize that some of the 
"flunkies" this letter writer refers to are ranked pretty highly 
(The Kennedys are Catholic, to choose one example). Perhaps we 
also disagree on how many such "flunkies" there are, too. We think 
there are many millions of these flunkies, and they include the 
Amerikan middle classes on the whole -- even most of those 
descended from oppressed-nation Ireland.

We look in part to the practice, historically and in the present, 
to judge who is a friend and who is an enemy of the oppressed. 
Most Amerikan unions, including unfortunately those dominated by 
Irish workers, ended up siding with imperialism as they were able 
to win a piece of its pie -- even despite their roots. But anyone 
who stands up against Amerika (including former Amerikans who 
commit national suicide) and sides with the oppressed is a friend 
of the people. So we're glad to hear from you, and urge you to 
read and struggle with MIM Notes, and help spread the word.

* * *

BOOK REVIEW
Understanding Forests
by John J. Berger
(San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club, 1998)
188 pp. pb.

reviewed by MC5

We recommend this book as a brief understanding of forestry and 
the forest-related environment in the United $tates. The author 
demonstrates some command of details and also less political 
naivete than most environmentalists.

Facts we need

*"The world's forests, which once covered 40 percent of the Earth, 
have been reduced by more than 30 percent since humans first began 
cutting them down thousands of years ago. The reality is even 
worse than these statistics indicate. Only 12 percent of the Earth 
is still covered by intact forest ecosystems... . Between  1950 
and 1991, world consumption of wood for fuel and materials rose 
two-and-a-half times to 3.4 billion cubic meters. World paper 
consumption has grown about tenfold since 1930."(p 27, italics 
removed)

*"Of the 850 million acres of original native forest in the lower 
continental United States at the time of the first European 
settlements, little ancient or 'virgin' forest still survives."(p. 
24)

*Globally, temperate climate forests have increased in quantity by 
five million acres between 1980 and 1990, but probably not in 
quality, because of the nature of replanting.(p. 30)

*Tropical forests contain "two-thirds of the world's plants on 
only about 12 percent of its land area. One forest reserve in 
Costa Rica has more plant species than the whole of Great Britain; 
one river in Brazil has more fish species than all the rivers of 
the United States; one hectare (about 2.5 acres) of Amazon forest 
may have forty times the number of species of a typical temperate 
forest hectare. A hectare of Atlantic coastal forest in eastern 
Brazil was recently found to contain 476 tree species, including 
104 never seen before in that type of forest and 5 previously 
unknown tree species (New York Times, November 12, 1996). By 
comparison, a hectare of North American temperate forest usually 
has 2 to 20 tree species. . . . Just in a single decade (1981-
1990), about 385 million acres of tropical forest have been 
destroyed--an area three times the size of France.... In losing 
half of its tropical rain forest, the World has also lost 
thousands of species of life, and is now probably losing more than 
130 species a day to extinction, according to the most informed 
scientific estimates."(p. 128-9)

Rebutting idealism

On the last page of the book, Berger talks about tree-huggers. 
Across the world, some people chain themselves to trees to resist 
lumber company exploitation of resources. The redneck 
reactionaries ridicule these tree-huggers and make them seem 
mystical.

In truth, some tree-huggers are mystical; they have the equivalent 
of a religion holding trees as sacred. In contrast, MIM is 
materialist. MIM's defense of the environment is humyn-centered. 
We side with the tree-

huggers in general, but not always for the reasons they have.

Forests are important to humyns very concretely:

1.  Forests account for 40 percent of all pharmaceutical 
preparations.(p. 3) The study of substances and their uses in 
nature is far from complete.

2.  "Through photosynthesis, forests both contribute oxygen to the 
atmosphere and remove carbon dioxide from it by storing carbon in 
the form of plant tissue. Forests thus tend to counterbalance 
global warming, which is intensified by increases in the 
concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide."(p. 4)

3.  The job losses to the labor aristocracy for practicing 
sustainable forestry have been exaggerated, including by some 
calling themselves Maoist. Most job losses in the lumber industry 
are the result of automation, not environmentalism.(p. 103) 
"'Their jobs ... are no more a reason to continue deforestation 
than jobs in weapons plants are a reason to go to war.'"(p. 104)

Berger himself pays some attention to combating environmental 
idealism. In addition to recognizing that humyns too are part of 
the environment (p. 23) and have always had some role as in 
lighting forest fires, Berger goes much further. "Forest ecology 
teaches that nature at times brusquely disrupts and even destroys 
forests by hurricane, tornado, earthquake, avalanche, volcanic 
eruption, fire, flood, disease, insect infestations, and 
combinations of these events and processes."(p. 91)

People seeking to preserve a snapshot of Nature for all time are 
actually conservative idealists. They do not understand the 
process of change in Nature and they introduce unrealistic 
politics into our movement.

Economic theory

Environmentalists publishing in 1998 reviewed thus far by MIM have 
come out on the offensive against academic economists, and with 
good reason. Most economists either in academia or the World Bank 
are dogmatic and unable to incorporate new information or 
developments into their views. The handful able to compare 
theories outside a very narrow range are disdained within the 
field.

Both in the President's Advisory Council on the environment and in 
Berger's book, some of the environmentalists have come to the 
realization that the "free market" does not have any accurate 
scientific information in resource development or exploitation. 
The cost of cutting down a forest is not just the public's loss of 
wood, but also the many other species and work they do for the 
economy for things like production of honey or pollination of 
vegetable and fruit crops.

The lumber companies do not care about honey or pollination of 
crops. The lumber company is only in one business and makes profit 
only in that business. The society and the proletariat in 
particular has the most to lose from the loss of pollination 
caused by destroying bee environments for example.

The lumber companies also do not think long-term. When they 
replace trees, they do so without regard to many issues. Perhaps 
most frightening is the rush to destroy genetic variation in 
forests that may be useful to humyns. In addition to the species 
made extinct each year, the trees replanted tend to be cloned and 
thus less varied in their genetic stock.(p. 17) Should the climate 
change, the existing trees may not be able to reproduce for lack 
of genetic variation appropriate for the new climate.

Politics

Berger realizes that Republicans are bad for the environment. In 
1995 the Republican Congress stopped anymore species from being 
added to the Endangered Species list created by law in 1973.(p. 9) 
The redneck reactionaries do not understand that most often in 
recent years the extinction of a species means something about the 
environment that also has negative consequences for humyns.

Berger also realizes that the Democrats have compromised 
repeatedly with the timber interests. In 1995, Clinton signed a 
"salvage logging" loophole into law for logging on federal 
lands.(p. 83)

In 1996, the Sierra Club also started to oppose any commercial 
logging of federal lands, because the government's Forest Service 
was proving itself unable to resist the logging companies' 
lobbying efforts in any effective way.(pp. 151-2) There are 190 
million acres in National Forests that the government has set 
up.(p. 49)

Although Berger does not develop this point or his fight against 
idealism sufficiently, he does say: "Some multinationals wield 
financial resources comparable to those of entire states and 
nations.... They exert overwhelming political and economic power 
on local elected officials, resource agencies, rural communities, 
and even on national governments, especially in developing 
nations.

"The protection of the world's forests is likewise intertwined 
with the problems of inequitable distribution of wealth and with 
the global poverty in which a billion people exist."(p. 134) 
Furthermore, Berger says the "root causes are the unjust and 
exploitative social, political, and economic conditions that 
produce and perpetuate concentrated control over land and other 
resources by elites and multinational corporations. Forest land 
ownership patterns must be changed in many parts of the world to 
promote public-interest forest stewardship by well-trained 
ecologically qualified forest managers and local traditional 
forest users."(p. 138)

Above all, Berger seems to realize concretely that the solution of 
the globe's environmental problems is connected to what we Maoists 
call the "principal contradiction." MIM sees reparations to the 
Third World as essential to any environmental program. Berger 
gives more details phrased in the interests of the petty-
bourgeoisie of the imperialist countries:

"Recognizing that economic incentives have to be altered so that 
it becomes more profitable for governments and people to save 
forests, rather than to destroy them, a steady stream of payments 
should be made by nations that can afford to pay--and that benefit 
from the forests' global services--to forest guardian nations that 
still have important forests. Payments to developing tropical 
nations certainly are appropriate in recognition of the tens of 
billions of dollars (or more) worth of pharmaceuticals that the 
developed nations have created from compounds that originated in 
tropical forest plants. Payments to developing nations could also 
be made to recognize the climate-stabilizing benefits of the 
forests saved and could represent a form of climate 'insurance 
premium.'"(p. 149)

MIM also has 100 percent agreement with the following caveat to 
indigenous nations: "But no group, indigenous or other, should be 
allowed to take actions that destroy the resource base, a common 
heritage of all peoples."(p. 150) Hence, if there is a massive 
restructuring in favor of the environment and the indigenous 
nations allow capitalism to arise and exploit the forests again, 
then the other peoples have no obligation to respect their right 
to destroy the environment. By the same token, no country needs to 
respect the imperialist countries for destroying the environment, 
in this case through their lumber companies and excessive and 
wasteful consumption of their products. Whether the imperialist 
countries accept an environmentalist reparations program or not 
the international dictatorship of the proletariat and allied 
oppressed nations will impose it. The "right" to a sustainable 
non-toxic environment is non-negotiable.

* * *

AMERIKAN IMPERIALISM ATTACKS YUGOSLAVIA

On March 24th the United $tates and its military alliance called 
NATO started bombing Yugoslavia. Six B-52 bombers, four American 
ships, two American subs, a British sub and 2 Stealth B-2 bombers 
took part in the attacks. According to the Serbs of Yugoslavia, 
the NATO attacks hit targets in at least nine different geographic 
locations in Kosovo.

One military officer estimated bombing would go on for a month. 
President Clinton has said he will not send troops, so as with 
Iraq the stated objective is to weaken the military forces of the 
Serbs.(1) 

Internal conflicts

President Clinton acted in the name of preventing further 
massacres of Albanians in Kosovo by the Serbs. Nine of 10 people 
in Kosovo are Albanian, but Serbs consider it a birthplace of 
their nation.(1) Kosovo borders Albania and Macedonia.

A multinational Yugoslavia managed to live in peace when it joined 
under Tito's leadership to oust Nazi invaders in World War II. 
Tito implemented what he called socialism but was in fact a 
localized version of capitalism. The many advocates of "local 
control" by workers should look at the history of Yugoslavia. It 
ended up being a capitalist precursor to the late Soviet Union, 
China and Vietnam today -- with their emphases on free markets. 

There is no way to implement socialism without a strong 
internationalist central authority. For reasons of resource 
inequalities alone, it is not proletarian to support "local 
control." We also see that the Yugoslavian economy failed to unite 
its people.

It was Stalin who set the tone in Eastern Europe and managed to 
provide stability amongst many nationalities through harsh 
centralized measures. We still believe such a strong central 
authority will be necessary as an interim stage while communist 
economic cooperation is prepared. The alternative includes a 
never-ending civil war and pogroms as we see today.

During World War II, however, Yugoslavia was the one country in 
Eastern Europe where Stalin and English leader Winston Churchill 
agreed that the two sides would have 50-50 influence. In actual 
fact, Tito liberated Yugoslavia from the Nazis and then proceeded 
to obtain Western investments.

The Croatian Tito commanded the respect of the people at least 
relative to the divided leadership of former Yugoslavia today. 
When he died in 1980, a collective leadership managed to hold 
Yugoslavia together for a few years until the collapse of the 
Soviet Union. Influenced by the opening of borders throughout 
Eastern Europe with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia 
finally exploded into barbaric ethnic conflict continued right out 
of World War I.

The most important thing we have to say about the ethnic conflicts 
in the Balkans and former Soviet countries is that all the peoples 
involved are oppressed and exploited people. The only war possibly 
worth having is for socialist revolution. The wars as they have 
occurred under Western tutelage have been wars of proletarians and 
other oppressed peoples against proletarians and other oppressed 
peoples. 

It's not often that MIM will agree with the reactionary rock band 
"Guns N' Roses," but we "don't need your civil war. It feeds the 
rich and it buries the poor." Specifically these wars enrich the 
arms merchants and do nothing to move the Balkans forward.

Geopolitical overtones

It would be wrong to say the United $tates is "taking advantage" 
of internal conflicts in Yugoslavia; although its military 
manufacturers certainly are. The United $tates is the main prop in 
the system that produces Yugoslavian types of conflicts--
capitalism.

The imperialists occasionally try to blame the communist movement 
for the national conflicts arising in the Balkans and the former 
Soviet Union. However, what we are seeing in the former Yugoslavia 
was happening before there was a Soviet Union. Specifically, World 
War I arose out of the tensions in the capitalist Balkan countries 
and it was World War I which produced the Soviet Union as the 
first socialist country. Hence, the cause of the conflicts amongst 
exploited peoples must be sought in capitalism, not socialism.

When President Clinton says he is bombing the Serbs to keep 
Albania, Macedonia and others from entering a war in Yugoslavia, 
we have to admit that such a widespread war is a possibility. It's 
like when the drug kingpin says that without him there'd only be 
much smaller ones fighting it out over their turf. That's why we 
revolutionaries shoot to destroy the whole underlying system and 
we don't just oppose one bombing or put faith in single-issue 
movements.

The Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan is jealous 
that NATO led the attack and not the United Nations. The attacks 
on Iraq utilized the UN for a fig-leaf, but the UN was not useful 
to U.$. imperialism in Kosovo, because Russia and China would have 
opposed the bombing in the UN Security Council. Annan justified 
the use of force and blamed the Serbs(2)--perhaps with the hope 
that the Serbs would come running to him. 

As the attack went on, the Russians and Chinese governments 
condemned the attacks. NATO claimed to have hit 40 targets in 24 
hours, but there was also swift action by Russia. 1) When Premier 
Yevgeny Primakov found out that bombings would happen during his 
scheduled trip to the United $tates, he turned his jet plane 
around over the Atlantic Ocean and headed back to Russia, thus 
canceling his planned visit. 2) According to CNN, Yeltsin said 
that he had special measures in reserve that he does not use, 
because of Russian moral superiority to NATO. 3) China added the 
twist of blaming the situation on "terrorist Albanians" who 
provoked the situation.

Historically, before there was communism and during World War II, 
Russia allied itself with Serbs. Even more significant than the 
above action by Russia and China which would have happened as a 
matter of course is that Russia hardened its stance against NATO 
which had been looking toward future Russian participation.

The people of Russia were calling into a TV talk-show to volunteer 
to help Yugoslavia fight NATO.(2) With that kind of popular 
pressure it is not surprising that Yeltsin also recalled his envoy 
to NATO and suspended cooperation in NATO military exercises.

Also in the background is discussion of moving Russian nuclear 
weapons into Belarus with which it still has a federation. Doing 
such would be an obvious threat to NATO.

Although it does not share a border with Russia, Yugoslavia 
through its Serb political leaders has also talked about joining a 
federation with Belarus and Russia. As NATO scoops up countries 
moving right up to Russia's borders, Yugoslavia ends up being one 
of Russia's few allies. Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia joined 
NATO on March 12 just before the bombings in Yugoslavia. 

Capitalist system breeds militarism

Even though the Cold War is over, we see that capitalism just 
cannot provide peace. Multi-billion dollar weapons manufacturers 
are one obvious reason why. Socialism will put an end to arms 
trade for profit.

Ethnic conflict too is ultimately rooted in conflict over 
resources. Socialism will make a dent in that and prepare the 
ground for an internationalist communist economic cooperation of 
all peoples.

NOTES:
1. New York Times 25Mar99, p.1, a12. 
2. New York Times 25Mar99, p. a13. 

* * *

KOSOVO: IMPORTANT PLACE IN COMMUNIST HISTORY

In 1989 some Albanians proclaimed an Albanian Republic of Kosovo. 
Previously it had had the status of autonomous province under Serb 
rule in Yugoslavia. It turns out that Kosovo and Yugoslavia are 
very important to communist history.

The revisionist constitution under Tito recognized so-called 
socialist republics for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Croatia, 
Slovenes and the Serbs. Of course, it was supposed to be illegal 
to disband Yugoslavia, a point that Serbia's president used as 
moral leverage to make war in Bosnia and other republics in the 
1990s, especially with the use of Serbian minorities within those 
republics.

In 1990, the old Tito-created structure more or less fell apart 
into its constituent parts. The new Yugoslavia of 1992 dropped its 
socialist label and consisted only of the republics of Serbia and 
Montenegro. The Serbs number 10.4 million and there are 700,000 
people of Montenegrin ethnicity. There are more Albanians in 
Kosovo than Montenegrins in Yugoslavia.

The new Yugoslavia of 1992 continued to hold the two autonomous 
provinces of the old Yugoslavia--Kosovo and Vojvodina. Hence, 
after the Serb war within the other republics--especially Bosnia--
ended, Kosovo came to the fore.

According to the Serbs, the Albanians are "johnny-come-latelys" to 
Kosovo, by which they refer to only the last 400 years of history. 
The Albanians claim there is no firm proof that they were not 
already the majority in Kosovo at the time of crucial Turkish 
victories conquering the area. Indeed, the Albanians have claimed 
to have roots as old as the Serbs'. The Albanians say their roots 
can be traced through the Illyrians.

According to the Albanian communist later turned revisionist Enver 
Hoxha, the boundaries of Balkan countries were unimportant but 
majorities of population were. He said that the peoples of the 
area had long histories of moving around. By this reasoning, he 
felt that Kosovo should be part of Albania.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the capitalist countries 
have rushed to learn their pre-World War I history and pick up 
from there. Hence, nothing under Soviet or Titoite rule is deemed 
legitimate.

In 1914, only Serbia and Montenegro were actual republics of the 
republics that came to form Yugoslavia under Tito. Most of the 
rest was under the control of Austria-Hungary. The fading Ottoman 
empire and the Italians also had their hands in the mess.

It was Serb nationalism that is recognized as the immediate cause 
of World War I. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria 
by a Serbian triggered war and drew in larger powers obligated by 
secret treaties.

Had there been no Serbian nationalism, the imperialists would have 
found another reason for a world war over colonies. In any case, 
the same problem we see today in Kosovo is the same problem that 
led to World War I and the creation of the first Soviet state.

In 1913, the Serbian Republic gained the upper hand in the Balkan 
situation when the Ottoman Empire of Turkey suffered its final 
defeat and when it took on Bulgaria and won in the "Balkan Wars." 
At that time, Kosovo was removed from Albania.

To make matters more complicated, the Italians invaded during 
World War II and the Germans insisted that Kosovo be returned to 
Albania. Thus, in 1941 under Nazi occupation, the Albanian people 
reunited. People in Kosovo freely traveled to Tirana.

The Nazi action in Kosovo in 1941 created a major headache for the 
international communist movement. Hitler focused his racial 
hatreds on the Slavic peoples and decided to give the Albanians a 
break relatively speaking. Thus even Enver Hoxha admits that the 
Kosovo Albanians were not fighting the fascist occupation. The 
Kosovo Albanians were afraid the Serbs would turn against them 
after the war. 

Tito did not appeal to the Kosovo Albanians on the basis of the 
Stalin line on the national question. All calls for the right to 
self-determination were crushed by the leadership of the 
Yugoslavian Communist Party. Some excuse for this can be seen in 
that Hitler sought to dismember the Yugoslavian state by inflaming 
national tensions.

We must remember that at the time during World War II, none of the 
Yugoslavians, Russians or Albanians thought of their communist 
parties as other than "Stalinist." Supposedly they were united. It 
was only in 1948 that Tito openly broke with Stalin and led 
Yugoslavia on the "market socialist" road.

When the COMINTERN dissolved in 1943, the Albanians and 
Yugoslavians were on their own on how to work out a coordinated 
strategy against the Nazi occupation. At this time, Enver Hoxha 
gradually gathered suspicions about his Yugoslav comrades.

However, in the midst of World War II, Enver Hoxha first agreed to 
let the Yugoslavian Communist Party be the leadership of the 
struggle in Kosovo. He did not want to see the Yugoslavian 
Communist Party dismembered by the Nazi tactics. Hoxha reasoned 
since all the actors were Stalinists, after the war they could 
settle the national questions amicably.

According to Hoxha, he soon found out that Tito in fact planned to 
take over Albania completely and not just in Kosovo. Hoxha says 
only determined struggle uprooted pro-Tito traitors in his party.

Hoxha attempted to have his own armed forces organize in Kosovo to 
show the Yugoslavians it could be done, but the Yugoslavians 
rejected the efforts aimed at the Nazis. It appears that Serbian 
nationalism was the reason for this; although again, the context 
of fighting the Nazis created complications as did the fact that 
Tito himself was a Croat and could not be accused in a tokenist 
way. Nonetheless, for at least a year during World War II, the 
Yugoslavians would not talk with the Albanians about anything 
except Kosovo.

Hence, after World War II, Kosovo did not go to Albania. Hoxha 
looked in on the situation with concern, but both his concerns and 
those of Stalin led to the first state-to-state split in the 
socialist movement--the Soviet camp versus revisionist Yugoslavia.

As late as 1969, Hoxha still did not claim Kosovo for Albania and 
in public statements said it was an internal affair of Yugoslavia. 
Nonetheless, Hoxha found himself in a difficult spot, because 
after World War II, the Yugoslavians massacred many Kosovo 
Albanians in the name of fighting the pro-fascist traitors of the 
Ballist movement, of which there were some even according to 
Hoxha. Also, Hoxha outlived Tito. When Tito died in 1980, it 
appears that again pogroms against Kosovo Albanians occurred 
shortly thereafter.

At about the same time as Tito's death, China cut off aid to 
Albania. Hence, Hoxha started rewriting his relationship to Mao 
Zedong. While Mao was alive, Hoxha respected him and signed 
communiques with him as fraternal communist brothers, but after 
Mao died and the revisionist Chinese regime cut-off aid, Hoxha 
started rewriting everything. 

One thing Hoxha didn't like was Mao's efforts to make friends 
amongst all Eastern European countries including Yugoslavia 
against the Soviet Union. With hopes fading for a "Stalinist" 
solution, Hoxha turned his efforts regarding Kosovo elsewhere. 
Hoxha died in 1985, but in the same year major works in English 
appeared justifying Albanian interests in Kosovo.

Today, the Germans are again attacking the Serbs through NATO. 
This causes the Russian reflex action against NATO. At the same 
time, Serbian enemies now include the United $tates and England 
unlike in the last go-round of World War II. Perhaps for 
historical reasons of embarrassment and over-exposure, the 
Italians have called for NATO to stop the bombings.

Sources: 
1. www.encyclopedia.com 
2. Enver Hoxha, The Titoites (Tirana: 1982). 

* * *

MIM LEGAL NOTES:
FIGHTING CENSORSHIP IN AMERIKAN PRISONS

by a Tennessee prisoner fighting against the censorship of MIM 
Notes at his/her institution

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides: 
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of 
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging 
the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people 
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for redress 
of grievances."

The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States made 
applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment in effect 
guarantees to the people the right of free expression in order 
that there may be a full and unrestricted interchange of ideas for 
bringing about any political and social changed desired by the 
people and gives protection to all ideas no matter how unorthodox 
or controversial so long as they have the slightest redeeming 
social importance.

The exceptions to the free speech rights include words or conduct 
used in such circumstances and of such nature as to create a clear 
and present danger that they will bring about the substantive 
evils that congress has the right to prevent.

Prison officials can restrict incoming correspondence if the 
restrictions are "reasonably related" to legitimate interests. But 
prison officials may not censor letters just because they 
criticize prison conditions or personnel, or offend them in some 
way. Procunier v. Martinez, 94 S.Ct.1800. Incoming letters may be 
censored if there is a "reasonable relationship" between 
censorship and some legitimate correctional purpose. In Thornburgh 
v. Abbott, 109 S.Ct. 1874 (1989), the Supreme Court upheld the 
censorship of publications that are "detrimental to the security, 
good order, or discipline of the institution or ... might 
facilitate criminal activity." This same principle holds true for 
books, magazines and newspapers. Censorship will not, or rather 
should not apply, "solely because the publication's content is 
political, unpopular or repugnant". Thornburgh v. Abbott,109 S.Ct. 
1874, 1881-82 (1989). The Supreme Court did not decide what 
publications could properly be censored under the regulation 
upheld in Thornburgh. Historically, prison officials have also 
tried to censor unorthodox political, sexual, racial or religious 
views, and especially views that are critical of prison officials. 
Such censorship was generally struck down under the Procunier v. 
Martinez standard.

To begin a censorship case, you should look closely at the prison 
system's censorship rules. If it appears that the censors have 
violated those rules, you may be better off seeking relief on that 
basis in state court than pursuing a constitutional claim in 
federal court. In general, the violation of state law and 
regulations by state officials cannot be remedied in federal 
court.

Censorship may be an exception to this rule. The Supreme Court has 
stated that when First Amendment rights are implicated "precision 
of regulation must be the touchstone." NAACP v. Button, 83 S.Ct 
328 (1963).

Also, prison censors must observe procedural safeguards. First, 
there must be an "individualized" determination that a particular 
publication violates the rules at the time it is censored. The 
prison cannot simply establish an "excluded list" of publications. 
The Supreme Court in Thornburgh relied heavily on the existence of 
this protection in upholding the censorship regulation. Most 
courts have required additional safeguards as well, including 
notice of the censorship, an opportunity to be heard, a meaningful 
statement of reasons for the censorship, a prompt decision, and 
the right to appeal to an official other than the censor.

Some courts have held that the sender of the literature should 
also receive notice and an opportunity to be heard. A requirement 
of notice to the sender would be consistent with the Supreme 
Court's holding that the author of a censored letter should get a 
change to protest. Procunier v. Martinez, 94 S. Ct. 1800 (1974). 
(This procedural part of Procunier was not overruled by Thornburgh 
v. Abbott.) Notice to the sender is also consistent with common 
sense. The prisoner is hardly in a position to dispute the 
censorship of a publication he has not been allowed to see. The 
sender, who knows what is in the publication or can find out, is 
better able to explain why the publication should not have been 
censored.

A prisoner challenging censorship of MIM Notes must be prepared to 
show: (1) that the censorship is not reasonably related to any 
correctional objective, and (2) that MIM Notes are not detrimental 
to the security, good order, or discipline of the institution.

The courts require prisoners to exhaust their administrative 
remedies; if MIM Notes is rejected be sure to appeal the decision 
all the way to the final authority. Be sure to fully read the 
prison policies pertaining to censorship. And if you decided to go 
to court, be sure to read the legal cases cited in this article.

"Power to the People"

Note: Sections of this article was taken from the Prisoner's Self-
Help Litigation Manual.

* * *

ATTENTION PRISONERS: POST OFFICE PIGS CENSOR MIM MAIL

Though MIM has not kept track of the number of times its mail has 
been tampered with by the United Snakes Post Office piggies, it 
has been crystal clear that PO piggies open mail without 
justification. It has also been clear that mail is missing or held 
up at different points in time.

The most recent mail tampering by the PO piggies affects 
prisoners. Recently, prisoners' letters from at least the 
following states: PA, NY, WI, WA, NV, OR, WY, FL, GA, KY, NJ, MN, 
SD and ND were 'lost' by the piggies.

We ask that comrades under lock and key be patient with MIM 
regarding correspondence considering the censorship from several 
fronts. We also want to remind supporters of MIM and revolution 
that you should assume that pigs read your mail when you send it. 
No form of communication is perfect, and but the best are in 
person meetings and encrypted email. We recognize that prisoners 
are limited to a very small number of methods of ways in which 
they can communicate with the Party.

For those readers thinking that the First Amendment is part of why 
Amerika is the best country in the world... pay attention and 
think again.

MIM reports this information not to scare revolutionaries away 
from organizing, but to encourage comrades to be security 
conscious and to continue struggling against the imperialist beast 
and all its insidious manifestations.

* * *

PA PRISONER PUBLICATION CALLS FOR PHONE BOYCOTT IN MAY

To protest the high surcharges charged to the families of prisoner 
who accept collect calls, an organization of Pennsylvania 
prisoners and their families is calling on PA prisoners to boycott 
the phone system for the month of May.

In recent years, many states have instituted new prison phone 
systems. These systems often limit who can be called and require 
that calls be made collect. Worse still, is that the surcharge for 
the collect calls is much higher than regular collect calls, and 
the Department of Corruptions receives a portion of this extortion 
fee.

Voices Behind the Walls is asking prisoners to boycott the 1,277 
phones in Pennsylvania's 24 prisons for the month of May. They 
hope to hit the DOC where it hurts (their pockets) and force the 
DOC to renegotiate the contract with AT&T.

Pennsylvania prisoners are being asked to call their family in 
April to explain why they won't be calling for the month of May.  

MIM adds that the restriction on prisoners phone calls through all 
means, including high charges shows that this system is not 
concerned about crime. One of the few things that affects 
recidivism is the amount of contact a prisoner has with ones 
family, and here the prison system wants to cut that. Secondly, 
prisoners come from the poorest families who already pay taxes to 
support the prison. But on top of that, the state wants to tax 
these families again through the phone charges.

MIM has learned of a number of phone boycotts organized by 
prisoners when the new phone systems were instituted. This effort, 
planned months in advance, may have an even greater impact by 
disrupting an already existing income stream for the DOC. 

Note:
Voices Behind the Walls can be reached at PO Box 474 Harrisville, 
PA 16038, http://expage.com/page/voices voices@nauticom.net 1-800-
933-5728

* * *

"THREE STRIKES" LAW NOT LINKED TO DROP IN CRIME

Data on the crime rate in California and California's draconian 
"Three-Strikes" legislation show once again that there is no 
correlation between crime rates and imprisonment rates. Under CA's 
"Three-Strikes" law, any person convicted of a third felony may 
receive a sentence of 25 years to life. This has led to such 
injustices as a man being sentenced to 25 years for stealing a 
piece of pizza, another for stealing a pair of blue jeans, yet 
another for stealing a bottle of aspirin, and on and on.

Whether or not to try a particular felony as a third strike is up 
to the discretion of the prosecutor. The rate of "Third-Strike" 
convictions in Sacramento is 12 times that of San Francisco. 
However the crime rate in San Francisco dropped more in San 
Francisco than any other city in California. As we discussed in an 
earlier issue, the drop in the crime rates across the u.$. is 
likely due to the temporary upturn in the economy, and perhaps a 
decrease in the trade in crack cocaine.

* * *

REPRESSION OF WIMMIN IN PRISON EXPOSED

This article was withdrawn with a correction in MIM Notes 186, May 15, 1999. 

* * *

MASSACHUSETTS VOTES OUT ELECTORAL BRIBERY; BRIBED POLITICIANS SAYS 
"YEAH, SO?"

Back on November 3, Massachusetts voted for Question 2, which was 
a binding referendum that was to "Take Big Money Out of Politics". 
The referendum required the state to provide public financing for 
elections. This would remove some of the ways that corporations 
buy influence as well as freeing politicians from incessant 
fundraising.

MIM has long criticized the bourgeois political system for the 
influence that large corporations have on politicians. This type 
of change in the law would shift the balance of power a bit from 
the imperialist-minded bourgeoisie to the imperialist-minded 
voting settler masses. That's not a change that matters to the 
world's oppressed majority.

But what happened in Massachusetts shows even clearer that this 
system doesn't like even the smallest of change: Neither the 
Governors proposed budget nor the Legislators proposed budget 
contains a dime to fund the election campaigns as required by the 
law.  This is more proof that those who want to change the system 
need to work against it, not within it.

* * *

AMERIKAN DEMOCRACY: THE BEST VOTES MONEY CAN BUY

February 19th, Federal judge Edward Nottingham struck down a U.S. 
law restricting campaign contributions in federal elections. The 
part of the law that he struck down limits the amounts of money 
that can be spent boosting a candidate by name. For now it 
appears, that anyone directly consulting a candidate may spend 
whatever s/he wishes to support him or her. 

In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that those not consulting 
candidates could spend what they want. The current ruling of a 
federal judge ruling over Colorado widened that decision still 
further.

In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to limits restricting 
people to $1000 each in direct contributions to candidates. The 
dispute in Colorado was about money spent for ads and not given to 
candidates directly.(1)

The Colorado Republican Party applauded the new ruling in the name 
of "free speech." It had spent $250,000 over 13 years fighting the 
case brought against it. It appears that there will be a free-for-
all in the 2000 elections benefiting the rich even more than in 
the past.(2)

The U.S. government gives military aid to dictatorships throughout 
the Third World to repress anti-U.$. opponents. Yet, the rich in 
particular enjoy "free speech" in the United $tates. Poor people 
who put up posters on lampposts receive fines from city 
governments, but the federal government was unable to enforce a 
law restricting monies spent by the rich.

Under the dictatorship of the proletariat, the roles will be 
reversed. Postering on public property will be legal as it was in 
the Cultural Revolution in China, supplies will be paid for by the 
government and apart from the government itself, individuals will 
not be able to spend millions on their candidates.

Notes: 
1. AP in www.cnn.com 20Feb99. 
2. Denver Rocky Mountain News 20Feb99. 

* * *

FILM EXPOSES PARASITISM OF RURAL PRISON TOWN

Yes, In My Backyard
Directed by Tracy Huling
Galloping Girls Productions, Inc. 1998
RR # 1, Box 168
Freehold, NY 12431
Tel: 518-634-2170
Fax: 518-634-2169
e-mail: galgirls@francomm.com

This film is a valuable resource for anti-prisons activism because 
it describes the extent to which prisons have become an asset to 
the u.$. economy. The film's strength is in showing the extent to 
which the prisons industry encourages its employees, their 
dependents, and players in regional economies to think of prisons 
only as an economic boon. People whose family's bills have always 
been paid by the prisons have no incentive to question the 
rehabilitative value of the prisons, or to ask if increased 
imprisonment has any effect at all on the crime rate for which it 
is supposed to answer.

Yes, In My Backyard is about Coxsackie, a small Hudson River-side 
community in New York whose local economy is based on two state 
prisons. Describing the character of Coxsackie and towns like it, 
the filmmaker said part of the reason she wanted to make this film 
is that the prisons are central to the town's existence -- 
everybody knows people who work there, and most families depend on 
the prison for their livelihood -- but nobody will talk about what 
this means in public. 

The major difference is that twenty or thirty years ago, there 
were not nearly as many prison towns in this country. And half a 
century ago, prisons were not a central growth industry in the 
united snakes. Amerika's status as an imperialist country gives 
its citizens the luxury to work in non-productive jobs. But the 
1970s brought the beginnings of a boom in prisons, and with it 
tremendous growth in the number of people directly employed in the 
business of military control of the oppressed nations. A retired 
Corrections Officer interviewed in the film quoted an old 
correctional officer saying "the worse things get out in the 
world, they better they are in jail." He was speaking of course of 
the good employment -- prisoner living conditions in the u.$. have 
become notoriously brutal.

Prisoners at Greene are shown doing farm work in Yes, In My 
Backyard; the prison has a milk and dairy farm run by a local 
farmer. In one unnarrated scene, an unseen guard yelled at a Black 
prisoner working in the dairy farm to pull his pants up. The same 
scene was repeated without the yelling one or two more times 
during the film. Our best guess is that this scene was evidence of 
the general harassment of the oppressed nationalities that goes on 
in the prisons. In Michigan where RAIL saw this film, wearing 
sagging pants and other Black urban styles is classified as the 
mark of a gang or Security Threat Group (STG) member. We assume 
the white rural guards in New York State are as intolerant and 
repressive of Black culture as the white rural guards in Michigan.

Coxsackie opened its first prison early to replace the town's 
dwindling commercial economy. A local historian explains in the 
film that as a river-town, Coxsackie saw a lot of commerce from 
the Hudson River traffic 100 years ago. But once the highway was 
built and goods transportation switched to road vehicles, the town 
needed some new enterprise. As a long-term prison town, Coxsackie 
has a lot of history of the social issues and problems that run 
through many prison towns. The vast majority of wimmin in the 
town's domestic violence shelter are correctional officer's wives 
and girlfriends. A domestic violence official in Albany is quoted 
in the film saying that the level of danger of domestic violence 
in corrections and criminal justice families is markedly higher -- 
not only because corrections and police officers are more likely 
to be violent but because they are trained in methods of physical 
force that do not leave visible wounds.

The fact of domestic violence in correction officer families 
underscores the sick nature of imprisonment in this country. 
Prisons are supposed to be places of rehabilitation -- corrections 
employees should live by higher standards of patience, self-
awareness and responsibility for others than people in other 
professions. Yet they are trained to inspire terror in prisoners 
and in their own families. To RAIL, this illustrates the fact that 
u.$. prisons will not be reformed to the point of being genuine 
institutions of correction and rehabilitation. While it is true 
that some people who are in prisons today have committed crimes by 
proletarian standards, this does not mean they should summarily be 
subjected to abuse and torture. Those who carry out the abuse have 
committed far greater crimes and so are in no position to exact 
any form of justice. 

RAIL is happy to see people like Tracy Huling making honest films 
about prisons and their proponents. Working as anti-imperialists, 
from the vantage point of the people who are oppressed under 
imperialism, RAIL sees that building more prisons is in the 
interests of many people in this country. Employing people to work 
in the prisons, paying money to towns for service to the prisons - 
these are methods of bribing Amerikans to support prisons and 
other forms of imperialism. There is broad support in this country 
for greater imprisonment because the majority benefits from it. 
Yes, In My Backyard documents this support in government, and in 
the eyes of corrections employees and their community.

* * *

PHONE RE-SELLERS SCAM IMMIGRANTS

Early this year 5,000 customers of Jetcom, a telephone service 
resale company in Florida, lost hundreds of dollars when their 
telephone company folded. Telephone resellers buy phone lines in 
blocks of 10,000 from regional service providers like Bell South, 
and re-sell the service to people who don't qualify to buy regular 
service. Phone service re-sale customers have either bad credit or 
no social security number. So most are immigrants, and many of 
these are undocumented. Buying the higher-priced pre-paid service 
is worth the expense to them because it is the only way they can 
buy phone service.

The phone service re-sale racket is an example of how multiple 
layers of the Amerikan bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeoisie profit by 
imperialist relations among nations. Deregulation of the u.$. 
telephone industry led to the creation of companies like the two-
year old Jetcom. There are now 65 telephone re-sale companies 
throughout Florida. Opening up local phone service sales to 
resellers has made it possible for smaller capitalists to enter 
the market that was dominated by huge corporations like Bell 
South. These smaller capitalists are making a direct profit on the 
militarization of u.$. borders. The borders make it impossible for 
many immigrants to get standard services, so the small providers 
clean up by charging higher rates for substandard service.

Last year Jetcom had 5,000 customers, 80 percent of them Haitian 
immigrants. The company advertised most heavily on Creole radio 
stations; and when the phone service went dead the customers 
called Creole radio talk shows to discuss the problem. Very few 
customers made official complaints. Jetcom's office telephone 
service has been discontinued and the Florida Public Service 
Commission is expected to vote to revoke Jetcom's license for 
failure to pay regulatory fees.

Jetcom had been collecting $109 start-up fees from all customers, 
and $50 per month for pre-paid local calling service including 
caller identification and call waiting. 

Source: Miami Herald 1 March, 1999.

* * *

UNDER LOCK AND KEY

In The Name of Solidarity, Unity And Struggle

I commend each and every one of you for joining hands in the 
Jericho '99 march. My love and respects to bro Mumia Abu Jamal and 
all the brothers and sisters incarcerated, and in exile for their 
political beliefs. I am and have been incarcerated for the last 11 
and 1/2 years in a Texas slave camp called prison. 

While I'm not a political prisoner (per se), I am a product of one 
of the ghetto slums the politics of the U$ government created. 
Their political role in developing and maintaining these ghetto 
slums, are now being used to drain our communities of our (young 
minds and youth). To fill these slave camps they call "prisons," 
while filling their fat pockets and bank accounts with the blood, 
sweat and tears of poor people's tax dollars. 

We have lost a lot of comrades because of their political beliefs, 
through a U$ judicial system that was (supposed) to guarantee us 
the right to freedom of speech and expression under the 1st 
Amendment. But when your voice is powerful and your belief is 
being listen to and admired by a growing number of oppressed 
people. Then the U$ government deems you a political threat 
because your belief is different from that in which the government 
(wants) you to believe. That's when you fall prey to judicial 
abuse, such as the case of bro Mumia Abu Jamal, sister Assata 
Olugbala Shakur, and many other revolutionary figures of yesterday 
and today. 

I have been blessed to have been awakened from the dead, through 
the knowledge I gained from my comrades in struggle (RAIL) and 
(MIM). We still have a long way to go, but through unity and 
solidarity and education, we will get there! I ask each of you 
that is listening to support RAIL's work with the oppressed 
people, by donating books, your time and organization we can and 
we will be heard (around the world). 

Thank you and peace out! 

Comrade In Struggle, 

-- A prisoner in Texas

Texas prisoner on ad-seg and Mumia

The treatment in the prison is so bad to it's very very much a 
threat to all of the prison population. Understand this in Ad-Seg 
under 24 hours of lockdown. Yes, we are being beat, spit on, slam 
to the floor face first. Meals, showers, dayroom all are being 
refused. Legal mail being open. We also are made to under come out 
of ones clothing in front of female guards with a no respect at 
all to anyone. Humiliation and being naked in front of medical 
staff and 6 or 8 females is part of retaliation. By the officer 
taking your mattress from you and you sleep on the floor cold and 
sometimes cut your water off for days in your cell. There's no 
heat during the winter time but the air condition is on fully high 
as it could be, or no hot water. 

On behalf and behind all these beating treatments not one officer 
here could really say he is right as to his acts or judgment. 
Justice is truth and fairness in treating others. The prison 
system [is] killing us daily and they is justifying this as good 
for the prison population of the United States of America. 
Although these barbarians are the same ones who support the death 
penalty in the criminal justice system. 

They is killer all legal executioners unjust mad and wicked 
people. The threat to his execution need to be stopped by all the 
people I myself am in the very struggle to see his execution 
stopped, and set him free. Please don't sit another minute in 
disagreement my message is to motion, motivate you to take action 
now. My purpose is to help save the life of Mr. Mumia Abu Jamal 
and preserve the free of death row prisoner in the injustice 
system of the United States! Please help with U.S.W. and free 
books for prisoner program and donations. 

Action, cause, purpose! 

In Struggle Love and Peace, 

-- A prisoner in Texas, 18 Feb 99

Prisoners must fight for liberation

Comrades on this side of the fence today I received two copies of 
MIM Notes. Both papers were extremely informative. However, when I 
read the Under Lock & Key section I was deeply saddened by what I 
read. 

Everyone knows that the conditions in the Nations prisons are 
inhumane, uncomfortable, and in some instances undesirable. 
Unfortunately, very few people in society that are concerned about 
the conditions of prisons, know what to do to effect change. Some 
of my comrades on this side of the fence labor and struggle under 
the false perception that [solutions to] our problems will come 
from those in society. Let me be the first to inform you that I 
have come to the conclusion after having served well over 20 years 
that the answers to our problems must come from us. 

Our comrades on the outside are willing to struggle with us to 
change the conditions and liberate us from the grip of oppression. 
However, the guidance and tactics employed by our comrades must 
come from within. We need a National Coalition of concerned 
prisoners fighting for prisoner rights. A coalition comprised of 
the best and brightest from each State and Federal institution. I 
know that in some states prisoner to prisoner correspondence is 
not allowed. For those comrades we must develop innovative ways of 
getting our correspondence through to each other. We also need a 
National Prison agenda established by us, for us. Because those in 
society no matter how informed they are, do not know intimately 
what our needs are. 

In short, we have some problems that are universal, such as phone 
calls, visits, and prison rules. We can unite behind those issues 
and effectively change our own conditions. We can start writing 
campaigns to State and Federal legislators. We can start voter 
drives and so forth. There are other tactics that we can employ 
that I will not write about. 

In short, together we can make a difference for ourselves. We can 
organize a committee to deal with sincere, dedicated comrades when 
they are released, for those that are short[-timers -ed.]. 
Comrades it is also imperative that you understand that whining 
and complaining about prison conditions is counter- revolutionary. 
A true revolutionary thinks about the people first before he 
thinks about himself. He also holds his life cheap in defense of 
the political, social and economic needs of the people. 

Some of our comrades are caught up on the [I] syndrome and have 
lost sight of the [WE] plight of the people. We need to be engaged 
in fashioning solutions to the myriad of problems that the people 
face. We have moved to an era in the struggle where prison has 
become part of the culture for some ethnic groups. That needs to 
be addressed by us. 

We need to fashion solutions that help single mothers raise their 
children. As you may or may not know, the move by the powers that 
be to reform welfare is nothing more than a ploy to lock up the 
women and children that are left to struggle alone in society. 
Let's not lose focus. The struggle is about liberating the people. 
Anything short of that is not revolutionary. I hope that my 
comrades take that in the spirit that it comes in, in the spirit 
of revolution. 

I know how hard it is for the comrades on this side of the fence. 
I know that the conditions are deplorable. I know that many of the 
comrades feel that they have been abandoned by those in society. I 
know first hand what you are going through. Because I have been 
there, and I've served considerably more time than most will ever 
serve. Also understand that once you rally behind the people, know 
that the people will rally behind you. It does not work the other 
way around. 

When you look at Geronimo Pratt and other political prisoners that 
fought their way out of captivity, what you see is that they all 
had one thing in common, an agenda for the people. The people in 
turn rallied behind them until they were free. 

--A Michigan prisoner 12 May, 1998.

MIM responds: This comrade raises the important issues of 
education, leadership and direction in struggle. In all of these 
areas, we must take a dialectical approach -- learning from the 
experiences of the people while exerting vanguard leadership. 
United Struggle from Within (USW), the MIM-led anti-imperialist 
prisoner organization, is a manifestation of this practice. 

MIM helped form the USW after seeing just what this prisoner is 
alluding to -- that comrades behind the walls have the most 
motivation and the greatest collective will to organize against 
their own oppression at the hands of imperialism. Specific 
campaign ideas for USW work come from comrades in prison. 
Prisoners also exert leadership by pushing the day-to-day work 
forward. Following MIM leadership means that the USW works through 
individual campaigns and projects toward the ultimate goal of 
liberation of all people from imperialism. Right now, MIM is 
beginning more concerted efforts against censorship of prisoners' 
mail and reading materials. So we have asked comrades in the 
Prisoners' Legal Clinic to focus on a few aspects of the 
censorship problem in their articles. 

Censorship is a very important struggle in the midst of overall 
revolutionary goals because without communication our work is much 
harder. One last note on the length of sentence this prisoner is 
serving. With the u.$. prison population shooting past 1.8 
million, many of those swelling the ranks are serving longer 
sentences because of the reactionary mandatory minimum sentencing 
laws, or doing more time as a result of parole violations. 

The same way that imperialism has made prison an expected part of 
life for many in the oppressed nations, the criminal injustice 
system is working to have prisons soak up more of the lifetimes of 
its captives.

California prisoner sends anti-imperialist address

Greetings comrades, freedom fighters and all others participating 
in the struggle against imperialist Amerikka, I'm currently a 
prisoner in California. I'm a young black who has seen personally 
the unjust of the criminal justice system. And I want to first 
thank MIM Distributors and RAIL for all of the hard work and 
making it possible for me and others like me to see what's really 
going on in the U$. I also want to encourage everyone that's able 
to participate in the struggle to free all political prisoners 
around the U$ who have seen no justice. 

We want to see Mumia Abu Jamal free, we want Geronimo Pratt to 
remain free, we want the brothers in Angola who started the BPP 
down there free (accused of murdering a guard in the 70's). These 
people did nothing but stand as an opposing threat against the U$ 
imperialist structure. 

By me being in prison I can speak personally about the 
mistreatment of the prisoners. The slave work that we're forced to 
participate in or face disciplinary action. They are over 
sentencing the people, then employing them for free with no means 
of acquiring articles of personal hygiene. Then they have the 
nerve to call these places Correctional facilities. But, there's 
no measure of correction being provided. There's not any way to 
prepare for a return to society except through you the anti-
imperialist. 

All of you are our hope! We need support, education and a physical 
presence or a voice to be heard on our behalf. Education needs to 
be addressed, they are keeping our people in prisons illiterate 
teaching junior high school material. And that's not acceptable if 
we are to be counted as comrades in this people's struggle. 

So I'm calling on the people in position and with opportunity to 
aid educational development of prisoners. The way to accomplish 
this is through knowledge. We need your knowledge and personal 
know how, we need literature (books). If there's any interested 
party's wanting start a free books for prisoners program in 
California, contact RAIL/MIM distributors for information on how 
to contact me. Also please support RAIL/MIM Distributors and our 
political prisoners, especially Mumia. Also help MIM distribute 
the newsletters in your communities and get involved in the 
struggle. 

In Struggle Always, 

--A California Comrade Prisoner, 

14 February 1999.

Torture in Red Onion Control Unit

.... I am locked down in the control unit of Red Onion State 
Prison 23-24 hours per day. Prisoners have been maced, assaulted, 
and placed in five-point restraint. I refer to Red Onion as a 
concentration death camp. For the outcast, being in five point 
restraint in only your underwear and a cold cell - this is 
torture, everything is taken from you besides your underwear when 
you are placed in five point restraint. Five point restraint is 
tied to the steel bunk spread eagle. This is a 48 hour punishment. 

There is intimidation and the threat of bodily harm. The majority 
of the keepers at the stalag are caucasion. I have heard the cops 
... use the words nigger, tar baby, sambo, spook, buckwheat, coon 
and monkey man. Racism is thick here. The medical collaborator, 
maintenance, and other staff members are just as racist. The area 
Pound, VA could have been named Racism Town, USA. I have seen 
prisoners denied their small ration of food because they were 
insolent, according to the guards, some prisoners challenged the 
racist cops although there is a possibility of being attacked by 
the lynch mob. 

When prisoners complained to a sergeant or lieutenant, it's 
always, well, the officer said you refused the food. Cops have 
said they will poison the food, urinate in your food. The 
psychological warfare is in depth here. The prison camp opened in 
August 1998 or thereabouts. ... We are served very small rations 
of food. Semi-starvation -- the control units nationally have the 
same brutal force. The tactics to instill fear.... 

In the trenches, 

To build is to win. 

--A Virginia Prisoner, March 1999.

Terrorism and repression in Maryland

Comrades in MIM, first I want to congratulate you on the job well 
done with disseminating such a vast amount of revolutionary 
information -- I feel you -- and for that I got nothing but 
revolutionary luv for you. Now I would like to inform with 
injustices that are being performed (prevalently) at another one 
of Maryland's Koncentration Kamps, within the konfines of this 
particular racist oppressive regime their operational way of doing 
things is: terrorism, intimidation, brutality, and repression! 
repression! repression! All rooted in a pink supremacist 
narcissistic perverted mentality. 

Complete totalitarianism at work, with robotic like gestapos 
running around the compound harassing, humiliating and abusing 
whomever whenever; they raid our little cages on a consistent and 
persistent over-necessary basis ransacking what little order that 
we do manage to establish within them; they read our mail, 
damage/destroy our property, etc., 

There's no need for me to finish along this line of description 
because this behavior and these activities are common occurrences 
throughout amerika's many koncentration kamps -- it's as if this 
nonsense is the norm, however, I can never conform to accept it 
nor will I ever succumb to it. As long as I exist I shall forever 
challenge and defy this imbalance! ...Before oppression can be 
seriously challenged a substantial amount if not all of that 
apathy will have to be quelled first -- reason being -- it is the 
people who bring about change and if the people are not concerned 
with better conditions then they'll never endeavor to bring none 
about. So where does this leave us (freedom fighters) at? It 
leaves us with a tremendous amount of educating to do -- we have 
to educate them (the masses) into the acceptance of wanting better 
conditions. 

Revolution should be the central theme of all our dialogues -- why 
it's needed, the benefit of it and its ups and downs. Political 
and revolutionary information must be pumped up and disseminated 
on a steady basis -- we do no have room for no other conversation 
[but] revolution -

- join me in the crusade to dismantle and smash the war machine. 

Long live the vanguard! 

Political prisoner, 

Imhotep Fatin, 

Maryland, 21 December 1998

New dungeon in New York

I am writing to bring your attention to the new torture dungeon 
implemented by the Warden, Ronny Wiley, at the Federal 
Correctional Institution at Ray Brook, New York. Inmates are often 
placed "under investigation" in the "Special Housing Unit" at FCI 
Ray Brook. The SHU consists of a 23 hour lock down which is 
designed for a maximum capacity of two persons per cell, yet the 
Warden has instructed his staff to place four inmates per room, 
with two sleeping on the floor. The food is served in trays 
without lids, and is often spoiled or cold. More importantly, the 
food is kept in a hot cart for hours, which causes it to become 
dehydrated. 

As a grand finale, the Warden has made it impossible for inmates 
to flush their toilets. Rather, the inmates must wait for the 
guard to arrive every few hours. Thus, an inmate must sleep on the 
floor near a toilet, which contains urine and feces. Access to the 
law library is never granted despite repeated requests. Medical 
personnel arrive extremely early in the morning while the inmates 
are sleeping, and they are very quiet so inmates do not call them 
to receive medical attention. The new unit is designed to harass 
and punish the inmates. 

The Warden continues to overcrowd the rooms despite repeated 
admonishment from the local court. This is the new "tough on 
crime" punishment designed by the federal government. --A PA 
Prisoner

Response to "A Call for Action to the Conscious People"

This response is signed by 39 prisoners incarcerated in the bowels 
of South KKKarolina.

In response to the article titled "A Call for Action to the 
Conscious People" I have been recently informed as to whom has 
brought forth this call for action. [This] only adds to the 
legitimacy and genuine authenticity of the sincerity of the call 
to arms and unity. Knowing the righteous nature of Dhoruba 
Lumumba, who's name is a testament of justice and wisdom for all 
liberation forces seeking self-determination, equality and peace 
for his people, I am compelled along with my brothers, as Sunni 
and Shiite Muslims within the New African Islamic Forces, to throw 
our full support and weight behind [the] cause in his fight 
against the historical oppressors. I am authorized to challenge 
our allies and supporters of the Nation of Islam as well as the 
Nation of Gods and Earth/5% Five Percenters, to support this call 
of unity ..., against our common oppressor who see us all, as a 
collective threat... [The oppressor desires our] destruction via 
the most covertly oppressive and viciously brutal means at their 
disposal. I personally congratulate those conscious individuals 
and progressive groups in this historically known slave state who 
formed a united front that revolved the good old boy governor, 
David Beasley and his KKK appointees from office. [This] includes 
the announced and expected removal of the Texas white supremacist 
Michael Moore ‰ ominus commissioner of the Department of 
Corruption/Corrections in this racist state. The mass prison 
propaganda campaign to attack the oppressors via progressive 
newspaper articles, talk radio shows and other media outlets was 
tactfully and strategically brilliant -- and successful in 
fighting this protracted war. 

We must continue to educate a public that is uninformed and 
ignorant to the genocidal, dehumanizing agenda being 
systematically encouraged in the neo-slave plantations called 
prisons across the state. [This exists] because of the state 
sponsored get tough on crime rhetoric which in effect is a catch 
phrase for get tough on poor people and people of color. The mass 
letter campaign, along with the mass civil and state action suits 
was effective in draining the prisoncrats' resources. The letter 
campaign targeting the members of the state black caucus and 
minority so-called religious/political leaders brought a 
resurgence of energy to our joint prison struggles and 
condemnation of the prisoncrats and their neo-nazi abuses. We also 
give liberational black power salutes to the known and unknown 
liberation soldiers who have sacrificed their individual lives... 

Righting white supremacy oppression in this state to include the 
Black capitalistic house slaves that add to their own people's 
racist oppression and genocide. Much love to these freedom 
fighters, they do honor to their ancestors and the over-all 
struggle.