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

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         THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

  MIM Notes 185             May 1, 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.  IMPERIALISM IS PREDATORY AND VIOLENT
    OPPOSE U$-NATO BOMBINGS AND BUILD REVOLUTION
2.  STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE FOUGHT IN THE STREETS
    DON'T RELY ON AMERIKA'S KANGAROO COURTS
3.  LETTERS 
4.  GREETINGS FROM RAIL FRANCE
5.  GREETINGS FROM NEW ORLEANS RAIL
6.  FILIPINO WIMMIN'S MOVEMENT LEADER, IN LOS ANGELES, SPEAKS 
    AGAINST THE VISITING FORCES AGREEMENT
7.  EX-VICE MAYOR JOINS FILIPINO REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT
8.  SPECTRES OF CAPITALISM: A CRITIQUE OF CURRENT INTELLECTUAL 
    FASHIONS
9.  MASS SUPREME COURT WEIGHING PRISONER DNA DATABANK
10. CAPITOL PROTEST DRAWS IMAGINARY LINE BETWEEN POLICE AND 
    BRUTALITY
11. CONFUSED POSITIONS OF MANY ANTI-WAR PROTESTERS FALL SHORT
12. AMERICAN MUSLIM COUNCIL SUPPORTS NATO
13. STOP US AND NATO WAR OF AGGRESSION (Communist Party of the 
    Philippines and National Democratic Front of the Philippines 
    Statement)
14. KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY WELCOMES NATO
15. KOSOVO'S ALBANIAN PRESIDENT APPARENTLY DENOUNCES NATO
16. OPPOSE U$ AND NATO AGGRESSION IN YUGOSLAVIA! (RAIL statement)
17. MATRIX HELPS DEMONSTRATE MATERIALISM AND DIALECTICS
18. FIGHT IMPERIALISM AND JOIN UP FOR REVOLUTION
19. COURT TO CONSIDER RESTRICTING POLITICAL USES OF STUDENT FEES
20. UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS
21. FACTS ABOUT U.$. IMPRISONMENT
22. MIM ON PRISONS & 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


* * *

IMPERIALISM IS PREDATORY AND VIOLENT
OPPOSE U$-NATO BOMBINGS AND BUILD REVOLUTION

As this issue MIM Notes goes to press, the u.$. and NATO war of 
aggression against the peoples of Yugoslavia has continued for 
several weeks and is expanding. The imperialists themselves admit 
that they are bombing civilian targets and Yugoslavian civilians 
are dying. Imperialist mouthpieces such as the Washington Post and 
Los Angeles Times promote the invasion and occupation of parts of 
Yugoslavia.

Although the imperialists still claim they are not willing to 
commit ground troops, they now openly speak about establishing a 
NATO protectorate in Kosovo. This would serve imperialist 
interests by solidifying their political and military presence in 
eastern Europe.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Albanians - the people the 
u.$. and NATO say they are helping - are leaving their homes in 
Kosovo, apparently as a result of Serbian relocation campaign and 
increased pressure from NATO bombings. The elected Kosovar 
Albanian president has come out against the u.$. and NATO war in 
Yugoslavia (see article on page seven).

This war is unjust and predatory and should be opposed -- but the 
opposition should be based on proletarian internationalist 
principles. Some of the anti-war protesters here in the u.$. 
incorrectly support Amerikan intervention in the Balkans, just not 
the current bombing campaign. Others tail the bourgeois Yugoslav 
government headed by Slobodan Milosovic (see article on page six). 
MIM knows that despite the "humanitarian" pretext, the u.$. and 
NATO war is mainly an outgrowth of the imperialist nature of the 
u.$. and its NATO allies. The peoples of Yugoslavia and the 
Balkans have the right and the ability to solve their own 
problems. There is nothing about these problems that will be 
solved by U$ military aggression, or political and economic 
dictatorship.

Other stories inside this issue about the war in Yugoslavia:

* Kosovo Liberation Army embraces NATO

* Kosovo's Albanian pacifist president
apparently denounces NATO

* Statement by the Communist Party of the Philippines and National 
Democratic Front of the Philippines

* Confused positions of many anti-war protesters fall short

* RAIL's statement: "Oppose u.$. and NATO aggression!"


* * *

STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE FOUGHT IN THE STREETS
DON'T RELY ON AMERIKA'S KANGAROO COURTS

Geronimo ji Jaga (Pratt) won a big victory on February 17, with 
the announcement by Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti 
that he will not be retrying Geronimo.

Geronimo was framed and convicted in the early 70s for a murder he 
did not commit. He spent 27 years in prison before the Orange 
County Superior Court overturned his conviction in May 1997. After 
his release, District Attorney Garcetti aggressively pursued a 
retrial. Of course Garcetti still won't admit that Geronimo is 
innocent of the charges. Nonetheless, the decision not to retry 
Geronimo is a victory won because of fervent activism.

Over the decades, mountains of evidence documented Geronimo's 
innocence. In the end, the court had to admit that a key witness 
against Geronimo lied about being a police informant. This final 
straw forced a new trial. The real credit goes to the 
revolutionaries in the streets who built a strong movement for 
Geronimo's freedom.

Mumia Abu Jamal has spent 18 years on death row in Pennsylvania 
for a crime he did not commit. Like Geronimo, Mumia was targeted 
by the police because of his revolutionary politics.

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

What Mumia Abu Jamal did do, was raise the consciousness of the 
Black nation about its colonization by white settler Amerika. 

In a January speech, Mumia's chief lawyer Leonard Weinglass laid 
out the legal side of the struggle including new evidence 
uncovered by defense investigation.

Many opponents of the Amerikan death penalty are familiar with the 
Baldus study which shows that Blacks are more likely to be 
executed if their victim was white. Baldus has recently conducted 
a study of Philadelphia district attorneys, showing that Blacks 
are 5.2 times more likely than whites to be thrown off juries. In 
Mumia's case, 11 Black jurors were removed, thereby denying Mumia 
a true jury of his peers.Internationally renown ballistics expert 
Peter De Forrest reports evidence that the bullet that killed the 
officer may have been switched. A former Philly police officer has 
told the defense that bullet switching was common.

The pig's defense to charges of politically persecuting Mumia is 
to argue that the officers at the scene didn't know him -- so they 
couldn't have been biased. That has been proven false. It's 
already known that the highest ranking officer at the scene knew 
Mumia. Additionally, their personal knowledge of Mumia says 
nothing about their biased against outspoken revolutionaries 
fighting police brutality and oppression.

However, the defense can now prove that the officer who found 
Mumia's gun at the scene also knew Mumia.

The police admit to having huge files on Mumia, but refuse to turn 
them over. This evidence could force the courts to require the 
police to share these records with the defense.

Attorney Weinglass also reported evidence on the police 
suppression of another suspect who was later found to be in 
possession of a weapon capable of firing a copper-jacketed bullet. 
Neither Mumia's gun nor the officer's were capable of firing such 
a bullet, but one was found at the scene. The illegal police 
suppression of this evidence should be grounds for a new trial.

We don't advocate prosecution of the person who did kill the cop. 
When the killing happened, the cop was engaged in an act of police 
brutality against Mumia's brother. Somebody stopped this illegal 
violence with other violence. That's a far cry from murder.

Weinglass reported in January that the legal team would be filing 
an appeal before the Supreme Court specifically to deal with the 
issues of Mumia's physical exclusion from the initial trial and 
the Judge's denial of Mumia's right to represent himself. Attorney 
Weinglass doesn't expect the Supreme Court to side with Mumia on 
this question, and he expects a decision in April 1999.

This negative ruling would likely trigger a death warrant signing 
by Pennsylvania Governor Thomas Ridge. This would not give the 
defense much time to bring an appeal of the October 1998 
Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling to Federal District Court. This 
Court could rule by Summer or Fall 1999.

Making matters much more difficult for Mumia and justice, is the 
1996 "Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act." This law 
restricts the Federal Courts from examining the findings of fact 
made by the State Courts. Unfortunately for Mumia, the findings of 
fact and other State Court actions are precisely the issue.

The judge at Mumia's original trial and his appeals was Albert 
Sabo. Known as the "Hanging Judge", Sabo has earned the label 
"judge beyond reason" from American Lawyer Magazine, and his bias 
at Mumia's trial was severe enough to merit criticism from the 
prosecution! Since Sabo declared himself "unbiased" during the 
initial appeals, the Federal Courts are restricted to maintaining 
that assumption. 

With the Effective Death Penalty Act and the transition into the 
much quicker federal court system, Mumia's case has an exceptional 
urgency. We agree with Attorney Weinglass that the real power to 
free Mumia exists not in the courtroom but in our ability to build 
a movement in the streets. (See June 1 MIM Notes for coverage of 
the upcoming ŒMillions for Mumia' march in Philly.)

Mumia's care demonstrates the nature of the repressive injustice 
system, which itself is a tool of social control and national 
oppression. We must continue to build support for a new trial and 
subsequent release of Mumia and carry on the struggle to build 
revolution to end systematic oppression.

Note: Jamal_News Service on 2/06/99 on pan.afrikan.net/ 
dcforum97n/forum2/93.html

* * *

LETTERS

OPPOSE BOMBING OF YUGOSLAVIA

I'm shocked by the news of US and NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, an 
independent, sovereign nation. There must be some sort of protest/ 
demonstration being planned for Ann Arbor, Michigan? Do you know 
of anything? Is RAIL going to make their voice be heard around 
town? (the country, even?) There must be something we can do. 
Please, if you know of any protest, could you notify me so I can 
go? I hope RAIL keeps doing what it has been for a long time now, 
showing foreigners like myself that not all americans are 
imperialists and fascists. Showing us that some people can still 
THINK. thank you.

-- a supporter in Michigan

MIM responds:  Both MIM and RAIL have been out on the streets 
since the bombings of Yugoslavia started, protesting u.s. 
imperialist attacks and putting forward information to help people 
wade through the lies fed to them by the imperialist press. 
Unfortunately, this latest attack by the u.s. has confused many 
activists who generally oppose imperialist intervention around the 
world.(see article on page six) We've heard otherwise staunch 
anti-imperialists question whether this might really be a 
humanitarian action by the u.s. And some so-called communist 
parties like the Workers World party and many activists are taking 
the simplistic position of supporting Milosevic and claiming that 
all negative information about him is just imperialist propaganda 
just like the propaganda against the communist party during the 
Vietnam war.

The unfortunate reality of the situation in the Balkans is that 
there is no leading communist party fighting imperialist 
aggression. The lies that the Kosovo Liberation Army is Marxist 
are just an attempt to scare the people in imperialist countries 
using a convenient label. After a speaker at a rally to oppose the 
u.s. bombings quoted the state department saying that the KLA is 
communist, one Serbian high school student said: "that label has 
got to be the most incorrectly an overused term." 

The only correct position on this recent manifestation of World 
War III is to oppose all u.s. (including North American Terrorist 
Organization - NATO) intervention in the Balkans. This is a war 
over control of the Balkan region which only benefits small 
cliques of local reactionaries and the foreign imperialists who 
back them. Humanitarianism is a mere pretext for the imperialist 
aggression. It's a real tragedy for which blame belongs on the 
imperialists and the capitalist system and which the people 
themselves have to resolve - not NATO.

We encourage all activists to take up this correct position on the 
bombings of Yugoslavia and work with MIM and RAIL to protest these 
actions and educate people about what is really going on.

OCALAN'S ARREST SHOWS HYPOCRISY OF CLINTON'S "NO FLY ZONE" POLICY

Dear MIM, 

Kurdish rebels are claiming that the U.S. and Israel played a part 
in the arrest of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. Enraged Kurds 
have held protests throughout Europe and the Middle East since the 
arrest. In one instance Israeli security guards killed three Kurds 
who forced their way into the Israel consulate.(1) Turkish 
officials have helped fuel the violence by releasing a videotape 
of Ocalan in handcuffs with his eyes tapes shut.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put his diplomatic 
missions on alert after a news report claimed that Israel's Mossad 
intelligence agency helped Turkey track Ocalan (1). U.S. Secretary 
of State Madeleine Albright called for Abdullah Ocalan to be 
handed over to the Turkish regime. The U.S. considers Abdullah and 
the Kurdish PKK to be "terrorists".

Turkey has invaded Northern Iraq and killed Kurds numerous times 
(2). Ankara sent 10,000 troops to the Syrian border and said that 
it was prepared to attack PKK bases just as it does in Northern 
Iraq.(3) The U.S. has long provided satellite information to help 
the Turkish military carry out these massacres of Kurdish people 
in Turkey and Northern Iraq.

In exchange Clinton uses Turkish bases to launch his "No Fly Zone" 
attacks against the Iraqi people. The hypocrisy here is obvious. 
Our government claims that it is enforcing these zones in order to 
protect Kurdish rebels from the Iraqi government and yet it is 
aiding Turkey in their slaughter.

When Turkey killed Kurds in Northern Iraq a while back, political 
apologists on the McGluaghin Group tried to make the distinction 
between "good Kurds" and "bad Kurds". The good Kurds are those 
small factions that the U.S. is covertly arming and encouraging to 
blow up buildings like Timothy Mcveigh did. The bad Kurds are the 
ones our allies are slaughtering and the ones who are dying from 
disease and starvation (along with the rest of the Iraqis) because 
of the U.S. imposed sanctions.

After bombing Iraq for the last two months, U.S. officials are 
acting outraged that Iraq is threatening the base in Turkey from 
which U.S. attacks originate. Heaven forbid that the Iraqis fight 
back. They're just supposed to sit back and let the U.S. and the 
Turks slaughter them. I will continue to work with Peace groups 
who are trying to lift the sanctions on the Iraqi people. However, 
if Iraq does launch an attack on the base in Turkey, I will not 
fall back on the following line:  "We oppose the attack on the 
Turkish base and the U.S. bombing campaign."  I fear that many 
people will.

‹An Activist in the East

Notes:
1. Springfield Union News, Feb. 18, 1999.
2. The Progressive July, 1997 Pg 8-9.
3. The Progressive December, 1998 Pg 22.

KAPITALIST GOONS ATTACK MAN FOR HO CHI MINH POSTER

MIM, It's 1 March 99, over the past couple of weeks I got to 
witness on national TV, "the great whore Amerika" and its 
injustice system at work, against a communist supporter. It all 
took place in Westminster California, in its predominantly Asian 
part of the city, which is named Little Saigon.

A store owner hung a poster of "Ho Chi Minh" (a communist leader 
of North Viet Nam from 1954-69). Along with the North Viet Nam 
"red" communist flag on his store wall. The kapitalist 
reactionaries, which were other Asians, held rallies and protests 
day after day. The first day that I saw it on the news, the 
kapitalist reactionaries beat our comrade up in front of the pigs! 
The pigs didn't let the reactionaries kill our comrade, but I also 
didn't hear of no arrests either. After all this our comrade was 
quickly escorted out to an ambulance. The kapitalist reactionaries 
held their so called friendly non-violent protest. The kapitalist 
supporters showed up by the hundreds! From what I saw most were 
Asian descent. 

Vietnamese/Amerikan singers showed up and sung for our 
adversaries, our opposition called the pigs by their proper names 
"pigs" while yelling at them why do they (the pigs) let our 
comrade hang up those pictures when the pigs' fathers died with 
their Vietnamese fathers in the Viet Nam war against communism. 
All this and more took place during the last two weeks!

Comrades we already know the pigs, media and government work hand 
in hand. The media supported the protest by airing it as much as 
they could, and calling it friendly, even non-violent while 
showing the kapitalist supporters assaulting our comrade!

The always no good pigs didn't make any attempt to stop the 
protest, but over the pig's radio the devilish swine were making 
racial epithets! And the punk ass bureaukratik kapitalist's 
(government) probably called the local enforcers of injustice and 
told them let the protest carry on, because it misleads the masses 
about communism and it promotes our injustice!

The kapitalist reactionaries said, "they don't like communism 
because it is not for freedom."

Our comrade went back to work [...] and again some supporters of 
kapitalism spit on him, and threw an egg at him! Our comrade was 
literally carried out of the area by the pigs! While he was 
yelling and screaming that he'll be back! Don't forget the media 
"friendly-non-violent protest." Our comrade told the media he will 
never take down the poster and flag! And that he will return!

The United Snakes and its supports saw the opportunity to promote 
this "travesty" they are doing under the cloak of freedom, and 
they did just that. Comrades we need to re-educate the workers and 
teach them the truth about Marxism-Lenin-Mao, to all you 
kapitalist supporters cast away illusion! Revolution, socialism, 
communism is the real path to uhuru (freedom).

Our comrade in Westminster knows he has nothing to loose but his 
chains of kapitalism! And a world to win!

Our comrades in this struggle on the streets need to go out there 
and help our brother! We should never let one of our comrades 
fight alone against kapitalism, revisionism, imperialism or any 
other forms of oppression!

This is an appeal to the comrades on the streets of this unjust 
society in the United Snakes from the comrade X in the California 
gulags. It's time for rebellion, along the (M-L-M) line!

From your faithful mwenzi (comrade) in the western gulags!

-- a California prisoner

MIM adds:: According to bourgeois media reports as well as sources 
sympathetic to anti-imperialism, the store owner who displayed the 
poster of Ho Chi Minh and the flag of the Democratic Republic of 
Viet Nam is not himself a communist, but is inspired by the 
Vietnamese people's heroic struggle to liberate itself from 
Amerikan imperialism. He also advocates closer relations between 
the Vietnam and the u.$.

Anti-communist death squads linked to the groups which organized 
the protests in Westminster murdered journalists and other 
intellectuals in the u.$. Vietnamese community who had views 
similar to those of the store owner (see e.g. "Little Saigon's 
Invisible Enemies" in the OC Weekly, 5 Mar 99 and the March issue 
of Change Links). As our prison comrade points out, despite the 
supposed right to free speech, those who speak out on important 
issues face harassment from reactionaries of all sorts. On top of 
that, the bourgeois media in this country will distort and twist 
everything to fit its lies. This underscores the necessity of the 
independent media of and for the oppressed like MIM Notes, as well 
as the importance of taking our enemies seriously on a tactical 
level, while having strategic confidence in our ultimate victory.

MIM opposes economic sanctions and embargoes placed on countries 
like Viet Nam, Cuba, Iraq, etc. etc. as acts of aggression 
designed to impose the will of the u.$. imperialists on sovereign 
peoples. At the same time, we know that it takes a strong 
socialist state to ensure that such trade serves the people and 
the building of socialism. The current Vietnamese state is 
socialist in name, but capitalist in deed, and therefore in not 
able to defend the hard-won self-determination of the Vietnamese 
people - witness the well-documented super-exploitation of 
Vietnamese workers by Nike, for example.

PRISONER UPHOLDS SPIRITUALITY

Dear MIM, I respectfully disagree on your view about spirituality 
not being concrete enough to help convicts. I believe you meant it 
don't help inmates. A real convict is naturally rebellious plus 
not all of us real cons use spirituality as a crutch. If it wasn't 
for my faith I wouldn't have the courage to keep fighting the 
oppressors.

--An Illinois prisoner,

 10 February, 1999

MIM responds: It is true that different people use different 
definitions of spirituality. When we said "Spirituality is not 
going to help prisoners, or oppressed people anywhere, to fight 
the imperialist system that is oppressing them" (MIM Notes 175), 
we followed it up with: "When everything is up to a higher power 
it is much easier for people to be complacent and just pray rather 
than take action against oppression."

There are also people who do not use what they think of as 
spirituality in this way. Under conditions of oppression, people 
draw personal strength from many sources. MIM's point is that we 
focus on developing the ideological basis for revolution. In 
providing revolutionary political leadership, this is the correct 
choice. Some people do use what they call spirituality to help 
focus themselves on the fight against the oppressors. We warn 
against spirituality detracting from concrete matters, and we 
argue that revolutionaries have to keep our eyes on the earthly 
prize if we are to be successful.

Many revolutionaries are sustained by a faith in the masses of 
people who will overthrow imperialism and create a just society 
where no group of people oppresses any other. This is a 
materialist faith and the one which we encourage all activists to 
take seriously whether or not you support spirituality in other 
forms.

* * *

GREETINGS FROM RAIL FRANCE

Dear Comrades! 

RAIL France extends its fraternal greetings to the 1999 Congress 
of the  Maoist International Movement (MIM) and wishes it success. 
Let this Congress become a major milestone on the road to 
fulfilling MIM's principal goal--building a united proletarian-led 
front within the borders of the citadel of world imperialism, the 
U$A.

A correct line is essential to ultimate victory in a protracted 
people's struggle. MIM's line is strong - and correct. A united 
front built upon incorrect principles is a house of cards. MIM's 
choice to place correct line before illusory unity is thus 
correct.

Every victim of capitalism is a potential revolutionary. The false 
victories of the oppressor must be seen as such and will be so 
demonstrated and eventually reversed in this protracted struggle.

Proletarians and oppressed nations of all countries, unite!

Long live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!

* * *

GREETINGS FROM NEW ORLEANS RAIL

To the Central Committee of the Maoist Internationalist Movement:

Revolutionary greetings, comrades!

The New Orleans chapter of the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist 
League sends profound regards to our compatriots of the Maoist 
Interrnationalist Movement and hails the commencement of MIM's 
1999 Spring Congress.

Under MIM's leadership New Orleans RAIL has firmly planted the red 
flag of revolutionary anti-imperialism in the $tate known as 
louisiana, where Angola Prison shadows the landscape as a monument 
to national oppression and the white settler masses salivate for 
David Dukkke. This bloody parasite imperialism will be ended! 

As part of the MIM-led united front against imperialism, New 
Orleans RAIL continues to draw strength for this struggle from 
MIM's resoluteness of purpose in defeating imperialism and 
continues to advance the struggle through reliance on MIM's 
revolutionary practice concentrated as theory. 

New Orleans RAIL hails the Maoist Interrnationalist Movement 1999 
Spring Congress with revolutionary confidence in MIM's proven 
ability to determine and set forth the tasks of genuine anti-
imperialism to defeat the beast that seeks to devour the oppressed 
peoples of the world. Forward with the struggle!

* * *

FILIPINO WIMMIN'S MOVEMENT LEADER, IN LOS ANGELES, SPEAKS AGAINST 
THE VISITING FORCES AGREEMENT

On March 16th, Liza Maza, Secretary-General of GAB-RIELA - 
Philippines, spoke against the proposed Visiting Forces Agreement 
(VFA) between the u.$. and the puppet Government of the Republic 
of the Philippines (GRP). The VFA would give u.$. ships and troops 
access to 22 ports throughout the Philippines and would give u.$. 
soldiers protection from prosecution for crimes committed while on 
duty in the Philippines, among other provisions. The VFA would 
effectively reverse the victory the Filipino people won in 1991, 
when the two huge u.$. military bases in the Philippines were shut 
down because of the Filipino people's broad and persistent 
protests. The Philippine senate will vote on the VFA in April or 
May.

GABRIELA - Philippines is a legal wimmin's organization in the 
Philippines which opposes imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat 
capitalism.

According to Maza, some bourgeois municipal leaders have joined 
militant workers, peasants, and urban professionals in opposing 
the VFA - even the Catholic Church of the Philippines has come out 
against the agreement. But at the time of her talk, only three 
Philippine senators promised to vote against the VFA.

Pro-VFA forces argue that the agreement will defend the 
Philippines against foreign aggression. Critics point out that 
(other than the u.$. itself) the Philippines faces little or no 
foreign aggression. In fact, u.$. bases in the Philippines during 
World War II made the islands a target for Japanese invasion, and 
the u.$. abandoned its bases with little fight.

The VFA will violate provisions in the constitution of the GRP 
which declare the Philippines to be nuclear free. This is because 
of the u.$. armed forces' policy to "neither confirm or deny" that 
they are carrying nuclear weapons. Already pro-VFA forces have 
suggested that they will try to change the anti-nuke and other 
provisions in the constitution which get in the way of the VFA.

Reactionaries in the Armed Forces of the Philippines now openly 
say that VFA will aid their war against the New People's Army, 
which is fighting a protracted people's war to liberate the 
Philippines from imperialism and domestic reaction.

The VFA clearly goes against the interests of the Filipino people, 
and only serves the u.$. imperialists' need to militarily defend 
their interests in the Philippines and East Asia. But even if the 
puppet GRP foists the VFA on the Filipino people, Maza declared 
that "the Filipino people will always find a way to voice its 
opposition to the VFA."

VFA and prostitution

Maza argued that the VFA will also lead to an increase in 
prostitution in the Philippines, as wimmin and children are drawn 
into the sex trade that surrounds u.$. military bases. There are 
already over 500,000 prostitutes in the Philippines. Wimmin turn 
to prostitution because the crisis-ridden Philippine economy 
offers them little or no economic alternative. Unemployment for 
wimmin rose from 12% 1997 to 15% 1998.

Some people argue that u.$. military bases provide income to the 
hosting communities. In fact, the majority of the income for the 
cities surrounding the former u.$. bases came from the rest and 
recreation industry - a euphemism for prostitution. So those GRP 
and local officials who advocate military bases as a way to kick 
start the local economy are pimping the wimmin of the Philippines 
to Amerikan soldiers.

Aside from degradation and exploitation that prostitution entails, 
it also poses a health risk to the sex workers involved - and 
eventually all Filipinos. According to Maza, the first AIDS cases 
in the Philippines were discovered among prostitutes near the old 
u.$. bases. Now imperialist agencies such as the U$AID and the 
Ford foundation fund AIDS studies in the Philippines - principally 
in the area of former u.$. bases. The implication is clear:  The 
imperialists only care about AIDS in the Philippines to the extent 
that it might affect Amerikan soldiers.

MIM supports the struggles of legal organizations like GABRIELA 
against Amerikan imperialism and for true self determination. MIM 
especially supports the efforts of organizations engaged in armed 
struggle against the reactionary puppet regime, such as the 
National Democratic Front and the New People's Army, which are led 
by the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines. The National 
Democratic Front is currently building a government which truly 
serves the people in its liberated areas. Contact MIM for more 
information about the Filipino peoples' struggle against foreign 
imperialism and domestic reaction.

* * *

EX-VICE MAYOR JOINS FILIPINO REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT

National Democratic Front
of the Philippines
National Council
25 March 1999

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) warmly 
welcomes Vice-Mayor Jaime Decasa who has decided to join the ranks 
of the revolutionary movement to fight for justice. From being an 
official of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines 
(GRP) as Vice-Mayor of the municipality of Batuan, Bohol, Ka Jaime 
Decasa has become one of the many thousands of Filipinos carrying 
out a national democratic revolution with a socialist perspective.

Former Vice-Mayor Decasa's decision is a sharp indictment of the 
corrupt justice system of the reactionary government. Those who 
fight for justice and dare to expose the injustices inflicted on 
the peasants, workers, and other exploited and oppressed sectors 
of the population, are charged, convicted and imprisoned.

In contrast, the biggest criminals such as the Marcoses, 
Cojuangcos, Tans and regional and local kingpins go scot-free and 
are even showered with privileges and benefits.

Ka Jaime himself personally experienced this injustice. In 1994, 
he and his family were harassed after he filed a case of graft and 
corruption against ex-Mayor Bebe Dumagan and nex-Treasurer 
Primitivo Degamo of Batuan. Last January he was subjected to grave 
threats when he was being framed after a murder. He was issued a 
warrant of arrest on January 13, 1999.

The corrupt justice system is merely a part of the entire rotten 
ruling system that serves the interests of the foreign monopoly 
capitalists and the local exploiting classes of big comprador 
bourgeoisie and landlords. This rotten ruling system intensifies 
the exploitation and oppression of the toiling masses and other 
sections of the Filipino people. To get rid of this rotten system, 
the Filipino people have been waging a thirty-year-old 
revolutionary struggle.

We welcome Ka Jaime Decasa into the revolutionary movement to 
fight for justice, for genuine land reform and national 
industrialization, for genuine freedom and democracy.

This welcoming of Ka Jaime is the implementation of a longstanding 
policy of the revolutionary movement to accept officials and 
members of the reactionary government and its armed forces who 
sincerely desire to leave the service of the reactionary 
government and join the revolutionary movement. Under this policy, 
Lt. Crispin Tagamolila, General Raymundo Jarque and some members 
of the Armed Forces of the Philippines were accepted into the 
revolutionary ranks.

[...]

‹Luis G. Jalandoni Member, NDFP National Executive Committee

* * *

SPECTRES OF CAPITALISM: A CRITIQUE OF CURRENT INTELLECTUAL 
FASHIONS
by Samir Amin
Monthly Review Press
reviewed by MC5

Samir Amin is the director of the Third World Forum in Dakar, 
Senegal. Trained as an economist, his work is relatively close to 
Maoist political economy compared with other academicians. This 
particular book is a collection of theoretical observations that 
would be difficult to understand outside the ivory tower. We can't 
recommend it across-the-board, even though we agree with most of 
it.

The irony of this book is that if Samir Amin had been in an 
Amerikan university, he would have been seen as another token, 
just another voice of relative truth. Here in this book we have 
Samir Amin rejecting tokenism and the philosophical underpinnings 
of it called post-modernism. Oh horror of horrors when the would-
be tokens reject anti-scientific philosophies of thought.

Postmodernism

As might be expected with an author with which we have a 
relatively high degree of unity, we fully agree with Samir Amin's 
attacks on current intellectual fashions including postmodernism 
and neo-liberalism. In fact, we take the title of the book to 
refer to the way postmodernism leads to neo-liberalism. If all the 
existing nationalities, sexual orientations and genders etc. 
tolerated each other what would we have? Capitalism still.

"Postmodernism is a wayward conceit expressing disconcertedness at 
foresight, will, and consequential action, which is distinguished 
by distrust for systematic thought, in the place of which it puts 
what Gianni Vattimo aptly terms Œflaccid thought,' ready to accept 
anything since all theories are equally [in]valid and nothing is 
objectively true." (p. 113)

Postmodernism is the intellectual equivalent of MTV. We agree with 
Amin that imperialism's academy has done some things with 
postmodernism that it would not have otherwise done, but on the 
whole the result is still just a reflection of the crisis 
capitalism puts academic research in.

Underdetermination

Something we like about this book is the idea of 
"underdetermination." We find it a nice contrast to 
"overdetermination." Readers who have read MT will recall that 
overdetermination is most known in its popular form that "it's all 
one system" and more importantly therefore, "it doesn't matter 
which oppression is principal." Some alleged Marxists mean for 
this concept to be an olive branch to pseudo-feminism in 
particular.

In contrast, Samir Amin puts forward the idea that the various 
social logics of class, nation, gender etc. result in 
"underdetermination." This means there is a role for struggle to 
tip the balance in some situations while some logics become 
subordinate to others. (pp. 49-56)

Economics

The economic theory aspects of this book would be especially rare 
in public discussion. Suffice it to say that we agree with Amin on 
many points as usual: 

1) Capitalism did overcome its alleged "general crisis" after 
World War II, (p. 25) which is not to say that capitalism 
benefited the majority of people. There is no denying capitalism's 
economic growth, only its distribution and usefulness to the 
people and side-effects.

2) "The law of value governing really existing capitalism 
(globalized capitalism) is not the law of value as deduced from 
the capitalist mode of production considered in abstraction, but 
is what I term the globalized law of value. This latter form 
brings about a systematic distortion by virtue of the fact that 
workers in the peripheral countries are paid at a lower rate than 
equally productive workers in the metropolitan centers. The global 
price system, which constitutes the reference point for rational 
capitalist economic calculation, is thus the result of a double 
transformation of value."(pp. 77) 

3) Some of the current criticism of "globalization" and "neo-
liberalism" is in fact reformist Liberalism of another kind. 
Indeed, Samir Amin disagrees with the people talking about 
"globalization" as bringing about a leveling that turns the United 
$tates into another Brazil.(p. 88) Discussion of "globalization" 
is something that David Duke, Pat Buchanan, Ross Perot and others 
like them agree with. It is no substitute for talking about 
capitalism and imperialism.

What is new in what Samir Amin is saying is a new set of principal 
contradictions that he believes we should talk about 1) the 
environment 2) economic alienation 3) class polarization globally.

Without saying so, we also believe Samir Amin is starting to cast 
doubt on the labor theory of value. Like Huey Newton in his later 
years, Samir Amin is talking about "citizenship" rights or rights 
to distribution regardless of work.(p. 89)

* * *

MASS SUPREME COURT WEIGHING PRISONER DNA DATABANK

In August, we reported that Superior Court Judge Isaac Borenstein 
had struck down the Massachusetts law requiring the pigs to create 
a database of prisoner DNA. With 2,500 samples already stolen from 
prisoners, a hearing was held on March 1 before the Supreme 
Judicial Court on the issue.

All 50 states have laws requiring the police to create DNA 
databanks for at least some types of prisoners. Not all states 
have yet implemented the laws, and the federal government has not 
yet started.

The Massachusetts law was struck down in the name of "privacy 
rights" in the Fourth Amendment. Judge Borenstein argued in August 
that "[r]egardless of the state's compelling interest, an 
unjustified random bodily intrusion without any indication of 
individualized suspicion is unreasonable and intolerable."

Typically privacy "rights" are reserved for those with power and 
prestige to protect. We emphasized the word "rights" because 
unlike the bourgeoisie, we don't pretend that there are certain 
rights that people have. Rather, we believe, as Mao Zedong said, 
that "there are no rights, only power struggles." The only thing 
that we can count on in this world is what the masses themselves 
can fight to gain and retain.

The Bill of Rights in the U.$ Constitution claims to speak for all 
citizens, even though it is rarely that way in practice. But it is 
a good tactic for progressive lawyers to try and get the Bill of 
Rights to apply to everyone, especially prisoners

The government argued that "if the state can collect a criminal's 
fingerprints, why not their DNA?" 

The suing prisoners responded that fingerprints are used for 
identification purpose, while here the government wants to take 
all prisoners' DNA without any individualized suspicion. 

Note: Daily Hampshire Gazette, 2 March 1999. Thanks to Prison 
Connections for the clipping.

* * *

CAPITOL PROTEST DRAWS IMAGINARY LINE BETWEEN POLICE AND BRUTALITY

Several thousand people marched in Washington, D.C. on April 3 to 
protest police brutality. The march and protest were prompted most 
recently by the murder of Amadou Diallo, a West African immigrant 
attacked and murdered by four New York police in February. (See 
MIM Notes 182) Throughout the rally, families spoke about the 
murder of their loved ones because of police brutality.

We're glad to see the masses gathered in protest of police 
brutality and the general increase of organized outrage against 
state-sponsored terrorism. However, the rally lacked a clear and 
cohesive stance against police.

On one hand, one Asian speaker correctly identified police 
brutality as "state sponsored terror against the oppressed," other 
organizers took a considerably softer line. Al Sharpton was quoted 
by the Washington Post as saying, "We are not anti-police; we are 
anti-police brutality." MIM saw one person with a sign that called 
for mandatory drug testing of cops -- diverting the issue of who 
the police represent with implications that drugs are at the root 
of their violence against the oppressed. Finally, the inclusion of 
the National Black Police Association as one of the endorsers and 
speakers served to confuse the struggle of the people. It gives 
the impression that there is a meaningful difference between so-
called good and bad cops.

MIM does not believe that police brutality is the problem of rogue 
cops or bad apples. Police brutality is part and parcel of a 
police state. Amerikka's police state functions uphold the system 
of inequality and to smash revolutionary struggles of the 
oppressed.

Sensitivity training is not the answer. Neither is the answer the 
current tactic in New York:  having Black cops instruct citizens 
on how to behave when stopped by the pigs to lessen chances of pig 
reacting violently. The oppressed in Amerika will only cease to be 
victims of police brutality when there is national liberation and 
peoples are free to police themselves and construct laws and 
courts which serve the needs of the masses.

The demands of the organizers were watered-down and not in the 
context of building genuine change. Specifically, the organizers 
called for attorney general Janet Reno to intensify "Justice" 
Department investigations into communities with a high incidence 
of complaints about police brutality. In addition, they called for 
the attorney general to collect accurate national statistics to 
identify such areas in the first place.

MIM calls these demands watered down because they are reforms 
within a system that inherently thrives off of oppression and 
exploitation. It is not possible to reform the capitalist system 
into one that adequately meets the needs of the people and treats 
them fairly. We welcome the reporting of more information and 
would certainly use such statistics to continue exposure of 
imperialism. However, the investigation and release of such 
information will a) be tallied by the very people interested in 
repressing the truth; b) be reported mostly by the media not 
interested in fundamental social overhaul; c) be answered with 
token reforms to make Amerika look nice; and d) be used by some to 
justify the reformist road and not the revolutionary path.

So, the release of information is fine, but making such calls on 
the current white nation government and leaving it at that is like 
asking the slavemaster to count the frequency of beatings and then 
go and tell his plantation neighbors how frequently they occur. It 
was continuous rebellion and contradiction which led to the demise 
of slavery as a mode of production. The same is true for 
capitalism. We cannot ask the slavemaster to nicely give up the 
plantation.The rally and march were organized by the Center for 
Constitutional Rights and endorsed by several other organizations. 
Many in the crowd -- mostly older Black people -- were friendly to 
the distributors of MIM Notes. We encourage all those who read 
MIM's newspaper to struggle over the need for revolution as they 
work with us in achieving winnable gains and build public 
opposition now to Amerika's system of national oppression and 
imperialism. We encourage those looking for justice to take the 
question seriously instead of merely accepting the white nation's 
self-legitimizing methods of reforming the system. (Send $2 for 
MIM's literature list to arm yourself with the historical proof 
and science to fight for justice.)

Notes: Washington Post, 4 April 1999 page C3.

* * *

CONFUSED POSITIONS OF MANY ANTI-WAR PROTESTERS FALL SHORT

Protests against u.s. bombings of Yugoslavia reveal confusion 
among the people in the u.s. about what is really going on and 
what position is really correct. Over the past few weeks MIM has 
attended a number of demonstrations against u.s. bombing 
Yugoslavia. There are a number of positions represented at these 
rallies, none of which takes on imperialism in a thoroughgoing and 
correct way.

Pro-imperialist reformists

First there are the people at the rallies who oppose the u.s. 
bombings but believe that u.$./NATO intervention in a less overtly 
violent way is necessary and even progressive. These people 
correctly point out the hypocrisy of the bombings which never gave 
a peaceful settlement of the conflict a fair chance. But what 
these people fail to recognize is that it is capitalism that 
created the situation in the Balkans in the first place. 
Imperialist intervention is not going to solve these problems and 
leave the people with an opportunity for national self-
determination. Those who believe that the u.$./NATO could act 
entirely in humanitarian interests need to study history a little 
further to understand that this is not possible. 

As Noam Chomsky wrote in a document entitled "The Current 
Bombings" released recently: "We may also bear in mind a truism:  
the right of humanitarian intervention, if it exists, is premised 
on the Œgood faith' of those intervening, and that assumption is 
based not on their rhetoric but on their record, in particular 
their record of adherence to the principles of international law, 
World Court decisions, and so on... Consider, for example, Iranian 
offers to intervene in Bosnia to prevent massacres at a time when 
the West would not do so. These were dismissed with ridicule (in 
fact, ignored); if there was a reason beyond subordination to 
power, it was because Iranian Œgood faith' could not be assumed. A 
rational person then asks obvious questions:  is the Iranian 
record of intervention and terror worse than that of the US? And 
other questions, for example: How should we assess the Œgood 
faith' of the only country to have vetoed a Security Council 
resolution calling on all states to obey international law? What 
about its historical record? Unless such questions are prominent 
on the agenda of discourse, an honest person will dismiss it as 
mere allegiance to doctrine."

ŒRadical' apologists for the Serbian bourgeoisie

Another group protesting u.s. bombing of Yugoslavia claims that we 
must support Milosevic and the Serbian government, even to the 
extent of upholding their military actions in Kosovo. For example, 
Gary Wilson of the International Action Center (which is led by 
the Trotskyist Workers' World Party) wrote, "The Yugoslav 
government's policy of defending its own country from attack, both 
internal and external, cannot be characterized as different from 
what any other government in the world would do under similar 
circumstances. A civil war, abetted from abroad, has broken out in 
Kosovo. As in any civil war there have been casualties, some of 
them involving innocent people. War is terrible, but it is not 
genocide."(1)

Yes, there is evidence that NATO powers have played a role in 
arming certain factions among the Kosovar Albanians ­ but that 
does not negate the right of the people of Kosovo to pursue self-
determination, nor does it excuse Serbian attempts to violently 
suppress those who wish to exercise that right. 

Some foolish people even go so far as to say that this situation 
is just like Viet Nam. These people put forward the ridiculous 
claim that Milosevic is actually ruling in the interests of the 
Yugoslavian people and that any claims to the contrary are just 
imperialist lies.

But Milosevic does not deserve our support in the same way that 
the National Liberation Front in Viet Nam deserved anti-
imperialist support. For starters, Milosevic has a proven track-
record of inciting chauvinism for political benefit and in fact 
received u.s. aid when he first came to power (see "Kosovo's 
Albanian pacifist president apparently denounces NATO," in this 
issue). 

As MIM has written repeatedly, the current civil war in Yugoslavia 
and the recent wars in the Balkans are all examples of wars of 
oppressed and exploited people against other oppressed and 
exploited people. They cannot be justified by any rationale 
communists consider important. Gary Wilson and other of his ilk 
get lost in bourgeois legalisms about sovereignty and end up 
picking sides in an essentially bourgeois conflict ­ which serves 
no purpose other than to confuse and mislead anti-imperialists.

Serbian bourgeois nationalists

Alongside these activists are a number of Serb nationals within 
u.s. borders, many of whom appeal to Amerika to see Serbia as an 
ally. They also take up strong nationalist rhetoric about the 
right of their country to control of Kosovo and the oppression of 
the Serbian people at the hands of everyone else. These 
nationalists provide a service to u.$. activists by educating them 
about the history of the region. They point out that Yugoslavia 
lost 10% of its population fighting the Nazis. But they turn 
around and accuse the Kosovo Liberation Army of being "Marxists 
funded by drug money" (a ridiculous assertion, see "KLA embraces 
NATO" in this issue), grasping at rhetoric that will turn public 
opinion in their favor and against the KLA.

The Serb activists correctly point out that "it is not Serbia 
destabilizing the Balkans, it is the u.$. government." But they go 
on to make claims of perfection and persecution on behalf of the 
Serbian people and their government that are chauvinist rather 
than revolutionary.

ŒAmerika-first' settler boneheads

Finally, there is the least progressive group in the u.$. opposed 
to the bombings:  The Amerikans who just don't want their tax 
money used to "help" people in other countries. These people 
believe the imperialist rhetoric about a humanitarian mission and 
argue for national chauvinism, calling for spending of money at 
home.

Organizations like the Workers' World Party play right into the 
hands of this chauvinism with the slogan "Stop the Bombing of 
Yugoslavia! Money for Jobs and Education, Not War!" This slogan 
and the accompanying rhetoric call for spending at home as the 
alternative to bombings abroad. While it correctly opposes 
imperialist attacks on other countries, this slogan pretends that 
the people within u.s. borders deserve more booty from the 
exploitation and super-exploitation of the Third World. So this 
rhetoric fans the flames of Amerikan chauvinism instead of 
explaining the truth about the capitalist system and the stake 
u.$. workers have in preserving it ­ and the real, 
internationalist reasons they should oppose it.

The anti-imperialist position to take

The bombing of Yugoslavia by the u.$. and its NATO allies is an 
unjust act of aggression and should be opposed. U.$. and NATO 
sanctions and other forms of intervention are also unjust in the 
Balkans and should be opposed.

U.$. claims of "humanitarianism" should be exposed as 
hypocritical, given u.$. crimes in Iraq, Panama, Viet Nam and 
countless other places and u.$. support for brutal regimes in 
Indonesia, Chile, etc. etc. U.$. intervention serves imperialist 
ends:  It strengthens u.$. political hegemony in the Balkans and 
Europe and gives it a stronger military presence in eastern 
Europe.

The recent wars between different oppressed nationalities in the 
Balkans are clearly exacerbated by imperialist intervention. 
Oppressed nations must unite to smash imperialism and move forward 
along the road that has been proven most effective and successful 
in ending oppression: Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. (Send $15 to the 
address on page two for Mao's Selected Readings and learn the 
necessary tools to achieve national liberation from imperialism 
and socialist victory.)

Notes:

1. International Action Center, www.iacenter .org.

* * *

AMERICAN MUSLIM COUNCIL SUPPORTS NATO

The American Muslim Council (AMC) issued a statement supporting 
the U.$. and NATO attack against Yugoslavia. AMC is dedicated to 
the political empowerment of Muslims in the U.$. Whether they are 
angling for integration into imperialist Amerikkka or whether 
their desire to help fellow Muslims is clouding their judgement is 
unknown without more struggle.

"AMC's leadership applauded the President's address to the nation 
and his emphasis on America's obligation to take action in the 
face of brutality when inaction invites more brutality. "The right 
to self-determination is an inalienable right to Kosovars as well 
as others. It is my hope that the President's action today will 
establish a pattern of consistency when dealing with this 
issue."(1)

Iraq is 95% Muslim (and 5% Christian), but there was no mention of 
Iraq that we could find on the American Muslim Council web 
page.(2)

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) is an 
organization that fights Amerikan discrimination of Muslims. The 
statement on their web page was less reactionary, not endorsing 
NATO bombing but calling for the arming of the Kosovo 
Albanians.(3)

CAIR did condemn Operation Desert Fox in December, 1998, and 
called the sanctions a "humanitarian disaster". In February, 1998, 
CAIR said the sanctions had risen "to the level of a weapon of 
mass destruction"(4)

The February 1998 statement about Iraq subtlety criticized 
Amerikan hypocrisy:  "Democracy and respect for human rights apply 
to all people, not just those who are currently in favor with any 
particular administration."(4)

This is precisely the problem.

But CAIR is part of the 17-member KOSOVA TASK FORCE, USA, which 
issued a statement supporting the continued bombing until Yugoslav 
President Slobodan Milosevic agrees to an independent Kosovo.(5)

There is a third explanation to the mainstream Muslim support for 
NATO and the relative-to-complete silence on the U.$.-sponsored 
genocide in Iraq:  self-interest for the tenuous political 
position of Muslims in Amerika. We found this in the February 1998 
Iraq statement from CAIR:

"If this crisis had lead to military action, the American Muslim 
community would have faced the same backlash felt during the Gulf 
War, and after tragic incidents such as the bombing in Oklahoma 
City and the downing of TWA Flight 800."

But such timidity will not end religious chauvinism in Amerika, 
nor will it end genocide against Muslims. As one Muslim student 
activist told MIM Notes in response to the AMC press release: 
"What, are you kidding? Amerika doesn't care about Muslims."

Notes:
1. http://www.amermuslim.org/medias/Release/ mr032599.html
2. The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1993, Pharos Books, p. 765
3. http://www.cair-net.org/alerts/98/alert203.htm
4. http://www.cair-net.org/presses/98/press022498.htm
5. http://www.cair-net.org/presses/98/press032499.htm

* * *

STOP US AND NATO WAR OF AGGRESSION

Central Committee Communist Party of the Philippines;
National Council National Democratic Front of the Philippines

March 26, 1999

The Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic 
Front of the Philippines hereby condemn in the strongest terms the 
war of aggression being carried out by US imperialism and its NATO 
allies against the sovereign people and country of Yugoslavia. 

The US and its imperialist allies are utterly monstrous in seeking 
to impose foreign occupation forces on Yugoslavia for the purpose 
of further dismembering this country and, after the Yugoslav 
refusal to accept such occupation forces, to undertake the 
cowardly bombing of Yugoslavia. 

Humanitarianism is a mere pretext for the imperialist aggression. 
It initially shows sham sympathy for the Albanian people in Kosovo 
but it is aimed at carrying out hegemonism, giving free rein to 
imperialist barbarism and victimizing the people of Yugoslavia, 
including the Albanian people in Kosovo. 

The airstrikes being undertaken by the United States and its NATO 
allies are causing a new wave of refugees far greater than those 
caused by previous fighting between the Yugoslav army and the 
Kosovo Liberation Army. The air strikes are thus creating a more 
serious humanitarian disaster than what Clinton and his allies 
publicly proclaim they want to prevent. US and NATO officials 
themselves have admitted that it is impossible to prevent what 
they euphemistically call "collateral damage", meaning civilian 
casualties. 

Sham humanitarianism is real hegemonism of the imperialist 
aggressors. The objective is not to help any people but to rain 
down destruction on people, set people against each other and to 
prevail with the tactics of divide-and-rule. 

The Rambouillet "peace plan" of the imperialists is chiefly to 
introduce occupation forces under the guise of "peacekeeping" in 
Kosovo and further dismember Yugoslavia with imperialist and 
puppet forces. An "independent" Kosovo is intended as one more 
outpost of US imperialism in the strategic region of the Balkans. 
There are now thousands of US troops in Bosnia and thousands more 
in Macedonia. 

At the same time, German imperialism has continued to instigate 
and take advantage of troubles in the former and current 
Yugoslavia to revive German militarism, to gain ground in the 
Balkans with German troops as in Bosnia and use German planes to 
conduct bombing raids. The local forces of fascism have revived 
themselves in the former Yugoslavia and the entire Balkans. 

We have always recognized the right of nations to self-
determination and in this regard have manifested our sympathy for 
the Albanian people in Kosovo for a long time. But we cannot 
support any reactionary force that is merely a tool of US and 
European imperialism and is dependent on imperialist patronage and 
military supplies from US bases in Macedonia and from the 
reactionary Sali Berisha network in Albania. 

The US and NATO forces must stop their brutal air raids and must 
cease their scheme to deploy foreign troops in Kosovo and 
Yugoslavia. The people of Yugoslavia, Kosovo and the rest of the 
Balkans must unite to fight for their own national sovereignty and 
defeat the foreign aggressors as they did against the fascists in 
World War II. The revolutionaries must put forward their own 
revolutionary line to arouse, organize and mobilize the people. In 
this regard, they can be certain of abundant and abiding support 
of the people of the world.

* * *

KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY WELCOMES NATO

by MC5

The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) has a web site--www.zik.com.

It is worth noting that as of April 1, the translations into 
English only reach till the end of 1998 and the German 
translations reach until January 1999.

The communiques released in English show that the KLA has looked 
to NATO and northern Europe in particular to be a positive factor 
for achieving Albanian independence in Kosovo.

Communiques claim that the KLA always releases Serb prisoners, but 
the Serbs carry out ethnic cleansing. It is clear that some of the 
KLA position has been adopted by NATO, but not without efforts by 
the KLA to deny that it is equal to the Serbs in fault.

With regard to Albania, the KLA continuously calls for unity and 
names the fighting there a plot possibly instigated by Serbia. 
Denouncing a "Slav-communist" clan in Kosovo, the KLA also stands 
for elections in Albania. "Slav" is a term referring to the 
Serbians and it also holds an important position in the Russian 
"soul" historically ­ even before Lenin's Marxist revolution of 
1917.

If the Kosovo Albanians reunite with Albania or if they maintain a 
separate republic, MIM will not complain about that aspect of the 
war. We hope the Albanians will respect the aspects of Serb 
history and culture in Kosovo. As the clear majority of the Kosovo 
territory, Albanians deserve respect for their desire for self-
determination.

Nonetheless, we find nothing exciting or encouraging in the KLA 
web site. We cannot claim to have investigated Kosovo on the 
ground, but we see no signal that the KLA will rise above 
capitalist militarism.

* * *

KOSOVO'S ALBANIAN PRESIDENT APPARENTLY DENOUNCES NATO

by MC5

Serb television showed scenes of Serb President Slobodan Milosevic 
meeting with Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova on April 1. President 
Rugova had apparently called for the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty 
Organization) bombing to stop. 

Although some Western diplomats denied that the footage was real, 
others said Rugova acted under "duress." He appeared to be under 
Serb police protection on March 31. 

Rugova has a reputation of being a pacifist. Thus his criticism of 
NATO bombing would be in character. Rugova is also known as a 
militant nationalist. In a bourgeois sense, he is the elected 
leader of the Kosovo people. Nonetheless, the Kosovo Liberation 
Army denounced him as a traitor once the Serb footage came out 
April 1.

Slobodan Milosevic is a former member of the Yugoslavian 
"Communist Party." While Yugoslav leader Tito was alive, Milosevic 
managed to keep himself under control, but in 1987 he started 
complaining about Albanian control of Kosovo, and he ignited 
Serbian chauvinist flames.

From 1389 to 1912 the Turks ruled Kosovo. During World War I it 
changed hands and Yugoslavia ended up having control -- but not 
without a fight by Albanians. Milosevic is famous for invoking the 
loss of Kosovo to Turkey in 1389 600 years later in 1989 and he is 
using such memories now against NATO. 

We at MIM believe that civil war over historical relics is silly. 
At the same time, we must counsel pacifists that they should have 
no illusions about Milosevic or any other bourgeois politicians 
with a proven track-record of inciting chauvinism for political 
benefit. The task of Albanians to achieve their self-determination 
without massive killing amongst oppressed and exploited people is 
very difficult. 

Prior to the Serbian television footage, speculation fueled by 
U.S. Government officials arose to the effect that Uncle Sam would 
drop its recognition of Rugova and in fact install Albanian 
leaders more amenable to U.S. tactics. Uncle Sam has a long 
history of installing whatever government leaders it wants. Such 
considerations are always in play under the current imperialist 
system and they distort the actions of all the people involved. 
The conflicts of the capitalist countries of the Balkans are made 
worse by the conflicts imposed by imperialism.

Source:  http://www.oneworld.org/news/reports/special/kosovo.html

* * *

OPPOSE U$ AND NATO AGGRESSION IN YUGOSLAVIA!

Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League statement

The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) strongly condemns 
NATO's attacks on Yugoslavia and opposes all forms of NATO 
intervention in the Balkans. The u.$. and its allies in NATO 
hypocritically claim that the bombing promotes democracy in 
Yugoslavia and protects the Kosovar Albanians. In fact such 
intervention has only brought increased suffering, while 
furthering the Western imperialists' political and economic goals 
- and enriching arms merchants.

In the past, the u.$. claimed to be intervening on behalf of the 
people of Korea, Viet Nam, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, etc. etc. But 
u.$. aggression in these countries killed literally millions and 
served only to incite greater resistance to u.$. imperialism 
abroad and at home. 

The u.$. is allegedly bombing Yugoslavia because of the "ethnic 
cleansing" in Kosovo. But "ethnic cleansing" was fundamental to 
the foundation of the u.$. itself - the u.$. drove hundreds of 
millions of First Nation people off of their ancestral lands, 
slaughtering many in the process. The u.$. has backed death squad 
regimes all over the world and carried out genocidal wars in 
Korea, Viet Nam, and Iraq.

The recent wars in the former Yugoslavia are indeed tragic. They 
have been wars of oppressed and exploited peoples against other 
oppressed and exploited peoples, largely orchestrated by Germany, 
the u.$., and other NATO powers. These bloody wars have done 
nothing to move the peoples of the former Yugoslavia forward.

Intervention by Western imperialists will not solve the problems 
of the peoples of the Balkans, because this intervention is itself 
one of their biggest problems. The peoples of the Balkans 
themselves must unite to solve their own problems. The Yugoslavian 
peoples' struggle against German imperialism in World War II 
showed that the bloody machinery of modern imperialist militarism 
cannot prevail against the determined resistance of oppressed and 
exploited peoples.

The political and economic system of imperialism makes war 
inevitable. The imperialists insatiable thirst for profits drives 
them up against the sovereignty and well-being of entire peoples 
and pits them against each other. Achieving a world without war 
requires that we destroy imperialism.

Join RAIL in opposing NATO intervention in the Balkans and 
exposing NATO's false "democratic" and "humanitarian" rhetoric!

Join RAIL in the protracted struggle to overthrow imperialism!

* * *

MATRIX HELPS DEMONSTRATE MATERIALISM AND DIALECTICS

The Matrix
1999

reviewed by MC5

Larry and Andy Wachowski have directed a Hollywood film of 
tremendous value -- a great gift to the revolutionary movement on 
par with that of "Reds" politically and done artistically as well 
as can be with special effects. This is not a "B" grade 
indoctrination and it touches on many important areas of 
revolutionary thought.

The Excite search engine review says the following before linking 
to the official Hollywood "The Matrix" web site, (which by the way 
is a waste of time because of programming errors nearly inevitable 
in trying to present as many graphics as a movie): "In the near 
future, a computer hacker named Neo (Keanu Reeves) discovers that 
all life on Earth may be nothing more than an elaborate facade 
created by a malevolent cyber-intelligence, for the purpose of 
placating us while our life essence is "farmed" to fuel the 
Matrix's campaign of domination in the "real" world. He joins 
like-minded Rebel warriors Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and 
Trinity (Carrie Ann Moss) in their struggle to overthrow the 
Matrix."

Dialectics

After the year 2000 breakthroughs in artificial intelligence 
resulted in the creation of mechanical beings that eventually took 
over the world in a series of wars. The war was so brutal that the 
humyns do not even know exactly how it started or proceeded by the 
time we come upon the humyn heroes of the movie.

The humyn resistance thus faces two dialectical truths: 1) It must 
struggle to know its own history or be kept in the dark by the 
oppressor. 2) Moments of triumph like the application of 
artificial intelligence give rise to unexpected destruction and 
change.

The process of unexpected birth of change is almost the definition 
of dialectics.

Mode of production

Humyn-beings both dead and alive are tended by machines in 
gigantic mechanical farms where they are used as batteries for the 
various kinds of heat and electricity that they produce. 99 
percent of humyns are farmed this way, while a few escape and join 
the resistance.

The new "battery mode of production" has elements similar to 
slavery and capitalism. Because the machines keep the humyns 
physically constrained there is an element of slavery. The 
difference with both slavery and capitalism is that the humyns no 
longer labor. They are sustained and tended by the machines of the 
Matrix and just by existing feed their energy to their masters 
with artificial intelligence. The fact that the humyns do not even 
know they are slaves is part of the superstructure created by 
capitalism just before the Matrix took over.

In fact, the Matrix has worked on perfecting the mind control of 
humyns. Neo becomes aware of the Matrix at least partly through 
being a hacker, and someone interested in entertainment programs 
as drugs. It becomes difficult to separate computer game 
simulations from drugs because the programs become biologically 
integrated into humyns.

While they sit in these farms under the influence of drugs and 
other biological influences, the humyns are mechanically fed 
through tubes into their bodies all the sensations of being in 
Amerika of 1999. Hence, the 99 percent of humyns are complacent 
and unaware of their physical captivity in the 22nd century. 
Usually they attack the resistance trying to save them. The Matrix 
knows exactly scientifically how to produce the dream-state stupor 
of the masses through the use of computer programming.

Not idealism

Philosophers focussing on dream-states are often what we Marxists 
call "idealists." However, "The Matrix" is not saying that life is 
all a dream.

Rather in the future, science has advanced to the point where it 
becomes more and more possible to simulate dreams. First there are 
computer games. Then there are simulations and holograms. Finally, 
computer programs develop where they can deliver the electrical 
and chemical stimulation to the brain directly to create a dream 
state or receptivity to education or any other function of the 
brain. The heroes simply insert computer programs into the back of 
their necks for edification or entertainment.

The trippy "Alice in Wonderland" aspects of the movie make it the 
stuff of Hollywood, but the script-writer turned it into a bold 
stroke of materialism. Not only does the script-writer uphold 
materialism as the existence of an external world independent of 
the subject (humyn mind), but also the script-writer shows us how 
science will conquer and make everything knowable including 
dreams.

Not anarchist individualism

Usually activists and cultural workers focussing on "mind control" 
are anarchist individualists. At the beginning, Neo is a prime 
candidate for anarchist individualist. When he gets into trouble, 
the organized, hierarchical resistance saves him -- right down to 
telling him how to escape police step by step.

Finally he gets to meet the resistance, but when he does, the 
resistance holds a gun to his head and asks him to take off his 
shirt. The resistance is correct that it must go to extreme 
measures to protect itself. Indeed, Neo turns out to be bugged, so 
the resistance has to remove the device. All of this seems highly 
coercive to unconscious anarchist individualist Neo--partly from 
what he does not know about the war of liberation going on.

Hence, Neo nearly makes the anarchist individualist mistake of 
ending the meeting with the resistance. When he gets out of the 
car to leave, Trinity tells him he does not want to do that 
because he knows where that "road goes."

Neo gets back in the car and he finally meets the military leader 
of a unit of the resistance. Morpheus tells Neo he can learn the 
truth, which only gets deeper and deeper and is not necessarily 
pleasant at all or he can leave "and go on believing whatever you 
want to believe." The choice is simple:  truth or anarchist 
stupor. Neo had to give up on the idea that he is in control as an 
individual and accept that he might not be.

The moment of truth comes when Neo finally understands that he is 
a battery in a farm controlled by a computer program. When he 
learns this he moves to attack Morpheus, the messenger that told 
him no, Neo was never in control as an individual. Neo gets 
unplugged from the computer program where he learned the truth and 
we get the sense that he would have killed everyone in that unit 
of the resistance if he hadn't fallen unconscious first.

MIM recognized this moment. Unfortunately, more often than not MIM 
is unsuccessful at that moment. Most imperialist country people 
refuse to accept science, the notion of materialism and the idea 
that the individual is not free. They violently and irrationally 
attack the messenger and cling to pre-political lifestyle 
moralism.

Morpheus's resistance is better than MIM's, because once the 
recruit accepts the pursuit of truth, Morpheus can show people 
mechanically how their brains work. It becomes a matter more like 
learning to drive a car than one of years of study.

Not only is there military hierarchy in the resistance, but a 
traitor arises within the resistance who blames Morpheus for 
teaching him the truth and who says he's still not free because he 
only follows Morpheus's orders. The anarchist-individualist sells 
out to the Matrix for steak, wine and a future computer program 
where he is famous and wealthy. Thus after achieving a relatively 
high level of scientific consciousness, the traitor says he is 
"tired" and actually kills his one-time compatriots before being 
killed before he could be re-absorbed by the Matrix.

Drawbacks

There are a few drawbacks to this film. It has the mandatory 
Hollywood minimum of violence. The violence is righteous, but of 
course even the perfect film will be misconstrued in the current 
capitalist context. The choreographing of violence to music makes 
it more akin to dance.

Morpheus is Black and the "Oracle" who predicts the future is a 
Black womyn, but there is a slight incongruity in speaking of an 
"Oracle" and "fate" when it is clear that science has advanced so 
far. Fate should not be used as a metaphor for forces beyond 
individual control.

Romance is kept down to a minimum, but the film ends with a 
classic (and borrowed) heterosexual charge. The last fight scene 
is as a result the most trippy of all, but we do not believe the 
romance or the superpowers involved in the last fight will 
overshadow the step-by-step progression in science that people 
went through in the movie up to that point. If there is a sequel, 
we may learn even more about what happened, so that the viewers 
are left with no mystical residues. 

On the whole, MIM could not have asked for more in a two and a 
half hour Hollywood movie. We can use the movie to educate people 
about dialectics, modes of production, Lenin's book "Materialism 
and Empirio-Criticism" and the drawbacks of anarchism and 
individualism.

* * *

FIGHT IMPERIALISM AND JOIN UP FOR REVOLUTION

RAIL (Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League) -- the basic 
organization for beginners to fight imperialism and also for 
people on their way to party membership. RAIL builds public 
opinion against imperialism and for liberation of the people. This 
MIM-led mass organization organizes various campaigns to achieve 
gains now, like stopping the transfer of prisoners out of state or 
ROTC recruiting on campuses or independent media, while 
maintaining a general focus on the need for anti-imperialist 
revolution.

PIRAO (People's Internationalist Rear Area Organization) -- the 
unarmed MIM-led army that accepts the greatest discipline and does 
infrastructure work, not public opinion work. Books for Prisoners 
is a project of the PIRAO. Medical, technical and finance work is 
done in this organization.

MSG (MIM Supporters Group)--for people with some major difference 
with the party but who choose to work in MIM orbit and not the 
orbit of a revisionist or bourgeois party. MSG members do not 
belong to other organizations listed here, but they may assist 
them.

USW (United Struggle from Within) -- mass organization of anti-
imperialist prisoners united to fight for justice for all humans -
- including prisoners. USW unites prisoners of various 
perspectives i.e. members of revolutionary nationalist, pro-
prisoner rights, spiritual organizations or individuals who are 
not Maoist. USW is led by MIM and works from an internationalist 
perspective.

Party member (MIM)--people chosen for membership by the Central 
Committee based on their proven ideological and practical support 
for the four cardinal principles.

Central Committee (MIM)--people who have leadership roles and 
uphold party regulations.

* * *

COURT TO CONSIDER RESTRICTING POLITICAL USES OF STUDENT FEES

On March 29, the U.$. Supreme Court said it would decide "whether 
public universities can use mandatory student activity fees to 
subsidize campus groups that pursue political goals."

A federal judge and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals (Southworth 
v. Grene (1998)) barred the University of Wisconsin from using 
mandatory fees to fund political groups. The Court has required 
the University of Wisconsin to allow students to opt-out of 
funding groups on a pro-rated basis. Southworth v. Grene arose 
from conservative students' protest against the funding of 18 
organizations identified as left-wing by conservatives. Now, UW 
students can individually choose not to fund specific 
organizations with which they disagree.

The Supreme Court could uphold or reverse this ruling. Supreme 
Court agreement with the ruling would further lessen students' 
exposure to ideas that challenge national oppression, 
heterosexism, economic inequalities, gender oppression, US world 
hegemony and injustice in general. Already challenges to the 
current system that is rooted in inequalities are a small portion 
of the influences on students.

The implementation of this ruling could very well lead to the 
halting of all or most support for student organizations in 
general. We suspect the ruling is a stepping stone to stop the 
collection of fees to support student organizations.

Afterall, what is considered political? Certainly organizations 
that fight for the rights of gays and lesbians -- as was decided 
in the recent ruling -- are political. Certainly organizations 
that hold educational forums about US sanctions against Iraq could 
not be considered apolitical. Groups that provide a speaking forum 
for family members of beaten and abused prisoners to speak against 
torture in prisons is quite political. But what about the 
organizations which hold forums saying that the murder of Mathew 
Sheppard and the murder of 250 Iraqi children a day and the 
Œaccidental' deaths in prison are all part of life -- or not 
something that is worth protesting? Are the organizations which 
promote political apathy apolitical? We'd argue that they are 
political. It is just that those which are politically apathetic 
support the politics that exist in mainstream society and do not 
need to be active on campus for their views to be heard. 

We support the flow of information, generation of debate and 
activism on college campuses. If the ruling is upheld by the 
Supreme Court, debate and subsequent rational analysis would be 
seriously threatened.

RAIL and other MIM-led organizations will continue to organize on 
various college campuses and continue fundraising as usual. 
Unfortunately, funding cuts would mean that time spent finding 
funds would be taken from time spent researching, developing ideas 
and organizing on the streets.

The potential for decreased activism from student organizations 
that might whither away as a result of the funding rule would also 
hurt our work and that of building the ground for revolution in 
general. Though we're not going to spend the people's resources 
building liberal or reformist organizations, many of them are 
beneficial to the development of debate, struggle and public 
opinion against injustice.

The legal bologna

In 1995, the Supreme Court ruled that if a school creates a 
"public forum" for student groups, it cannot refuse to subsidize 
some groups based on political views. This decision was ruled in a 
suit by a student Christian magazine against the University of 
Virginia.

Conservative students have used the 1995 ruling to argue:  since 
groups can't be denied funds, students shouldn't be Œforced' to 
pay for the funds for student groups in general. Across Amerika, 
conservative students are being aided by the Alliance Defense Fund 
to sue their universities over the use of mandatory fees.

The Republican and Objectivist Clubs at the University of Michigan 
refuse [read: don't bother writing grant proposals] to take 
student government money. They say this is a way to make the point 
that students should not have to subsidize politics they don't 
support. These groups can easily get money in a country where the 
population overwhelmingly supports US military, economic and 
political hegemony. These groups should have no problem finding 
funding in a country that ignores poverty and locks up the poor. 
These groups have plenty of support because they represent all 
that is Amerikan:  capitalism and white national chauvinism. They 
should find easy ways to fund themselves compared with RAIL which 
funds free books to prisoners.

While RAIL starts businesses to fundraise and stands around town 
collecting donations from people, there is a white nationalist 
movement to fund conservative student organizing. For example, 
Morton Blackwell's Leadership Institute has launched a $5 million 
campaign to "wage war on the liberal bias in education." Many 
other foundations heavily support conservative student newspapers 
while progressive papers spend valuable time raising funds via 
advertising or groveling before conservative student governments.

While the Supreme Court is reviewing the University of Wisconsin's 
policy from the 7th Circuit Court, the 9th Circuit Court just 
ruled in favor of the University of Oregon. On February 23, the 
9th Circuit Court of appeals defended the University of Oregon's 
fee system that gave some money to the Oregon Student Public 
Interest Research Group.

The contradiction between the 9th Circuit and the 7th could be why 
the Supreme Court decided to take up the case. The 9th Circuit 
ruled in 3 areas:

* Because the funding group doesn't claim all students as members 
or claim to speak for all students, funding it is not "compelled 
speech" or "compelled association" under First Amendment 
principles.

* "It is of the utmost significance that the organizational speech 
issue occurs in an academic settings for "it is the business of a 
university to provide that atmosphere which is most conducive to 
speculation, experiment and creation." The gay-rights group Lambda 
Defense Fund argued in a friend of the court brief that the 
lawsuit "confuses payments to construct a stage with being forced 
to speak upon it or fund an organization that uses it." This is 
legal hair splitting, but an important argument. Lambda Defense 
Fund is arguing that the student activity fees are not funding 
specific organizations but are fostering a climate of debate, just 
like building a stage would help all students.

* Since the University's mission says that extracurricular 
activities are "a critical part of campus life", OSPIRG's 
activities are germane to the school.

Unfortunately, this 9th Circuit decision applies only to OSPIRG's 
role and its funding and is not directly applicable to other 
issues. According to Infusion, this ruling is the first time a 
court has ruled in "neutral forums", that there is no "compelled 
speech."

The real deal

The legal arguments provide little help to understand society and 
organize people outside of the court room.

Inside the court, it makes sense for Patricia Logue of the Lambda 
Legal Defense and Educational Fund to say:  "We look to the 
Supreme Court to stop this narrow-minded assault on a neutral 
system for supporting campus dialogue."

But outside the court when can say the truth:  The student 
activity fee system is not a neutral system regardless of how the 
funds are distributed ON campus because of the social realities 
that make up the campus itself and the larger society. Even if 
funds were distributed "equally" on campus, that's no compensation 
for the fact that pro-system views are aided by CNN, MSNBC and the 
White House.

The biggest problem with the attack on funding for student groups 
is that it confuses the forest for the trees. The U.$. government 
spends its tax dollars as it sees fit. More than half goes to the 
military in one form or another. A chunk goes to support the 
prison-industrial complex.

Even within universities...  Can students opt out of funding white 
chauvinist classes that teach that pilgrims were friendly folk and 
those ŒIndians' were saved by Columbus? Can students opt out of 
funding the salaries of rent-a-cops allegedly around to protect 
students, but in practice around to harass and arrest the 
homeless?

Of course they can't. But here we have a legal battle because the 
pigs are pissed that left-wing students are getting a tiny piece 
of the pie and using it so efficiently to fight for justice. In 
Amerika, that kind of thing can't go long without the majority 
whining that it is somehow oppressed.

Notes: Associated Press March 29; Infusion, March/April 1999, pp. 
14-15, Center for Campus Organizing 165 Friends St #1, Boston MA 
02114.

* * *

UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS

Automatic classification

I am a prisoner here at MCI Walpole male jail. I want to share 
with you what the piece of shit DOC is doing. Well first if you 
are Hispanic they want to put you in a gang block right away so 
they could get federal funds. I want to know if anyone in your 
organization have any law experience so they could help me fight 
these pigs and everyone involved with them. I can't send you money 
or stamps because I don't have one cent flat broke but I should be 
released by year 2000 and I will like to meet you people* 

‹a Massachusetts prisoner, 

October 1998.

MIM responds: Within the last year, MIM has been working with 
prisoners to develop the Prisoners' Legal Clinic, part of the 
anti-imperialist organization of prisoners United Struggle from 
Within. The PLC's development needs a lot of help from paralegals 
and jailhouse lawyers. Though its development has had some bumps 
and its resources will not soon be as deep as imperialist legal 
apparatuses, the purpose of the PLC is to help prisoners fight 
winnable battles against repression within the context of building 
for anti-imperialist liberation. MIM suggests that prisoners like 
the above document the key problems at the institution. 
Pinpointing systematic problems played out at one institution can 
help us to find information that will be most useful to ULK 
readers.

Unification of prisoners increases

Ever since I have come into contact with MIM, the unification of 
the people in this plantation has increased 10 fold. My brothers 
are no longer fighting each other. We have come together to 
destroy [imperialism]. We now have study groups everyday of the 
week for two hours ranging from topic to topic. We are now 
focusing on bringing more alike minds to the group. First the 
group was two, then five, then ten, now twenty brothers strong. 
Our membership goes from young to old, We're really starting to 
make ground. Brothers, it was your paper and numerous incidents 
that gave us the push to start. On a final note, I'm very anxious 
to receive the next issue of MIM Notes and the two books I've 
ordered* 

Power to the people. 

‹a Pennsylvania prisoner, 17 March 1999.

MIM adds: We'll keep the information and books going. One of the 
next undertakings of United Struggle from Within is to add to the 
study of prisoners the essay "On Practice" by Mao. If you're a 
part of USW or want to get involved, write MIM for a copy of the 
essay and use it to tie together your study and practice together 
for more solid organization against oppression.

Neglect in Connecticut

Letter sent to a senator and the media which never received a 
response and is now being sent to MIM Notes:

Dear Ms Johnson, I have a grave issue to discuss with you, and 
that issue is of "Life and Death". People are needlessly dying 
because of the neglect, and unprofessionalism of the Department of 
Corrections officers and the medical staff here at Northern 
Correctional.

Here at this facility we have what is called a medical emergency 
button consisting of an intercom in the cells of inmates to be 
used in an emergency. Here where I am housed there are 
approximately 80 inmates, and at any given time 10 or more inmates 
are pressing this intercom button all day until the shift ends, so 
you can imagine the frustration on the part of these officers. As 
a matter of fact these officers get so aggravated and frustrated 
that they shut the intercom off! At other times (officers) tell 
you that they have called medical when in fact they did not! The 
reason the officers don't call medical is because they take it 
upon themselves to determine what's an emergency or not! Being an 
officer is not a doctor or nurse they can not and should not make 
that decision, but they do. The reason I say this is because I've 
explained all the above. I've also witnessed my cell partner 
suffer with a back injury because of the neglect of officers and 
medical department.

It is because of such neglect and unprofessionalism on the part of 
the DOC and the medical staff that EVERETT BREEDLOVE needlessly 
lost his life. Ms. Johnson, November 3, 1997 another man has lost 
his life because of the same neglect. God knows how many more!

‹a Connecticut prisoner.

Virginia locks 'em up and shoots

Dear comrades: Peaceful greetings to all and my highest of wishes! 
* First of, I want to inform you that I've been sent to one of 
these new "Supermax" Dungeon called Sussex State Prison. It's in 
tune with that "Red Onion" prison. The same things go on here as 
well. Shootings, beatings, and all the unnecessary excessive force 
and brutality. You can check more into our last shooting by 
contacting the Richmond Times Dispatch or the Channel 6 news. 
"Prisoner was shot on Feb. 21, 1999 at Sussex State Prison."

That was the last one that made the media. But it was not the last 
prisoner to be shot for no real reason. It's like these people 
really get off on abusing us prisoners.

You had asked numerous questions on some first hand information on 
education [programs], how much and at what level do they exist? 
Well it's a good front they put on for the public. Due to the fact 
that they have teachers and classrooms. But only a few students! 
Last I saw it was six per class.

Library: There is one. But only can be used by the students. The 
other 994 prisoners can't use it.

Law Library: There is no law library. If law cases are needed, one 
has to write a request to grievance coordinator and wait a month 
or better before receiving a reply.

This place is really outrageous. As for prisoners, [guards] really 
push that paperwork at them. [Guards] set them up with bogus 
infractions so you will be placed in segregation. Then most of the 
time all of one's paperwork in your property will be lost. So as 
you can see we don't have no real wins. Not from this standpoint.

You also spoke of release. I was sentenced to [more than] 17 years 
* for second degree homicide*. They have given me 6 turn downs for 
parole. All for the same reason: serious nature of the crime. 
Which will never change. So how can one make any progress in their 
parole hearing? I see that's it's about "keep Œem locked up" as 
long as possible.

‹A Virginia Prisoner, February 1999.

MIM responds: Most prisoners that write to us explain the lack of 
educational and legal resources in prison. For this reason, MIM 
started sending out MIM Notes free to prisoners several years ago 
to help educate about current events and revolutionary analysis.

MIM later formalized the Serve the People Free Books for Prisoners 
Program. For the most part, we send history and political books. 
RAIL also works with us on the outside to collect donated books 
that are not MIM's must read books, but nonetheless helpful for 
education. Prisoners should find out what the policy for getting 
literature is. If the policy is typically draconian, write MIM and 
work up a plan to legally fight prison policies which censor 
educational and political material. If you can receive material 
without much problem, write to MIM and let us know what your 
general interest is.

MIM's Serve the People Books for Prisoners Program is not a 
charity program. The reason that we're doing this is because the 
current system does NOT meet the needs of the people ‹ and 
therefore the people must build independent institutions and 
programs which do it better than capitalism does. All comrades 
must push to educate themselves and others so that we build a 
solid base to effectively fight against the system that 
perpetuates violence against the people.

The program has been rapidly increasing and we need help from 
outside sources willing to fund the cost of mailing the literature 
to prisoners. 

Amerika imprisons and throws key away

I am a 18 year old black male. I came into prison as a Juvenile, 
although I'm not sentenced. I've been waiting for court, 
incarcerated for 16 months. Recently I was assaulted by a white 
correctional officer [when] this officer entered my cell [and] 
stated I have big balls and grabbed me and we began to fight. I 
was given another disciplinary since I'm already in the hole for 
arguing with a different officer and getting in his face 
expressing how I felt about him.

I beat the Disciplinary because the Officer came into my cell 
which is a restricted area because I'm in the hole and must be 
handcuffed and shackled before contact with an officer. So 
therefore I'm pressing a lawsuit on the Warden and officer because 
they didn't follow the care and control policy. Also I'm pressing 
criminal charges on the officer because he tried to ease me up so 
I'm giving him a dose of his own medicine. I've been studying real 
hard and received my GED now. I'm studying law material which is 
doing well. The officer and Warden will be served with the suit in 
a few days. I just wanted to state to you a little justice has 
been served do to help with black men joining together to defeat 
their enemies mentally * Black Power! 

‹a Pennsylvania prisoner, 19 February 1999.

MIM responds: The Amerikan prison system is designed to imprison 
and control the oppressed. Even when individuals commit crimes 
that warrant rehabilitation and re-education, the Amerikan system 
only warehouses them in hostile and abusive environments. MIM 
builds for revolution so that the people, after seizing state 
power, can control their destinies. This includes control by the 
masses of the legal, judicial and prison systems of each nation. 
In the hands of the masses developing socialism, as was the case 
in China from 1949 to 1976, prisons can be used as a tool to 
better society and push individuals to make positive 
contributions. This is not the case of Amerikan prisons.

MIM urges prisoners to spend their time learning history and 
materialist analysis to understand and change present conditions. 
We don't expect that people sit idly by as they are beaten by 
their oppressors, but we do advocate that prisoners attempt to 
prevent confrontations with the pigs.

The current court system and lack of support for prisoners' rights 
in general mean that it will be the guard who is seen as acting 
correctly in most situations. So, when confrontations are 
avoidable, avoid it and work with your comrades under lock and key 
to build study groups and methods of exposing the conditions of 
the gulags and imperialism in general. With solid tools, it is 
more possible to achieve victories against the oppressor ‹ like 
fighting for reasonable treatment ‹ but without solid 
organization, legal battles are even more likely to be won by the 
pigs.

Racism: The real pedophile in South KKKarolina prisons

This is not an individual outcry of dissatisfaction. This is a 
collective voice against the senseless wrong that is perpetrated 
day by day beyond the watchful eye of a preoccupied society. We 
pray that once you read this, you will be motivated to take 
collective action to assist our efforts to redress these wrongs. 
Ask yourself, what is prison? What is this thing that is 
conveniently called the criminal justice system? What exactly are 
the taxpayers paying for? Prison, by any name, is an economic tool 
created to employ a rural white, unemployed populace. Here in the 
state of South Carolina, former governor, David Beasley, has 
installed a policy that supports a global movement of white 
supremacy in the disguise of the criminal justice system. This can 
be seen on a daily basis, all one must do is visit any court house 
or prison and you will see an overwhelming and an astonishing 
amount of African people of color being persecuted. It is also 
astonishing that people of color seem not to even be concerned 
about the present form of racism in this state. But yet, we have 
the nerves to ask why we as a nation of Afrikans in Amerikkka can 
not get ahead.

It was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said "We've lost our 
religion, our culture, our god, and many of us. By the way we act, 
we've even lost our minds." It is foolish and politically retarded 
for you to claim that what has happened in the past does not echo 
on the present day. Ra

It was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said "We've lost our 
religion, our culture, our god, and many of us. By the way we act, 
we've even lost our minds." It is foolish and politically retarded 
for you to claim that what has happened in the past does not echo 
on the present day. Racism in the form of white supremacy, is like 
a pedophile, so would you argue that a man who was a pedophile as 
a youth won't grow up with those same urges, irregardless of 
whether or not he attacks a child again?

In this case of racism of the white ruling class and those amongst 
the white population foolish enough or ignorant enough to go along 
with the program, the Œpedophile' [white supremacy] continues to 
rape the child [the Black community] who still suffers from the 
mental conditioning reinforced by previous attacks. Pain and 
mental illness, like genetic coding are passed from generation to 
generation. Not only has this pain of slavery been passed on in 
Afrikan people, racism and white supremacy is passed on to whites.

Prison is designed by the white racist days of slavery. Any black 
man or woman in South Carolina prisons that even attempts to study 
Afrikan culture is considered a threat to institutional security. 
Most institutions in this state have even implemented policies 
that would not even allow prisoners to receive books, bibles or 
the Holy Qu'ran. And a prisoner that is striving to educate the 
oppressed masses to this racism is herded off to solitary 
confinement.

In solitary confinement, these prisoners are repeatedly beat, 
gassed and demoralized until he/she develops that same fear and 
self-hatred that was instilled in the slaves by slave masters. 
They take you miles away from your family and won't even allow 
these prisoners to have visits or call to talk to his family and 
children.

Now, those of you who know the history of slavery in Amerikkka* Do 
you not see it in our prison system today? Of course, we see it. 
So what are we going to do about it? Well, my brothers and 
sisters, you've taken the first steps when you turned out to the 
voting polls. Now, you much contact the governor elect, Jim 
Hodges, you must contact your respected representative and demand, 
not ask, demand that your hard earned tax money be used to correct 
the problems in our criminal justice system and our prison system.

Prisoners at Kirkland Maximum security Unit in Columbia, SC are on 
a letter writing campaign and ask that the general public join in 
and support our fight against cultural repression and 
institutional racism. To hold your tongue about these issues is to 
condone the pedophile [white supremacy] and to promote self-hatred 
and Afrikan nothingness.

‹by B.S., a South Carolina prisoner.

MIM responds: We have much unity with what the comrade writes, 
particularly in the comparison to modern herding of Blacks into 
prisons with slavery. The Amerikan prison system locks up members 
of oppressed nations at a far higher rate than members of the 
white settler nation.

This is a result of a system built on slavery and a system 
thriving from settler nation hegemony and continued extraction of 
wealth from oppressed nations. Prisons serve the interests of the 
white settler nation because they warehouse those most likely to 
organize for revolution against Amerikan imperialism from within 
the belly of the beast.

MIM fully recognizes the similarities between slave plantations 
and prison complexes. Furthermore, the Amerikan prison system is 
the most fascistic element of Amerikan society. Increasingly 
through Amerikan prisons, the government and capitalists cooperate 
directly, repressing the masses to extract profit. This repressive 
apparatus multiplying in Amerika hits oppressed nationals most. 
But in doing so, Amerika continues to plant the seeds for its own 
destruction.

A basic tenant of Marxism is the understanding that each 
oppressive mode of production ‹ i.e. feudalism, slavery, 
capitalism ‹ contains contradictions within it that bring about 
its destruction. MIM seeks to push this process along faster by 
building the ground for revolution. There is a historical basis 
for seeing that the change from imperialist domination to national 
liberation to socialism can be achieved. Similarly, there is no 
other path historically that has liberated the people from 
imperialism and all of its oppressive mechanisms.

So, while we agree in part with this comrade, we disagree that 
petitioning and voting help to eradicate oppression faced by 
prisoners. Politicians and the entire Amerikan state apparatus 
serve to perpetuate capitalism and national oppression. The 
politicians cannot be coaxed into working in the interests of the 
masses. That is diametrically opposed to their purpose. Dumping a 
million bags of letters on their desks might help them to tokenly 
address some minority issue when covered on ABC, but it will not 
persuade them to end repression against prisoners.

Similarly, the white settler nation's politicians ‹ including 
comprador Blacks like Collin Powell and Jesse Jackson ‹ are 
specifically elected because they represent the majority interests 
in Amerika. They know who is paying for their salaries and it is 
the white settler taxpayers who have a vested interest in national 
oppression ‹ and prisons. (Get a copy of MIM Theory #10 -$6- for 
more on the reasons that the white settler nation's tax dollars 
are not hard earned and why it supports imperialism.)

Supermax conditions kill

As far as the conditions for this supermax held here in Somers, 
Connecticut the struggle we go through is not even necessary. So 
far 3 in mates have died because of these so called officers and 
medical staff and also because the way how they spray large 
amounts of "mace" and beat up inmates with their so called cert 
team. We are locked down 23 hours a day. We are allowed to take a 
shower only 3 times a week. They play with people's mail, spit in 
people's food. We are only allowed 7 books and 7 magazines. These 
people really take things very serious and will beat you down for 
no reason at all just because you won't put your hands through a 
door. They give that as an explanation but all of us are being 
strong holding it down. ‹ a Somers, CT. supermax prisoner, 
February 1999.

Incompetent wise guys?

Dear MIM:

 So can anyone tell me who the wise guy is in your organization 
that can't seem to read my letters? I have written to you on 
1/22/99 and again about 2/12/99 to inform you of my 
transfer/address change. Yet, as you can see by the enclosed, 
someone is simply acting like the incompetent and unprofessional 
person that they are by not recognizing the change. It's a wonder 
that I still get MIM Notes* LATE. Nevertheless I get it. 

‹ A Cherokee nation prisoner in Kalifornia, 16 March 1999.

MIM responds: Glad you got the papers, many comrades have a hard 
time specifically because they face the problems of pigs censoring 
their mail. A couple things to make clear to our comrades in 
prisons ‹ there are more prisoners interested in revolution than 
there are active people on the outside. Why? Because people on the 
outside are not living under the same draconian conditions. Of 
those interested in change, not all care about prisoners' 
struggles. So, it is a constant push to organize effectively 
enough to address prisoners' basic concerns with limited labor and 
resources.

Another is that even when we are effectively achieving basic 
goals, like getting the paper out for free, publishing and filling 
literature orders and addressing pressing concerns, there are too 
many times to count that the pigs delay or confiscate mail. 
Recently, other comrades have complained about lit not arriving, 
later to find out that the pigs were holding it without telling 
the comrade.

Most importantly brought up in this letter is the understanding of 
some of the steps that are necessary in organizing. Practically, 
there's no way that this comrade's letters would have told us with 
enough advance notice to change the address for the February 
mailing.

The reason for publishing this letter is to generally make 
comrades aware of the complex undertaking building for revolution 
is. MIM is pushing for USW and other prison comrades to take on 
organizational work. We urge those who have practical criticisms, 
to take on tasks that increase our collective strength and unity.

For instance, many comrades write about what MIM needs to do to 
expand the Prisoners' Legal Clinic. Under the system of 
imperialism, there are endless legal battles to fight that involve 
oppression of the people. But what we must do to be effective is 
pick the winnable battles and the ones that will help create a 
more fertile ground to organize for the ultimate remedy. We're 
currently pushing for the focus against censorship. Without that 
focus, articles pertaining to legal fights against brutality will 
increasingly not even reach prisoners.

On all fronts, we absolutely encourage prisoners to take up some 
of the practical organizing tasks of building for revolution. This 
helps individuals learn what day to day work entails, helps 
everyone build necessary skills and most importantly contributes 
to revolutionary development.

* * *

FACTS ABOUT U.$. IMPRISONMENT

The facts about imprisonment in the United $tates are that the 
United $tates has been the world's leading prison-state per capita 
for the last 25 years, with a brief exception during Boris 
Yeltsin's declaration of a state of emergency.(1) That means that 
while Reagan was talking about a Soviet "evil empire" he was the 
head of a state that imprisoned more people per capita. In 
supposedly "hard-line" Bulgaria of the Soviet bloc of the 1980s, 
the imprisonment rate was less than half that of the United 
$tates.(2,3)

To find a comparison with U.$. imprisonment of Black people, there 
is no statistic in any country that compares including apartheid 
South Africa of the era before Mandela was president. The last 
situation remotely comparable to the situation today was under 
Stalin during war time.

The majority of prisoners are non-violent offenders(4) and the 
U.S. Government now holds about a half million more prisoners than 
China; even though China is four times our population.(5) 

The rednecks tell MIM that we live in a "free country." They live 
in an Orwellian 1984 situation where freedom is imprisonment.

Notes: 

1. Marc Mauer, "Americans Behind Bars: The International Use of 
Incarceration 1993," The Prison Sentencing Project, 918 F. St. NW, 
Suite 501, Washington, DC 20004 (202) 628-0871 Reference: SRI: 
R8965-2, 1994. 

2. Ibid., 1992 report. 

3. United Nations Development Programme, "Human Development Report 
1994,:" Oxford University Press, p. 186. 

4. Figure of 51.2 percent for state prisoners there for non-
violent offenses. Abstract of the United States 1993, p. 211. 

5. Atlantic Monthly December, 1998.

* * *

MIM ON PRISONS & PRISONERS

MIM seeks to build public opinion against Amerika's criminal 
injustice system, and to eventually replace the bourgeois 
injustice system with proletarian justice. The bourgeois injustice 
system imprisons and executes a disproportionately large and 
growing number of oppressed people while letting the biggest mass 
murderers ‹ the imperialists and their lackeys ‹ roam free. 
Imperialism is not opposed to murder or theft, it only insists 
that these crimes be committed in the interests of the 
bourgeoisie.

MIM does not advocate that all prisoners go free today; we have a 
more effective program for fighting crime as was demonstrated in 
China prior to the restoration of capitalism there in 1976. We say 
that all prisoners are political prisoners because under the 
dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, all imprisonment is substantively 
political. It is our responsibility to exert revolutionary 
leadership and conduct political agitation and organization among 
prisoners ‹ whose material conditions make them an overwhelmingly 
revolutionary group. Some prisoners should and will work on self-
criticism under a future dictatorship of the proletariat in those 
cases in which prisoners really did do something wrong by 
proletarian standards.