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MIM Notes 280 • April 15, 2003 • Page 1

MIM NotesApril 15, 2003, Nº 280 The Official Newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) Free

INSIDE: AWOL interview * Elizabeth Smart * Prisons * Una Página en Español...

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THOUSANDS RISE AGAINST U.$. INVASIONNEW YORK

RALLIESAGAINSTTHE WAR

Manhattan,March 22

Demonstrators packed more than20 blocks of Broadway andmarched toward WashingtonSquare on a sunny and comfortableSaturday afternoon. Three wimminstepped forward to help MIM Notesdistribution at the rally. The Manhattandemonstration marked a record month forMIM distribution and the day after it, theMIM web site showed that weeklywebsite traffic was up 50% over theprevious month.

As usual there were a lot of bullshitarrests at the demonstration, butcompared with the previous New Yorkdemonstration, this one went much moresmoothly with much less police cost.Perhaps New York City found itselfembarrassed how Washington DCmanaged to run a rally with thousandsfewer cops than New York did.

One police source estimated over200,000 demonstrators,(1) and that isevident from the ground level; however,without a helicopter, it would have beenimpossible to see the wholedemonstration, so MIM offers no officialestimate. Estimates ran from over 100,000to one million. Even on some of the sametelevision stations, headlines varied basedon who they quoted.

Illusions about DemocratsAccording to CNN, the vast majority

of Democrats in Congress voted yetagain to support the war on March 21st:“The House resolution, approved on a392-11 vote, ‘expresses the unequivocalsupport and appreciation of the nation’ to

ANTI-WARACTIVISTS

SHUTDOWN SANFRANCISCO

San Francisco,March 20

Thousands of anti-war activiststook to the streets of SanFrancisco starting at 7am thismorning, staging civil disobediencethroughout the downtown area to shutdown streets and prevent business asusual. Organized by the anarchist DirectAction to Stop the War, the protestfocused on 20 key intersections fromwhich organizers encouraged people topick and put together their own groupsfor a protest. Over 1,000 arrests areestimated by 7pm and somedemonstrators are still in the streets. Thisfollowed a demonstration attended bythousands who marched through pouringrain the night before deploring Bush’s 48hour deadline to Iraq. Most of theseprotesters were still in the streets on the19th when we got word from passers-bythat the bombs had started falling.Activists in San Francisco are showingthe world that they understand theseriousness of the imperialist war on Iraqand they are willing to make sacrifices,stay out all day and night, to stand upagainst the Amerikan empire.

Throughout the day groups of people,ranging from groups of 20 to severalthousand, picked intersections and satdown. These protests gathered strengthas others joined in. The police then movedin to the intersections, surrounded andarrested those who refused to move fromthe street. Some intersections were heldby protesters for hours as police wereunable to get from one location to anotheror gather together enough troops to takeon the crowds. Some protesters chainedthemselves to cement blocks to make itharder for police to move them. Afterseveral attempts protesters finally wereable to get past police in the evening toblockade the ramps to the bridge acrossthe bay, a key source of after work traffic.

Protests also shut down key businesses

Global anti-Amerikanismis just and necessary foreventual world peace

People often ask us at the MaoistInternationalist Movement, “how can youmake any political headway by insultingthe people you should be organizing?” Weget this question most often when wespeak of the “Amerikkkan,” who weaccuse of national supremacist ideas.

In 90% of the world’s countries andhistorical situations, our critic is right, just

not in the case of U.$. imperialism andimperialism today generally. In mostcountries, it makes no sense to insult themajority of the population or tell them totheir face that they are today’s equivalentof Nazis or other repugnant national orracial supremacists.

George W. Bush is repeatedlymentioning the word “appeasement”when speaking of those who oppose waron Iraq. The term “appeasement”referred to England’s stance toward Nazi-

Last spring, following a series ofbombings on the southern Philippine islandof Mindanao, Philippine President GloriaMacapagal-Arroyo convincedlawmakers to pass a tough “anti-terror”bill. While several of the groups chargedwith the bombings denied anyinvolvement, evidence is mounting againstone group Macapagal-Arroyo has notcharged: the United $tates government.

Amerikan Michael Meiring lost both hislegs and suffered second and third degree

burns over 40%of his bodywhen a bombexploded insidehis Davao Cityhotel room on 16May, 2002. Hewas eventuallycharged withterrorism. “Cityprosecutor Raul

Bendico said ... Meiring apparentlyattempted to set up explosives intendedto blow up Evergreen Hotel when theexplosion went off...”(1)

Meiring was under police guard at aDavao City hospital when agents of theU.$. Federal Bureau of Investigation andNational Security Agency whisked himto a chartered plane and a hospital inManila. Amerikan vice-consul MichaelNewbill paid Meiring’s Davao Cityhospital bill. While in Manila, onlyMeiring’s doctor, handpicked by the U.$.Embassy, had access to him. Meiring waslater flown to San Diego.(1)

According to one of Meiring’s friends,the U.$. Embassy claimed “that Michaelwould never be charged with a crime inconnection with the explosion. Theinvestigation will end up at a stone wall.Michael will be protected and eventuallytaken back to the safety of the United

Anti-Amerikanprotests in

Seoul, BuenosAires, Zurich,

Pakistan,Greece, and

Paris wereamong

thousandsaround the

world.

Tidal wave of public opinion against Iraq war

U$A fakes terror in Philippines

Continued on page 5...

Continued on page 4...Continued on page 6...



What is MIM?The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is 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 Maoist Internationalistparties in Belgium, France and Quebec and the existing or emerging Spanish-speakingMaoist Internationalist parties of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the U.$. Empire.MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-speakingparties or emerging parties of MIM. MIM upholds the revolutionary communist ideologyof Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and is an internationalist organization that works from thevantage point of the Third World proletariat. MIM struggles to end the oppression of allgroups over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM knows this is only possibly bybuilding public opinion to seize power through armed struggle. Revolution is a reality forNorth America as the military becomes over-extended in the government’s attempts tomaintain world hegemony. MIM differs from other communist parties on three mainquestions: (1) MIM holds that after the proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution, thepotential exists for capitalist restoration under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie withinthe communist party itself. In the case of the USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after thedeath of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao’s death and the overthrow of the “Gangof Four” in 1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural Revolution as the farthest advanceof communism in humyn history. (3) As Marx, Engels and Lenin formulated and MIM hasreiterated through materialist analysis, imperialism extracts super-profits from the ThirdWorld and in part uses this wealth to buy off whole populations of oppressor nation so-called workers. These so-called workers bought off by imperialism form a new petty-bourgeoisie called the labor aristocracy. These classes are not the principal vehicles toadvance Maoism within those countries because their standards of living depend onimperialism. At this time, imperialist super-profits create this situation in the Canada, Quebec,the United $tates, England, France, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Italy, Switzerland,Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Israel, Sweden and Denmark. MIM accepts people asmembers who agree on these basic principles and accept democratic centralism, the systemof majority rule, on other questions of party line.

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

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

Editor, MC206; Production, MC12

Letters

MIM NotesThe Official Newsletter of The Maoist Internationalist Movement

ISSN 1540-8817MIM Notes is the bi-weekly newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement. MIM

Notes is the official Party voice; more complete statements are published in our journal,MIM Theory. Material in MIM Notes is the Party’s position unless noted. MIM Notesaccepts submissions and critiques from anyone. The editors reserve the right to editsubmissions unless permission is specifically denied by the author; submissions arepublished anonymously unless authors insist on identification (prisoners are neveridentified by name). MIM is an underground party that does not publish the names of itscomrades in order to avoid the state surveillance and repression that have historicallybeen directed at communist parties and anti-imperialist movements. MCs, MIM comrades,are members of the Party. The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) is an anti-imperialist mass organization led by MIM (RCs are RAIL Comrades). MIM’s ten-pointprogram is available to anyone who sends in a SASE.

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MIM gets it right onDemocrats

Dear MIM,Fabulous analysis on Kerry and other

Southern democrat races in Dec. ’02MIM Notes [MN271]. The essay told memore than I’d ever get from sources like“The Nation,” which now appears to benothing but a smokescreen of nonsenseput out by political writers barking at eachother—a mere diversion for persons whohave not yet learned that both parties area meta-party of elite I like to call “gluttonsof privilege.”

— an Oklahoma prisoner,15 March 2003

NDF comrade says‘Carry on the Maoistthought!’

Dear MIM:I am a revolutionary cultural worker in

the philippines. I admire your support forthe philippine national democraticrevolution. ... Anyway, it was nice to knowthat there are other marxist, leninist andmaoist people in the world under theMIM. Long live the international workingclass movement!

—Comrade X,March 2003

Anarchist says not tosupport Amazon

Dear MIM:I’m writing in regards to your movie

review section on your website. First, Imust say that I’m impressed by theamount of movies you’ve been able toreview and find them very entertaining. Ido, however, have one concern. Yourecommend many movies to the publicand even supply a link to a website thatdistributes the particular movie. Myconcern is that the distributor is almostalways amazon.com. It seems curious tome that anti-capitalists would encourageothers to buy from a huge corporation whois a known union-buster. It would be greatif alternatuves could be found and usedinstead of relying on capitalists at amazonto bring the revolution.

Take the struggle to the people!—an Anarchist reader, March, 2003Web Minister responds for MIM:

MIM is recommending a number ofHollywood movies, by which we meanmovies financed by imperialism throughmonopoly controlled-banks. This has todo with our take on applying a dialecticalmaterialist view.

We at MIM do not believe all goodthings come from alternative lifestylessomehow outside the system. Nor do wenecessarily love the petty-bourgeoisiemore than the “huge corporation.”

Instead, we believe capitalismdialectically gives rise to its grave-diggers.That means we believe in this case thatHollywood does give rise to somemovies—maybe 5% or 10% (an estimate

is something we have yet to vote on atMIM)— that tend to undercut capitalism.

If we target Amazon, it does not stopthe fact that the monopoly capitalist filmproducers have their monopoly capitalistdistribution networks. The IWWincorrectly targets monopoly capitalists forboycotts based on raising the status ofthe petty-bourgeoisie instead of theinterests of the proletariat.

The IWW has disproportionatepresence in bookstores in the U$A. Thus,we receive letters like this one asking usto support reform struggles for bookstorewages.

However, if we boycott Amazon, itmeans that people will buy more of theirmovies at malls. The same malls throwingout people for buying and then wearingpeace t-shirts will benefit if we boycottAmazon. Read for example about theCrossgates Mall near Albany, New Yorkthat had some t-shirt wearers arrested.That’s the nature of the capitalist system.

Hence, in fighting reform struggles likethe IWW is fighting for bookstore workersmakes it even more crucial to correctlydefine friends and enemies. A strike canonly succeed within such a system byplaying one capitalist faction against

another while also mobilizing the workers.Boycotting Amazon necessarily benefitsanother faction of capitalists: that’s whywe call it a system.

That means that every struggle thatrewards the Amerikkkan petty-bourgeoisie leaves us one less faction ofcapitalists to play off on behalf of theinternational proletariat. MIM wouldrather at this moment be punishing themall capitalists for illegally stopping peacemovement activities on their premisesthan punishing Amazon for busting apetty-bourgeois union.

Such choices have to be made all thetime—even in our reform struggles. Atroot, the oppressed and exploited of Iraqshould carry much more weight in ourminds at the moment than the bookstoreunions of the u.$.A. The security guardlost his job for arresting the t-shirt wearersin the Crossgates Mall. We say goodriddance. Let the monopoly capitalistscome down from their offices and arrestpeople in the mall themselves and let allsecurity guards heed this example. Wedon’t need any sympathy for the petty-bourgeoisie that is going to stop us fromcorrectly focussing our fire.

Note: http://www.timesunion.com


AWOL youthchallengesAmerikanmilitary

In February MIM interviewed a youngman who is AWOL from the Amerikanmilitary and is actively seekingconscientious objector status in oppositionto the U.$. wars. Joe (not his real name)is not just seeking to avoid combat, hehas become an activist speaking outagainst the Amerikan military and itsimperialist wars attending marches andrallies.

Joe explained his current situation: “I’msupposed to be down in Camp [X]relieving the active people there andsending them on their way. I’m supposedto be down there going ‘go shootsomeone for me, rah rah.’ From whatthey tell us, we would probably have been[there] for a year and then who knowswhere they would send us. They wouldsend us to wherever the war is at then.The CO status I am applying for is forsomeone who is opposed to all war. Idon’t want to participate in any warwhatsoever.”

Many youth in Amerika, especiallyoppressed nation youth, join the militarylooking for direction, money or a job. Joeexplained why he joined the military: “Likeother people trying to get out of a difficultsituation; I was at a low point, I wasdepressed and a lot of recruiters takeadvantage of that. And I needed moneyfor school, it was just things like that.Nothing was going right in my life and Iwanted a direction, and I think that wasthe main reason I joined.”

MIM: How have your views on themilitary have changed, why do you nowwant to get out?

Joe: I decided I wanted to get out whileI was still in training. I never realized howhypocritical it had been for me to join; Ithought I was just a reservist so I canjust be there on the weekend. When Iwas in boot camp I was exposed to somany things about what the military does.How they train people I think is crazy.Beforehand I think the only strongfeelings I had was that I was anti-violenceand pro-civil rights. But then when I wasexposed to everything I learned that Ireally was anti-war and that’s theirbusiness. Plus they were trying to teachme to hate myself and dehumanizepeople. My convictions against thesethings are so strong now.

Some of the training is really crazy.We’d have combat training and everytime we made a blow we had to shoutout “Kill.” And we had to fight each other,we had to hit each other hard and I nevercould really do that. If we didn’t hit eachother hard we were punished because wehad morals about violence. The changesthat I saw in other people that were goingalong with the program; you’d see thembreak down and all of a sudden they have


LOS ANGELES, Saturday, 22 Mar2003—Protestors have taken to thestreets here every day since PresidentBush ordered the Amerikan military toexpand its war on Iraq. On Thursdaymore than 3,000 protestors gathered infront of the Westwood Federal Buildingand shut down busy Wilshire boulevardfor several hours. On Friday actionssnarled traffic in several widely-spacedlocales, including downtown andWestwood. Today around 10,000 peoplemarched to the CNN building inHollywood and then sat down in theworld-famous intersection at Hollywoodand Vine.

MIM finds the pace of eventsencouraging. As we wrote in January:“There are many movements that cansustain a one demonstration event, butsustaining energy over consecutive daysis more difficult. If the situation with Iraqcontinues into the spring without decisiveU.$. victory, we can predict that it shouldbe a hot one politically based on theupswing in determination and numbersseen in the streets.” There are moreevents planned here for tomorrow andanother large rally scheduled nextweekend.

MIM, RAIL and SLALA passed outover 1,100 copies of MIM Notes todayand collected over 600 signatures on a

petition opposing John Ashcroft’sproposed Patriot Act II.

Organizers of today’s march focusedtheir ire on CNN as a propaganda toolfor U.$. imperialism. They passed outsigns saying, “CNN: War is notentertainment” and “CNN: Afraid to showus REAL reality TV?” MIM saw a hand-made sign with the slogan, “Embeddingor in bed with?” This was a reference tothe U.$. military’s practice attachingjournalists to military units in the field andregulating their communicationsequipment. The Pentagon warnedjournalists that unauthorized transmissions“are likely to be fired upon.”(1)

A SLALA comrade rebuked a local TVnews cameraman for showing up at theend of the rally to cover the arrests ofprotestors engaged in civil disobedience.Local coverage has typically focused onconfrontations with police to the exclusionof the protestors’ politics, while giving flag-waving soccer moms five minute segmentsto blather on about “my country, right orwrong.” When asked what kept him fromthe bulk of the protest, the cameramananswered, “I had a little league game”—indicative of how serious mainstreamAmerikan media takes its supposed roleof keeping the public informed.

Other hand-made signs included explicitdenunciations of Amerikan imperialism,

which MIM liked. As usual there werealso lots of signs and t-shirts attackingGeorge Bush’s arrogance and supposedstupidity, such as, “‘Yee-hah’ is not aforeign policy.” MIM is less into the anti-Bush thing, except to the extent thatBush’s bumbling thuggery exposes thesystemic nature of Amerikan imperialism(see e.g. the article on the protests inWashington D.C. in this issue). To borrowAmerikan General Tommy Franks’phrase, this is not about one man, it’sabout a corrupt and brutal system.

Many of the protestors knew of PatriotAct II, Attorney General John Ashcroft’sproposal to close the “loop holes” in theoriginal Patriot Act. Patriot Act II wouldremove judicial oversight of searchwarrants, allow secret evidence andsecret trials, etc. etc.(2) One persyn whosigned MIM’s petition likened the newPatriot Act’s provisions for strippingAmerikans of their citizenship to theNazis’ “Nuremberg Laws on Citizenshipand Race” of 1935. These lawsproclaimed, “A citizen of the Reich maybe only one who is of German or kindredblood, and who, through his behavior,shows that he is both desirous andpersonally fit to serve loyally the Germanpeople and the Reich.”(3) The “logic” ofthe Patriot Act II is that Amerikans who

Boston,March 20

Several thousand people demonstratedagainst the war today in the afternoonand early evening. A group of student-aged people started events with a rallyand march at 3:00. Then by 5 and 6pm,thousands packed the GovernmentCenter plaza where TV cameras hadawaited their presence the wholeafternoon.

Anti-terrorist sentiment strongSigns reading “Bush is the terrorist”

and “Bush: War Criminal” also appearedat the rally. A speaker at the rally whoadmitted to preparing his speech daysago said, “You cannot stop war crimesby committing them.”

Many people carried signs pointing outthat the bombing of Iraq would produceterrorism, just as the first Gulf Warproduced an anti-Amerikkkan OsamaBin Laden.

Anti-Bush sentiment strongThe U.S. President George W. Bush

continued to face difficulties for being aminority-elected president that much ofthe public doubts both in temper andintelligence. “Stop Mad CowboyDisease” is a sign making its way aroundMassachusetts rallies. Other signs said:

“US: Hijacked by a Moron” and “W isfor War.”

One man carried a sign saying,“Impeach Bush: Which is worse, this ororal sex?” The sign referred to the factthat the House of Representativesimpeached Bill Clinton over oral sex withMonica Lewinsky. At the same time, theBush administration fabricated evidenceabout nuclear weapons in Iraq only to beexposed by UN weapons inspectors.(1)The government is not supposed to beusing taxpayers’ money to lobby the publicwith fake information stirring up publicopinion. It’s supposed to be the other wayaround, the public lobbying thegovernment, so that is another reasonBush should indeed be impeached. AsMIM pointed out in its review of a bookco-authored by a UN weapons inspector,Bush also played loose with the factsabout weapons inspections up through the1990s in his “State of the Union”address.(2)

Many in the world have concluded asone sign-carrier in Boston did: “Thegreatest threat to America is Bush.”Another sign in the Boston rally read: “Iwant dumb bombs and smart presidents.”

Despite all that, and despite the fact thatit is obviously true that Bush administrationdiplomacy failed to bring even traditionalallies and right-wingers such as Chirac

fully on-board, the anti-Bush sentimentdoes not really float MIM’s boat. Aboveall, we do not care for the anti-Bushsentiment, because the Democrats votedto support the war and passed theresolution authorizing the funding for it.As one by-stander noted about the signmentioning oral sex, Clinton also attackedIraq.

True, activists for anti-war DemocratHoward Dean distributed fliers at the rally.They seek to gather enough activists togain him the Democratic nomination forpresident in 2004. Like many otherbourgeois, Dean wants a multilateralbourgeois approach to Iraq and problemsof international law in general. He said,“this is a job for the United Nations andnot for the United States of America.”(3)

Fortunately, others at the rally pointedout that Vermont governor since 1991Howard Dean did nothing about the policemurder of Robert ‘Woody’ Woodward inBrattleboro Vermont on December 2,2001 in front of several witnesses in achurch. The attorney general did notprosecute the cops who shot him.(4)

It could be that with Bush in power, theAmerikkkan people may learn a lessonfaster than ever before. The yahoos whovoted for him will only make politicalprogress if they see Bush carry out a true

Anti-war protests in LosAngeles achieve steady pace


Boston continues rallies against war



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Local news media demonized therecent anti-war protests in San Franciscoas “violent,” even going so far as to claimthat demonstrators were using theirchildren as humyn shields. Those whoattended the protests know that thedemonstrations only became violent whenpolice attacked and beat protesters. Localnews media gave equal time to the 100or so pro-war protesters and the tens ofthousands of anti-war protesters.

This is why alternative media sourcesare so important to activists. It is not asuccessful strategy to rely on coverageby mainstream media. Instead activistsneed their own media, both to educateand inform their ranks and to provideinformation to the rest of the population.The internet provides activists with anexcellent opportunity for alternative mediaat low cost and in real time.

MIM’s website (www.etext.org/Politics/MIM) has grown exponentiallysince September 11, 2001 as people lookfor information, news, and alternativeanalysis. The anarchist-run indymedia.orghas also taken off in the last few years.The San Francisco indymedia site

explicitly works “to encourage a worldwhere globalization is not abouthomogeneity and exploitation, but rather,about diversity and cooperation.”(1)

Particularly in Amerika, where themajority of the population has a firmeconomic interest in imperialism, ourprotests are not going to easily gain thesupport of the majority. But we caneducate many people about our reasonsfor opposing imperialism. We gain theirattention when we protest and need totake advantage of this to offer informationfrom our perspective. We cannot allowcorporate media to mis-interpret ouractions. We also need independent mediato educate activists who get involved in avery narrow way. We can broaden theirunderstanding of the connection betweenimperialism and oppression and give themmore opportunities to get involved. To joinMIM in making independent mediacontact us or visit our web site (http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM).Notes: 1. indymedia.org sites generally allowanybody to post articles. The downside to thisis it allows reactionaries to publishdisinformation and bait progressive activists.

Media bias in Iraq war coverage

Many of the photos posted to indymedia alsoinclude faces of activists, which might be usedagainst them by the cops. MIM’s site is

moderated and hence is more secure andaccountable. MIM of course also puts forwardpolitical line.

This photo by Eric Wagner, posted on sf.indymedia.org, exposes San Francisco’s finestwhooping it up at a pro-war rally March 29.

including Bechtel Corporation which ispresently developing earth penetratingnuclear weapons specifically designed foruse in Iraq to destroy the very weaponsBechtel had supplied to the country. TheFederal Building was also surrounded formost of the day with all four entrancesblocked by protesters. At these locations,and in many intersections, police arrestedgroups of protesters only to have wavesof others replace them.

Several incidents of police brutalitywere documented including one attack ona man videotaping a protest. His arrestreceived national media attention aftercops dragged his young son off hisshoulders and proceeded to beat him withbilly clubs.

Demonstrators were almost entirelypeaceful with most people only committingthe crime of failing to obey traffic laws(walking in the streets). There were minoracts of property destruction or just streetobstruction with demonstrators movingtrashcans and newspaper boxes into thestreets. In several of the marches throughstreets MIM witnessed demonstratorsremoving the trashcans and newspaperboxes back to the sidewalk.

In response to our questions asking whythey did this two people said they wantedthe protests to be non-violent. A MIMactivist pointed out that putting newspaperboxes in the streets is no more violentthan blocking the streets with people. Oneyoung womyn responded that she fearedthe mainstream media would focus on theboxes in the streets and people would getthe wrong message. To this MIM

responded that she should work to buildindependent media because that is theonly solution to mainstream mediamisinformation and misrepresentation ofprotesters. It also shows a lack of visionin the “non-violent” mainstream peacemovement MIM has criticized. Thoseangling for votes for supposed “peace”Democrats and wringing their hands overa few overturned trash cans show aremarkable tolerance for the maraudingnincompoops running this country.

The lack of literature at the protest wasalso a problem with the anarchist style ofleadership. Both participants andbystanders were without information onthe purpose of the protests or analysis ofthe war. The few people carrying signsprovided the only propaganda for thosegreeted by these demonstrations whenthey showed up for work today.

Likely because of this lack of literature,MIM found those attending the protestwere eager for any analysis and quicklyaccepted copies of MIM Notes. Evenafter MIM activists ran out of currentissues and started handing out old copiesthey were taken as quickly as we couldhand them out at the intersections beingblockaded. The issue from 1999 with acover story on Amerikan humyn rightsabuses was popular and recipients agreedit was still very relevant today. MIMspoke with many activists who stated theirdisgust with the war and criticized Bushfor his actions. We pointed out that Bushwould not be able to act without thesupport of the government. The 1999MIM Notes provided evidence thatClinton was just as much an imperialist

with its story about his invasion of Kosovo.Throughout the day civil disobedience

protests were conducted in other partsof the Bay Area as well. One student atthe downtown protests reported that 50students were arrested at StanfordUniversity. Thousands of students atUniversity of California, Berkeley held ademonstration and took over a building.Protesters marched and blocked streetsin Oakland, Richmond, Santa Rosa,Sonoma and other surrounding cities.

MIM applauds the devotion andenthusiasm of those who have taken thestreets of San Francisco over the pastweek and we will work to turn this energyinto sustainable anti-imperialist organizingas the U.$. moves from this imperialistwar on Iraq to others throughout theworld. Not all imperialist wars are assensational or involve overt bombing,ground troops and such a publicitycampaign. Amerika carries out similaroperations every year. From CIAoperations to overthrow leaders unfriendlyto Amerika, to training and financing offriendly militias, to funding militarydictatorships, to active military

ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS SHUT DOWN SAN FRANCISCOContinued from page 1...


the members of the U.S. armed forcesand their families. And it also commendsthe president for ‘his firm leadership anddecisive action in the conduct of militaryoperations in Iraq as part of the ongoingglobal war on terrorism,’ a line thatgenerated anger among someDemocrats.”(2) 11 voted against, butthere are 205 Democrats and 229Republicans in the House.

Despite the vote the day before, peopleat the rally were carrying signs thatcontinued purely anti-Bush sentiments. Infact, in sections of the march, thedemonstrators were chanting slogansfrom the 2000 presidential campaign about“staying out of the Bushes” etc.

The present reporter has to admit thatthe funniest sign of the day was: “Yee-hah is not a foreign policy.” Yet if thiswar is just a stupid Texas cowboy thing,then we have no explanation why forexample Massachusetts Senator Kerryvoted for it. The fact is that Democratsare more on-board than not and even thebest of them tolerate war-mongering thatshould not be tolerated for the species tosurvive.

People who see this war for what it isdo not tolerate it: they leave theDemocratic Party. There is no other wayto show intolerance for pre-emptivestrikes and predatory wars. People whostay in the Democratic Party, becausethey believe it is important to implementgun control or nominate pro-choice judgesshow a complete lack of proportion anda lack of understanding how fascismacross-the-board comes about throughwar. Staying in the Democratic Partysays that the lives of Iraqis, U.$. troops,Palestinians and other Arabs involved areless valuable than Amerikkkan lives, andthat is the recipe for eventual globalnuclear catastrophe. There is no peopleon Earth that is going to put up with thattreatment, so the first step for any politicalparty has to be internationalism.

We will have to learn to fight outsidethe Democratic Party for reproductiverights and against crime including thecrimes of how criminals are punished. It’snot enough to fight for the select fewAmerikans and their welfare, education

NEW YORK RALLIES AGAINST THE WARand abortion rights. Without an answerproviding security for all people in theworld, more war and terrorism areinevitable and that will lead to a steadymarch down the fascist road, with thelikes of the Patriot Act (which Democratsvoted for) and Patriot Act II.

Let’s be clear that we support the signsthat say: “Bush: War Criminal” and“Bush: International Terrorist,” but thiswar needs to be defeated with more thanrehashed campaign slogans from 2000.As MIM circulated in the crowd, we said,“we have to improve this movement, gottaget tougher” and variations on that theme.

We spoke with one demonstrator whosaid, “I don’t need this [MIM Notes]. I’vegot it all up here [pointing to his head]”for why he opposes the war. MIM pointedout that the movement failed to stop thewar, so we have to improve. Improvingrequires more study of more material andlearning more about power struggle.Having the majority in England did notstop Tony Blair and having over 80% ofthe people against the war did not stopSpain and Bulgaria from making a majorendorsement of it. With the “Labor Party”in England in power in favor of the war,Democrats are kidding themselves if theythink Democrats would have stopped thewar. The “Labor Party” is more “left” inthat tepid bourgeois spectrum than theDemocratic Party.

In “democratic” Australia, the peopleopposed the war in over 80% of thepopulation, but the government still sent2000 troops into battle. This is a lessonthat the people themselves must learn theart of power struggle, and not leave it totheir elected representatives. Wefollowers of Marx, Lenin and Mao saywe know something about power struggleoutside of parliament and recommend theexperience of Lenin in getting Russia outof World War I. Mao also defeatedfinancially better off, technically betterequipped enemies during World War IIdespite the fact that the conventionalpolitical parties of his day were muchbigger than the communists to start with.With our numbers globally and in theimperialist countries, the anti-warmovement should have succeeded, but wehave a problem with the desire and

knowledge of power struggle in ourmovement.

The leafletsMIM received a leaflet saying that

Islam does not condone “terrorism.”According to the leaflet there is adifference between “Holy War” and“jihad.” Jihad could be just an internalstruggle in the mind for self-improvement.From MIM’s point of view,www.WhyIslam.org showed that Islamhas a lot in common with Christianity andJudaism. Muslims just added one lastprophet, Muhammad. One thing for sure,if Amerikkka is going to claim to be a“free” country, it has to figure out how tointegrate Muslims and not profile them.Currently the United $tates is failing alongthese lines, which is why we say that thecauses of war have to be addressed forreal freedom to exist. Since the U.$.soldier in Kuwait fragged his officers(killed some), there have been talk showcalls for more profiling of Muslims,because the attacker Sgt. Asan Akbarmay have been Muslim.(3)

We received another leaflet titled “TheU.S. and Iraq in Historical Perspective”from the International A.N.S.W.E.R. andInternational Action Center organizerRichard Becker. Although the leafletcontains illusions about “socialism” evenunder Gorbachev, it points out the historyof Iraq’s being a colony, with Britain,France, Holland and the United $tatesevenly splitting the oil there with none ofthe oil being owned by Iraqis. It was notuntil a 1958 revolution in Iraq thatpressure for Amerikkkans to pay for oilactually succeeded.

The Revolutionary Worker handed outof a leaflet pointing out that the new20,000 pound bomb of Uncle $cam isnamed MOAB on purpose, because “thejudgment of Moab” in the Bible refers todestruction of cities and soldiers east ofthe Jordan river.(4)

Another leaflet connected the attackon civil liberties by the federal governmentto the war. We could hardly disagree withthe material from the www.nyclu.org oncivil liberties. It also referred to “Citizensfor Peace.”

A popular item at the rally and in some

towns today is the 911 money that lookslike one dollar bills. USA stands for“United States of Aggression.” Insteadof George Washington we have GeorgeBush titled Big Brother and a host of linksto websites about the events of 911 andpropaganda since then.

Another leaflet from the Batay-OuvriyeSolidarity Network mentioned the strugglein Haiti against U.$. domination and linkedit to the situation in Iraq. Here is how itcorrectly reasoned: “The United Statessupported the Iraqi Government in its waragainst Iran by supplying it with money,intelligence and military supplies, includingbiological and chemical weapons. So longas this government was doing what theUnited States wanted, they closed theireyes even when they knew the Saddamgovernment was using these weapons.”

One last item we will mention was aflier by the Kings County Green Partypointing out that New York State’s twosenators, both in the Democratic Partyvoted for the war. They organized ademonstration for March 27th at 9Prospect Park West, 5:30-7pm whereSenator Charles Schumer lives.

MIM handed out 2550 copies of MIMNotes before running out in New YorkCity. If you think you could send MIMmoney for papers, take them to rallies inyour area, hand them out, take notes andwrite a story for MIM Notes about therally like this story, please do it. See ourweb page at: http://www.etext.org/P o l i t i c s / M I M / p i r a o /mndistrocampaign.html for information onthe approximate costs. Just doing thiswould be a great support to the party andthe movement.Notes:1. http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/22/sprj.irq.protests/index.html2. http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/20/sprj.irq.congress.reax/index.html3. http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/03/24/101.attack.ap/index.html4. See also this explanation for why theimperialists announced the bomb in advance forpsychological warfare purposes: http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/03/23/wpsy23.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/03/23/ixhome.html; http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/.

Continued from page 1...

disaster. MIM is not saying it will happensoon, but the possibility is there.

Economic system to blameThe reason that both Democrats and

Republicans line up for predatory wars isthe economic system. Big money goes tocandidates to support war for profit.Those candidates then have bettercampaigns with which to reach the public,which mostly shares in the plunder of theThird World like Iraq.

Of course there was a sign against“Blood for Oil,” but in general we did not

see catchy signs attacking the economicsystem. Instead, speakers from a soundtruck brought out that theme, with onesaying that the speed with which the anti-war movement developed “took thecorporate criminals completely bysurprise.”

Some local flavorMIT students showed up 600 strong.(5)

They carried a sign saying: “MIT is forpeace.”

There was also a sign that said,“Harvard students want peace.” Students

walked out of classes, but we saw littleevidence that any city-wide strike byworkers had occurred as asked by anti-war organizers.

MIM handed out 1250 copies of MIMNotes before running out. If you think youcould send MIM money for papers, takethem to rallies in your area, hand themout, take notes and write a story for MIMNotes about the rally like this story, pleasedo it. See our web page at: http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/pirao/mndistrocampaign.html for informationon the approximate costs. Just doing this

would be a great support to the party andthe movement.Notes:1. http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/03/12/cf.opinion.un.relevance/index.html ; http://www.austin360.com/aas/news/ap/ap_story.html/Washington/AP.V6606.AP-US-Iraq-Forgery.html2. http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/bookstore/books/violence/ritter.html3. From the flier mentioning http://www.DeanForAmerica.com4. www.justiceforwoody.org5. http://www.globe.com/news/daily/20/mass_protests.htm

Boston continues rallies against warContinued from page 3...


Militarism is war-mongering or theadvocacy of war or actual carrying outof war or its preparations.

While true pacifists condemn allviolence as equally repugnant, weMaoists do not consider self-defenseor the violence of oppressed nationsagainst imperialism to be militarism.Militarism is mostly caused byimperialism at this time. Imperialism isthe highest stage of capitalism—seenin countries like the United $tates,England and France.

Under capitalism, capitalists oftenprofit from war or its preparations. Yet,it is the proletariat that does the dyingin the wars. The proletariat wants asystem in which people do not haveself-interest on the side of war-profiteering orwar forimperialism.

Militarism isone of the mostimportant reasonsto overthrowcapitalism. Iteven infectsoppressed nationsand causes themto fight eachother.

It is important not to let capitalists riskour lives in their ideas about war andpeace or the environment. They havealready had two world wars admittedby themselves in the last 100 years andthey are conducting a third right nowagainst the Third World.

Even a one percent annual chanceof nuclear war destruction caused bycapitalist aggressiveness or “greed” asthe people call it should not be toleratedby the proletariat. After playing RussianRoulette (in which the bullet chamberis different each time and not related atall to the one that came up in previousspins) with 100 chambers and one bullet,the chance of survival is only 60.5%after 50 turns. In other words, aseemingly small one percent annualchance of world war means eventual

doom. After100 years orturns ofR u s s i a nRoulette, thechances ofsurvival areonly 36.6%.After 200years, survivalhas only a13.4% chance.

What is militarism?

States. The incident will be shortlyforgotten, if you’re willing to forget it.”(2)

Shady pastMeiring moved to the Philippines in

1992 and described himself alternately asa treasure hunter or a doctor searchingfor medicinal herbs. He “had close tiesto well-placed government authorities insouthern Mindanao, national governmentofficials and Philippine National Policeofficials.”(1) He also dealt with the AbuSayaaf, the bandit gang with CIA linkswhich Macapagal-Arroyo has used tojustify increased U.$. military presencein Mindanao.

“He spent millions of dollars while inthe Philippines, the source of the fundsunknown.” Charred U.$. federal banknotes were found in his hotel room.Meiring claimed he was looking for boxesfull of Federal Reserve notes lost duringWorld War II.(1) The Manila Timestraced his financial backing to investorsin the United $tates with white-supremacist and CIA links.(2)

“Highly reliable sources” told thePhilippine Star that Meiring “was deployedby the CIA, sometime in the early to mid90s, on assignment in southern Mindanao.

“‘He overshot his mandate. That waswhy the Americans had to find a way

yhat he could be spirited out of the countryfast...’”(1)

If this is true, it would not be the firsttime Amerika’s hired thugs had set upshop for themselves. “Philippine SenatorAquillano Pimentel describes the AbuSayaaf as a CIA monster. [Abu Sayaaf’s]original members were organized, fundedand trained by Ronald Reagan’s secretagents in the 1980s and sent toAfghanistan to help kick out the Russians.Twenty years ago, that skullduggery wasoverseen by exactly the kind of peopleMichael Meiring hung out with, in exactlythe same part of the country.”(1)

‘Anti-terror’ hypocrisyRegardless of whether the Abus are

still on Uncle $am’s payroll or Meiringwas under CIA orders when he blewhimself up, the reactionaries in the U.$.and Philippine governments bear theresponsibility for this kind of terror. AfterSeptember 11, pro-spy creeps argued thatthe CIA should have greater freedom toenlist “bad guys” to go after other “badguys”—somehow forgetting that exactlythis strategy led to September 11 itself!

State agencies do carry out terroristincidents and the ordinary public cannotusually know who is to blame. Thesolution for this can only be the abolitionof governments in the distant future of

U$A fakes terror in Philippinescommunism, when people cooperateeconomically, culturally and politically, sothat no nation has secret services like theCIA. These secret services arethemselves an irritant in relations amongstnations and must be eradicated for acompletely secure world.

In the case of the Philippines, the United$tates is using the Abu Sayaaf and othermanufactured incidents (3) to justify apermanent military presence.(4) “Monthsbefore September 11 ... a RandCorporation Study advised DonaldRumsfeld that he must re-base Americanforces in the Philippines in order to retainU.S. military dominance in Asia.”(1) TheUnited $tates also worries about therevolutionary movement. “The US isitching to directly get involved in the all-out war against the CPP-led revolutionarymovement,” said a spokesperson for theCommunist Party of the Philippines.(3)

Popular opposition recently forced theU.$. and the Philippine government toshelve plans for U.$. soldiers toparticipate in combat operations in thePhilippines.(5) But the reactionaries arestill trying to justify their plans in the nameof “fighting terrorism.”

An explosion on 4 March 2003 killed24 people and injured another 150 at theDavao international airport. A month later,a bomb at the Davao wharf killed 16.

Macapagal-Arroryo immediately flew toDavao to make her pitch: “This is a totalwar that requires full attention andresources of the community.”(6)

The Philippine government blamed theMoro Islamic Liberation Front for theselatest attacks. The MILF, in on-again-off-again peace talks with the government,strenuously denies any involvement.Notes:1. Several news articles on this case are compiledhere:http://www.defendsison.be/archive/pages/0303/030309Fake.html.2. See The Manila Times’ three part series onMeiring, 29-31 May 2002, www.manilatimes.net/national/2002/may/29/top_stories/20020529top5.html, www.manilatimes.net/national/2002/may/30/top_stories/20020530top6.html, www.manilatimes.net/national/2002/may/31/top_stories/20020531top6.html.3. U.$.-backed Philippine military slanders NewPeople’s Army, MIM Notes 253, 1 Mar 2002.4. Over 1,500 U.$. troops deployed acrossPhilippines in name of “war on terror,” MIMNotes 256, 15 Apr 2002.5. Pentagon plans to send 3,000 more U.$.combat troops to Philippines, MIM Notes 278,15 Mar 2003.6. Italics added, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 3 Apr2003.


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Los Angeles, March, 22: Keepin' the burger joint free of protesters.


15-year-old Elizabeth Smart returnedto her parents in Utah in March 2003,after what the press called an “abduction”since the age of 14 on June 5, 2002. Themedia showed pictures and film clippingsof the blonde-haired youth all over thetelevision the day of the announced return.Then the media followed with pictures ofElizabeth hugging her family.

Of course the media makes the mostmoney selling papers, magazines and tvnews with the story that this was a“kidnapping.” The truth is that the united$tates is so twisted that most childabductions are not child abductions butproperty disputes politely referred to as“custody battles” or other more mundaneoccurrences, as we reported in MIMNotes 268.(1)

The Elizabeth Smart case was not acustody battle, but it has all the markingsof being a normal occurrence in a twistedsociety. If the polygamist drifter-preacherwho was with Smart when police foundher has to go to prison, then most of Utahdoes too. Rather than arrest the preacherand his wife who were with ElizabethSmart, the dictatorship of the proletariatwould put the Utah religious hierarchy inprison and any police who failed toenforce the laws regarding polygamy andchild abuse in Utah. It is the religioushierarchy that has failed in educating thepublic. We Marxists believe that religionwill gradually disappear, but there mustbe immediate repression of any religionsthat do not respect the non-negotiablerights of all people.

As we reported in MIM Notes, TVviewers gradually received the picturefrom CNN. First it was the uncle whosaid that the return of Elizabeth Smartwas proof of “miracles.” Then the fatherthanked God, instead of criticizing Godfor allowing this or the Mormon churchfor teaching that polygamy begins withuneducated 14-year-olds. Yes, the Smartfamily is Mormon. The supposedabductor was also a Mormon, just tooradical and thus ex-communicated.

For those unfamiliar with the originalMormon teachings, they are polygamistand permit abuses of wimmin andchildren. Whenever there is a conflict onthese points, the true-believers take theirex-communication as proof of theirdevoutness, but the ones more“moderate” and doing the ex-communication are also frauds for notdenouncing the founders of their ownreligion. They often do the same thingsjust without flaunting it in public. Thisguarantees that what happens in Utahwith the Elizabeth Smart case and moreviolent cases will continue to occur.

“The Seattle Times, citing a policesource in Salt Lake City, said Brian David‘Emmanuel’ Mitchell told investigatorsthat he wanted Elizabeth to become hiswife after first laying eyes on her whilehe did a one-day stint as a handyman at

the Smart’s suburban home in 2001.“‘It was a religious thing,’ the source

told the Times. “This guy just wantedanother wife, and God told him this wasthe one.’”(2) Even if the media got thisstory wrong, or the police source lied, thefact remains that the description is typicalof Mormon practice.

Smart did not try to get awayThen we learn that Smart herself told

police that her case was one of runningaway: “‘I know’” you “‘think I’m thatElizabeth Smart girl who ran away.’”(3)

Smart heard her uncle calling for her,but she did not respond to him during hisoutdoor search.(3) She stayed one blockfrom the police station for a week andfreely walked about; her captor was evenin jail for six days and she did not escape;100 people saw her at a party, but she didnot leave or contact anyone aboutescaping.(4) Smart was also a regular ata grocery store where she spent hoursfreely to herself without trying to“escape.”(5) Witnesses living near hersay she was not restrained and could haveescaped anytime.(6)

When the police found her, she spokein Biblical verse, adopted medieval posesand wore a veil.

Conservatives got what theywanted

“You will be handed over to the localcouncils and flogged in the synagogues.On account of me you will stand beforegovernors and kings as witnesses to them.. . Brother will betray brother to death,and a father his child. Children will rebelagainst their parents and have them putto death. All men will hate you becauseof me, but he who stands firm to the endwill be saved.” (Mark:13:9, 12, 13)

“I have come to bring fire on the earth,and how I wish it were already kindled! .. . Do you think I cam to bring peace onearth? No, I tell you, but division. Fromnow on there will be five in one familydivided against each other, three againsttwo and two against three. They will bedivided father against son and son againstfather, mother against daughter anddaugther against mother.” (Luke 12:49,51, 52)

It is difficult for the foreigner tounderstand, but the united $tates, asmodern as it is, has a solid 30% living inutter religious stupor. The conservativepolitical movement is based on that 30%.

Elizabeth Smart grew up Mormon in aMormon state. Her “captor” was apreacher with a little more dedication thanaverage. That’s why when police foundher, she used Biblical phrases to try toescape.

The conservatives will try hard toweasel out of taking responsibility for thewhole Elizabeth Smart case frombeginning to end, starting with ElizabethSmart’s education. To cover for himself

and his state’s religion, the father saidmerely that his daughter was“brainwashed.” At MIM we wouldagree, but we would say it started a lotearlier than June 5, 2002. In the United$tates thanks to conservatives and theliberals who tolerate them, we cannot besure what basic education ElizabethSmart received, including her sexeducation in a Mormon community thatregularly marries off teenage girls beforethey’ve had an appropriate education.

Liberals kow-tow to conservatives& mushy middle

There is of course a secular andWestern liberal segment of society aswell. As MIM pointed out in its MIMNotes 272 article on Mormons, thesesame liberals who love the former slave-holoder Dalai Lama so much naturallyprotect the religions abusing wimmin andchildren as well. It’s not so much thatliberals are going to practice Mormonism,but they will elect Mormons such as MittRomney to be governor of the most liberalstate—Massachusetts.

For the foreigner the image ofAmerikkka is all Hollywood andpornography and thus all open sex; eventhough, such a stereotype applies moreto Western Europe than the United$tates. The Elizabeth Smart case is notso much about that as it is about good‘ole conservative religious conversion.

Again on 14-year-oldsThere is no reason a 13 or 14-year-old

cannot be an adult except for his or herlack of education prior to that date. TheMormons believe both in early teenmarriages to much older men and lack ofeducation for children and the result isabuse of children.

The Elizabeth Smart case underlineswhy MIM is in favor of moving upchildren’s education, accelerating itacross-the-board to make children moreself-reliant. Of special concern is thatElizabeth Smart grew up in anenvironment tolerating multiple wivesincluding “child” wives. Thanks to thateducation, Elizabeth Smart truly was achild when she left home. At her age,she should not have been a child, mentally.That’s why under the dictatorship of theproletariat, a bracing education will berequired and anyone standing in theway—parents or preachers—will go toprison. In the event that a child dies in akidnapping or from a disease like AIDSthanks to ignorance, those causing theignorance will be executed. That’s theonly way to ensure that adults do not abusechildren.Notes:1. “Child abuctions fill the U.$. headlines,” p. 3,MIM Notes 268.2. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/3/13/163308.shtml3. USA Today, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-03-13-smart-cover-usat_x.htm4. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23106-2003Mar13.html5. http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/03/13/smart.supermarket.witness/

support certain types of lawful politicalorganizing demonstrate by their actionsthat they have no desire to remaincitizens.

Still, around half of the protestorsapproached with MIM’s petition had notheard of Patriot Act II. MIM, RAIL, andSLALA handed out hundreds of flyersanalyzing the proposal.

The mercenary hypocrisy award for theday goes to Amoeba records, across thestreet from CNN. Amoeba recordssported a “Give Peace a Chance” bannerwhile barring groups from setting upliterature tables in front of the store.(CNN at least had the honesty to drape ahuge Amerikan flag over its entrance.)MIM overheard a few choice quips fromthe store’s staff. “Why do so many peacedemonstrations turn violent?” “If they’regoing to demonstrate for peace theyshould be consistent: if you get hit in the

The case of Elizabeth SmartConservatives like it that way, liberals tolerate it

face, turn the other cheek.”This is a misunderstanding promoted by

sloppy bourgeois media reporting. Mostof the anti-war protesters are notpacifists. For MIM’s part, “turning theother cheek” is what the imperialists aretelling the exploited to do. “Please ignoreour rampage through your territory andwork happily as slaves for our MNCs,”they counsel. MIM upholds the right ofthe oppressed to armed struggle in self-defense against reactionary violence.

Notes:1. www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/

29750.html2. MIM Notes 279, 1 Apr 2003;

www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/agitation/civlib/index.html

3. Italics added; www.mtsu.edu/~ b a u s t i n / n u r m l a w 2 . h t m l ;www.btinternet.com/~ablumsohn/laws.htm.

L.A. Anti-War ProtestsAchieve a Steady PaceContinued from page 3...


leader Hitler in the 1930s. It arose whenNeville Chamberlain made a deal to letGermany take over Czechoslovakia andturned down a Soviet offer to attackGermany in unison instead. It’s a measureof poor high school education and thetwisted nature of Amerikkkan “thinking”that this Bush tactic is even politicallyconceivable and not a source ofembarrassment. Saddam Hussein is notoccupying other countries right now. Heis gone from Kuwait. It is George. W.Bush playing the role of today’s Hitler bymoving to occupy Iraq (Czechoslovakia).It is others who tolerate Bush who are“appeasers.” It is the countries whooppose Bush but do not put their militarieson the line to stop him that take the roleof appeasers in 2003.

Our critics would be right about notinsulting the Amerikkkans, if what weneeded today is to run a candidate foroffice. Many advise us to join the left-wing of the Democratic Party and thenseek numbers to back that “left-wing” up.Obviously, one cannot insult the“Amerikkkans” and then win an election,at least not in the short-run.

The thinking behind elections is behindmost of the questions MIM receivesregarding organizing in the United $tates.The media focuses all attention onCongress and presidential candidateswhen it comes to politics. Much of themedia cannot operate outside the fewquestions judged important in electoralpolitics today. That is one reason MIMinsists on building independent media andother institutions as the best thing we cando right now.

Hence, the first scientific question is:can world peace come about by winningan electoral struggle inside theDemocratic Party and other such partiesglobally? MIM says: “No, it is notconcretely possible to achieveinternationalist peace through theDemocratic Party and winning electionsas they exist now.” People in the anti-war movement right now need to askthemselves over and over again: is theirgoal to elect someone or to obtain peace?These questions are not one and thesame. We have to work on our ideas aboutpower and power struggle. Ask theSpanish people: only 13% support the waron Iraq, but the government still managedto endorse Bush. That has to do with thepower struggle by the other 87%. It isnot just a question of getting numbers.

Over 90% of Germans supported Hitlerto the bitter end. In such a circumstance,organizing for an election or to find more“moderate Nazis” misses the point. TheGermans were going to have to gothrough a most difficult transformationeven to support a non-Nazi party. That isthe kind of situation we have in the United$tates, not for one party but for a systemof imperialism. It would do no good notto call Germans “Nazis” to avoid insultingthem and likewise it does no good to letAmerikkkans and similar European

imperialist country populations avoid thetruth about their ugly war-mongeringnationalism.

Telling a country’s majority to their facethat they are politically ugly enemies ofthe world’s people becomes especiallynecessary in some historical contexts.Ingratiating tactics can only help whenthey achieve a goal worth the cost of thetactics. In the case of the United $tates,England and I$rael, the truth is the key. Itis impossible for the populations of theseplaces to reform their thinking if no onetells them how far off it is from what isnecessary for global peace and economiccooperation. The alleged “scientists”wishing to spare the feelings of theAmerikkkans, British and I$raeli$ doneither the world nor the imperialistcountry chauvinists themselves anyfavors. They only slow down what hasto happen.

Most people in the world can raise theirproletarian consciousness and say “I usedto be a ready dupe of the imperialists andlocal reactionaries and then throughpolitical struggle and study, I overcamenaivete and other kinds of falseconsciousness.”

In the Western imperialist countries, theaverage Joe should face the socialistfuture more like this: “I used to be anenemy of the people. I am still workingto overcome my tendencies to nationalchauvinism and violence toward the ThirdWorld people. I actively voted forimperialists and avoided countlesschances at political education in theinterests of peace, because I used tobelieve my country could escape theconsequences of imperialism. I used tospeak for throwing immigrants out of thecountry and I believed jobs were beingsucked out of my country; even while thecommunists said their goal was to employ

the whole world, I scorned them andwrapped myself up in a petty struggle todeprive others of jobs. I acted oneconomic fears instead of taking up theconfidence the party advised me to havein economic matters both as a matter oftruth and international peace. I vaguelyknew that my government was killingpeople around the globe on a daily basis,but I happily preferred to watch ‘Marriedwith Children’ instead of raising my ownpolitical consciousness and figuring outhow to oppose my government. In a word,I expressed my political and culturalcontentment with a genocidal systemheaded for environmental disaster. Eventhough I had not been paying muchattention to politics, I leaped up after 911to call for war on Afghanistan. Again Iquickly expressed fear and aggressionbut without much knowledge. The livesof people in Third World countries meantso little to me that I did not botherseriously investigating the claims of thepoliticians I elected. I do not want to saythat I was just ignorant. I had a chanceto know more, but I preferred to take themost comfortable way out.” That’s whata self-criticism of an enemy might looklike. Self-criticism and transformationcannot succeed if revisionists take overand deny that Amerikkkans are enemiesand no one asks that the Amerikkkansadmit that they were enemies.

It’s all fine to wish that 70, 80 or 90%of the people in every country opposedthe war with Iraq. We could wish thatthe proletariat were evenly distributedglobally. It is not—and that is a matter ofnot wishing away dialectical development.Life would be simpler if the exploitedconstituted the majority in every countryand merely had to come to some way ofstopping their war-mongering rulers. Thepath to global unity would be much

simpler, but since the time of Lenin wehave had to adjust to the fact that acountry can become a majority ofenemies to the world’s people.

We love all people active in the anti-war movement, as long as they arestudying and working on the problem.However, we must say that there is nomajor organization other than MIM andpossibly one other that recognizes anti-Amerikkkanism as necessary for globalprogress. The various liberals whetherthey are in the Democratic Party orparties calling themselves communistbelieve that it is OK to criticize Bush andthe pro-war Democrats, but not the voterswho tolerate or elect these scum.

The French are being pretty belligerentto Amerikan tourists these days, andthat’s an excellent thing. However, asurvey shows that most French still stickwith the tired old formula of blamingAmerika’s “leaders” and not the“American people.” The New YorkTimes reported a typical and insightful pollthis way: “Most noticeably anti-Bushwere the French, three-fourths of whomsaid the problems created by Americawere ‘mostly Bush,’ while only a fraction15 percent faulted America in general.Russia and Turkey were the only nationsthat were inclined to blame America ingeneral rather than the president.”(1)

This poll reinforces the results ofcountless other polls and the investigationof serious proletarian investigators. In thecountries where a labor aristocracypredominates because that countrypartakes in global exploitation, the majorityactively supports or covers forimperialism. The oh-so tough French stillsee this “just” as a Bush thing; eventhough at the very least we have to pointout that a sizable minority voted for Bush,

Tidal wave of public opinion against Iraq warContinued from page 1...

(MIM art)

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and one would think the Europeans couldconclude something about a country witha sizable minority like that and an evenlarger super-majority that tolerates whatBush does.

In contrast, Turkey and Russia are twocountries with more super-exploited andexploited people than the other sevencountries in the poll mentioned by theNew York Times. These two countriescorrectly blame “America in general”more than their Western imperialistcounterparts. Only 15 percent of theFrench blamed the Amerikkkans ingeneral. It will be impossible to buildsocialism with active imperialist countryparticipants if the imperialist countrypopulations continue believing such thingsabout themselves.

The source of difference, the reasonwhy most countries are more than 80%opposed to the war while some countriesare more evenly divided is that somecountries have large middle classes thatbenefit from imperialist exploitation.Newsweek admitted that anti-Amerikkkanism has spread very far since911. “In fact, while the United States hasthe backing of a dozen or so governments,it has the support of a majority of thepeople in only one country in the world,

Israel. If that is not isolation, then the wordhas no meaning.”(2)

Coincidentally, as MIM has pointed outbefore, I$rael is another imperialistcountry with a “settler” base like theUnited $tates. However, in England,support for Amerikkkan war has rangedin the high 30s to the 40s. Meanwhile, incountries like Hungary, opposition is in the80% range, even if the UN endorses thewar.

Recently, I received a letter from ayoung Khmer (Cambodian) from a U.$.-lackey family who was seeking someoneto stand in for the Khmer Rouge, so hestarted criticizing MIM as if we were theKhmer Rouge. He told us that peoplecould be punished under the KhmerRouge for having a Disney book. We cansee that the aim is to create some kind ofstrange arbitrary image of the dictatorshipof the proletariat.

Yet, there is a real question here. MIMdoes not think the world should opposerock music just because Amerikkkans andBritish are the main or original producers.Rock music is a form that any countrycan adopt and actually using electricity inmusic to its full effect is an importantaspect of modernization for any country.On the other hand, a boycott of all

no heart. You don’t see them, you see adeprogrammed persyn and then all of thesudden they have another persyn’sagenda. So that free will is taken awayand that part about military training iscrazy. And then when we actually got touse weapons and train with them, theamount of dehumanizing of the enemythey taught, you know it’s just like killingan ant. You don’t have to consider peoplemore than just a bug.”

MIM: Did they talk about specificregions of the world or other peoples?

Joe: I went in just after September 11so the enemy was Osama Bin Laden andSaddam Hussein and Muslim people. Andeverybody in there that was Muslim hadto constantly defend themselves,renounce their religion. And any enemywe have ever had... everybody in theworld, we have been ruining their lives, ifyou were of a country like that you hadto defend yourselves. But especiallyMuslim people, they would really makefun of their customs.

MIM: Did they give you reasons whyyou should be fighting?

Joe: They did try to instill that [theenemy] is wrong because they are notcapitalist and they are not the same, but Ithink mainly the training was about makingenemies seem like anybody that is againstthe U.$. is completely worthless and nothuman and therefore it is OK to kill them.

MIM: You may have read the newslately about the U.$. sending troops tothe Philippines, they say to fight against

Abu Sayaaf, a small terrorist band. [Thereis more evidence linking Abu Sayaaf tothe Philippine military and the AmerikanCIA than to Al Queda, and Abu Sayaafmembership has dwindled to under 200.]But in reality the U.$. uses their troops inthe Philippines both to train the Filipinomilitary and to actively suppress therevolutionary movement there. What doyou think about what’s going on with theU.$. military there?

Joe: I think that the U.$., it isn’t just inthis situation, they don’t have the right todo whatever they want, they’re not theleaders of the world. They’re going inthere against the will of the entire country.And putting a different name on it thanwhat their real intentions are. I think U.$.

involvement in the Philippines has alwaysbeen about having their own power andbecause of that I think the leaders thereare really corrupt, but I don’t think that’sa result of the country itself, that’s a resultof the U.$. involvement. The more U.$.involvement in the Philippines the worsepeople turn out. All their resources aregetting stolen, all the people are beingexploited for low wages. Meanwhilethey’re not doing anything to help people.They make them reliant on Amerikaninvolvement so that they won’t want themout. And then generations pass and theywon’t realize that it could be different.That makes a movement for the U.$. tobe out a lot harder as if it’s always beenlike that.

MIM adds: Joe’s application for COstatus is based on his moral opposition towar. He is firm in his pacifist stancestating that he would never use violence.MIM, on the other hand, points to theexample in the Philippines to explain whywar, on the part of the oppressed people,is necessary. This is revolutionaryviolence, a just peoples war to throw offtheir oppressors. These are oppressorswho have demonstrated that they won’tback down without a fight. And theyleave the people no choice but to starve,dye of preventable diseases, be killed inimperialist wars, or fight back.

MIM: What do you hope to gain bypublicizing your case?

Joe: I know it’s really idealistic but theother day I was thinking about what isgoing to happen. I really don’t know

AWOL youth challenges Amerikan militarywhat’s going to happen to me, I’llprobably go to jail for a little while. But ifI’m going to go to jail, everything’s goingto be the same anyway, why not get more... to rethink things. I know when I wasin active duty I was always talking topeople, whenever I could, about theirviews and why they have their views andare you sure that’s not just training, tojust get people to think because I don’tthink there’s a lot of that in the military.You’re taught not to think. And maybesome people will change their mind.

MIM: I would add that it’s not just abouteducating people in the military but alsoyou can educate people on the outside.

Joe: Who knows, this is a crazy war,it’s not just this war, and they might re-implement the draft. People who aren’tin the military can still apply forconscientious objection. People can applyfor that beforehand. I think in yournewspaper most people will probablyalready be in that viewpoint.

MIM adds: We stand with Joe andothers who have gone AWOL or aretrying to get out of the military to avoidparticipating in this imperialist war on Iraqand other Amerikan militarist excursionsaround the world. We applaud his couragein taking this stand publicly to help buildthe anti-war movement. Although MIMdoes not agree with Joe’s pacifism, weunite in supporting the just opposition toAmerikan imperialism around the world.And MIM hopes that all pacifists will stepforward to promote an anti-imperialistmessage and condemn U.$. militarism.

‘I think mainly thetraining was aboutmaking enemiesseem like anybodythat is against theU.$. is completelyworthless and nothuman andtherefore it is OK tokill them....’


Amerikkkan and British music may beentirely appropriate. I have to scratch myhead: Amerikkkans are bombing yourcountry (Kampuchea) and you expectyour parents to be trusted when they giveyou (as a child) Disney books to read inthe midst of that. Where there is no war,there is no big deal, but where there iswar, a child may want a Disney book, butparents should know better as a matterof an adult and realistic sense of priorities.Scoring points against MIM over aDisney book while not rebutting that theUnited $tates cut off food aid toKampuchea in 1975 shows a twistedsense of priorities befitting only oflackeys.

The Third World is in the underdogposition. For the Third World to correctAmerikkkan imperialism at the source,some “excesses” are going to happen.We should not dampen anti-Amerikkkanism, but instead fan it untildecisive change comes about. In SanFrancisco, activists are talking aboutshutting down 70 buildings and institutionswhen war with Iraq starts. Yet, inIndonesia, the masses are talking aboutshutting down U.$. business operations.

The Indonesian proletariat should shutdown Freeport and Exxon-Mobil(3)

without fear that declining profits ormerely shuttered business will costAmerikkkan “workers” their jobs. Thebourgeoisie constantly seeks to dull thestruggle against U.$. imperialism bypainting some sympathetic picture of theaverage Amerikan, but it’s just more warpropaganda: there is no Amerikkkanproletariat. Amerika is one large exploitermass.

The rising tide of anti-Amerikanism (andnot just anti-Bushism) is a correct andjust expression of the global proletariat.Increasingly that expression leavesbehind the politically hobbled callingthemselves “Marxist.” Anti-Amerikanismis a vague but broadly correct sentimentbased in the precise economic reality thatAmerikans and their closest allies benefitfrom exploiting the rest of the world andthat the Amerikkkans are the main propof that international order of exploitation.

Notes:1. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/

19/politics/19CND-POLL.html2. http://www.msnbc.com/news/

885222.asp?0cv=KB103. http://www.upi.com/

view.cfm?StoryID=20030319-070053-4046r

Tidal wave of public opinion against Iraq warContinued from previous page...


MIM onPrisons & PrisonersMIM seeks to build public opinion

against Amerika’s criminal injustice sys-tem, and to eventually replace the bour-

geois injustice system with proletarian jus-

tice. The bourgeois injustice system im-prisons and executes a disproportionately

large and growing number of oppressed

people while letting the biggest mass mur-derers — the imperialists and their lack-

eys — roam free. Imperialism is not op-

posed to murder or theft, it only insists thatthese crimes be committed in the interests

of the bourgeoisie.

“All U.S. citizens are criminals—accomplices and accessories to the crimes

of U.$. oppression globally until the day

U.$. imperialism is overcome. All U.S.citizens should start from the point of view

that they are reforming criminals.”

MIM does not advocate that allprisoners go free today; we have amore effective program for fightingcrime as was demonstrated in Chinaprior to the restoration of capitalismthere in 1976. We say that all prisonersare political prisoners because underthe dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, allimprisonment is substantivelypolitical. It is our responsibility toexert revolutionary leadership andconduct political agitation andorganization among prisoners —whose material conditions make theman overwhelmingly revolutionarygroup. Some prisoners should and willwork on self-criticism under a futuredictatorship of the proletariat in thosecases in which prisoners really did dosomething wrong by proletarianstandards.

Under Lock & KeyNews from Prisons & Prisoners

Illinois prisoner winscensorship battle toread MIM Theory

Revolutionary Clenched-fist salute,I’ve won battles against censorship of MIM

Theory 9, 11, 12 and 13. The victory was onAugust 21, 2002 — 31 years from the date ofComrade George Jackson’s assassination.The only exception was they took two pagesout of the MT11 about a prison work strike,but still provided me with the detached pages.So please let the prisoners in the IDOC knowthat they can use Schneider v. MenardCorrectional Center Publication ReviewCommittee via the Administrative ReviewBoard to receive MTs 9, 11, 12 and 13.

The Administrative Review Board has notrendered a decision regarding a grievance Ifiled concerning the Central PublicationsReview Committee of the IDOC denying meMIM Theory 2/3, 8 and 10, and I am pressingfor those things. The funds I have spent forcopies and postage fighting the censorshipof these MTs are well worth it. The fascistpigs label me Communist, Subversive, anti-Amerikkka, etc., because of how hard I fightand have fought the censorship ofCommunist material, but fuck ‘em.

I stayed in general population for ninemonths after doing three years in segregation.Now I’m back in segregation. It’s political.They are intentionally filing false charges andsegregating revolutionary, politically activeand conscious prisoners. They wereespecially anxious to segregate us when theyanticipated that Governor Ryan wouldcommute the sentences of prisoners on DeathRow, because they do not want revolutionaryelements to mix with each other. So they havesome former Death Row prisoners surroundedby agents and passive prisoners. Some formerDeath Row prisoners are also beingsegregated on false charges. Also, the u.s.government is ordering the prisons/captorsto identify and segregate/isolate dissidentprisoners, but I have the Maoist ideologywhen it comes to being attacked by the enemy.

In struggle,— an Illinois prisoner, 28 February, 2003MIM adds: Mao wrote “I hold that it is bad

as far as we are concerned if a person, apolitical party, an army or a school is notattacked by the enemy, for in that case itwould definitely mean that we have sunk tothe level of the enemy. It is good if we areattacked by the enemy, since it proves thatwe have drawn a clear line of demarcationbetween the enemy and ourselves. It is stillbetter if the enemy attacks us wildly and paintsus as utterly black and without a single virtue;it demonstrates that we have not only drawna clear line of demarcation between the enemyand ourselves but achieved a great deal inour work.” (“On the Third Anniversary of theFounding of the Chinese People’s Anti-Japanese Military and Political College,” May26, 1939)

Why MIM gives freesubscriptions toprisoners

An associate informed me that it would bein my best interests as a seeker of knowledge

and truth that I contact MIM... I am in asituation now where I can get my hands onvery limited reading materials unless it comesthrough the mail in the form of newspaper,pamphlets or copied papers. Books aren’tallowed, not even softbacks. I’m in what they(Department of Corrections) call the SMU(Special Management Unit), in layman’s termslocked down 23&1 [confined to his cell 23hours per day]. Truthfully speaking it’s notso harsh as some joints but it has it effects.

Now I’ve been in prison since I was a 15-year-old boy. I’m now on my 8th year of a lifeand no parole sentence—so compared to myoverall dilemma this unit I’m in is nothing.

Thank you kindly,—a Pennsylvania prisoner

Every bit countsDear MIM,This notation is in response to the

continuous injustice that’s being done to myfellow prisoners who are being treated unfairlyby the county, state and federal prisonsystems. Our problems behind these wallsinclude [lack of] mail privileges, parole,education and staff harassment.

In order to change the racist and biasedpolicies of this corrupt system, we have to:

1. Get our families, friends and loved onesinvolved in our struggle.

2. Stop spending on wants behind thesewalls and spend on our needs.

3. Support MIM and organizations who aretrying to support us and stop supporting thecommissary and stores which make us evenmore dependent on the system.

Eldridge Cleaver said, “You’re either partof the solution or you’re part of the problem.”Brothers and sisters behind these walls spendmillions of dollars a year on wants and cryabout our needs. If we start helping thestruggle more, we can make a change. If everyinmate just sends five dollars to MIM, imaginethe materials that could be bought.

—a Pennsylvania prisonerMIM responds: Donations are

indispensable to MIM’s work. Without themwe could not send the newspaper freeprisoners, to take one example. Generallyspeaking, a higher proportion of prisonersthan non-prisoners contribute— and theygive a higher percentage of their income. SoMIM extends this prisoner’s challenge to allnon-prisoners reading this page: we needyour support! Make checks or money ordersout to “MIM Distributors,” and send to POBox 29670, Los Angeles, CA, 90029-0670.

Prisoncrats steal MIMNotes

Comrades,I apologize for being under the impression

that you had forgotten about me. What yousurmised was correct. The prisoncrats held#264, #272, & #273 about a week and a half

ago. So there’s no doubt that they probablyhave some more that they haven’t given meand most likely won’t give me.

One thing the prisoncrats haven’t donewas give me a notice of what came and whatI wasn’t allowed to have. They just robbedme and expected me to never find out.

Respect,—a Pennsylvania prisoner

MIM’s take on BlackPanthers censored

Greetings,I have received three MIM papers from

you... However, the Black Panthers’ literature[MIM’s pamphlet “Maoism and the BlackPanther Party”] is being held and I’m nowfighting it with the Inmate GrievancesCommittee.

—a Pennsylvania prisoner

Texas budget cuts forprisoners

Many prisoners are writing to report theill effects of budget cuts on prisoners in theirstates, due to the weaker U$ economy andbudget problems facing state governments.For example, a Virginia prisoner recentlyreported that they are only getting two mealsa day now on weekends and holidays, tosave the prison system overtime pay. Here isa recent report from Texas. -MIM

Texas is in a $11.2 billion hole and has cuteverything back for so-called rats like us,including the state cheese. Security claims tobe short of funds, and that has a hold onhiring people (or, shall I say, fellow Klansmen),and our movement becomes more limitedevery day. Every plantation master (warden)is going to have fewer crumbs to throw us,and have to cut some jobs — and they willhave to close some of the 144 plantationsstatewide — in order for the governor to feelgood about the state’s downsizing stateprograms.

As far as slave labor, it continues, even onlockdown. President Bush hurt his fellowTexans because he ruined not only thecountry’s budget surplus but Texas’s as well.We’re lucky to get a piece of meat aroundhere; they’re cutting back on everything,such as vocational programs, GED forprisoners, food, clothes, bath towels, soap,medical needs, family phone calls, picturesduring visits, commissary privileges,recreation time, gym time, television time, andtime to eat the little food they do care to serve.

The only things that are improving aresecurity harassment, threats, censorship,limited movement...I am afraid because themore Texas does to TDCJ, the more theseemployees get revenge on us — it’s a truedomino effect. Commissary prices are sky-high for a state that doesn’t pay its prisonersone red penny, but hey, that’s one advantage

that TDCJ seldom acknowledges: no matterwhat shorts they face, or lack of personnel,they still have the largest free labor force inthis great country of God’s. We are the mightyTexans of slavery, and everybody who resistswill be disciplined accordingly, as a slave.

—A Texas Prisoner, February 2003

Mother of Texasprisoner exposes newforms of repression

I am writing to you in regards to my son’ssituation in a maximum security prison inTexas, the Michael Unit in Tennessee Colony.

He has told me that the Feds are now out ofthe picture in the Texas prison system, whichnow leaves the state to do whatever theychoose. He has raised a couple of key issuesfor himself and all his fellow inmates. Theyare as follows:

1) Visitors from a long distance (there’s acertain number of miles or hours of travelwhich determines whether a visitor is


Facts on U$ imprisonmentThe facts about imprisonment in the United $tates are that the United $tates has been the world’s leading pr

inside: awol interview * elizabeth smart * prisons * una página … · 2009. 1. 21. · april 15,...

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