MIM Notes 280 · April 15, 2003 · Page 1
MIM Notes
April 15, 2003, Nº 280
The Official Newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM)
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THOUSANDS RISE AGAINST U.$. INVASION
NEW YORK
RALLIES
AGAINST
THE WAR
Manhattan,
March 22
D
emonstrators packed more than
20 blocks of Broadway and
marched toward Washington
Square on a sunny and comfortable
Saturday afternoon. Three wimmin
stepped forward to help MIM Notes
distribution at the rally. The Manhattan
demonstration marked a record month for
MIM distribution and the day after it, the
MIM web site showed that weekly
website traffic was up 50% over the
previous month.
As usual there were a lot of bullshit
arrests at the demonstration, but
compared with the previous New York
demonstration, this one went much more
smoothly with much less police cost.
Perhaps New York City found itself
embarrassed how Washington DC
managed to run a rally with thousands
fewer cops than New York did.
One police source estimated over
200,000 demonstrators,(1) and that is
evident from the ground level; however,
without a helicopter, it would have been
impossible to see the whole
demonstration, so MIM offers no official
estimate. Estimates ran from over 100,000
to one million. Even on some of the same
television stations, headlines varied based
on who they quoted.
Illusions about Democrats
According to CNN, the vast majority
of Democrats in Congress voted yet
again to support the war on March 21st:
"The House resolution, approved on a
392-11 vote, `expresses the unequivocal
support and appreciation of the nation' to
ANTI-WAR
ACTIVISTS
SHUT
DOWN SAN
FRANCISCO
San Francisco,
March 20
T
housands of anti-war activists
took to the streets of San
Francisco starting at 7am this
morning, staging civil disobedience
throughout the downtown area to shut
down streets and prevent business as
usual. Organized by the anarchist Direct
Action to Stop the War, the protest
focused on 20 key intersections from
which organizers encouraged people to
pick and put together their own groups
for a protest. Over 1,000 arrests are
estimated by 7pm and some
demonstrators are still in the streets. This
followed a demonstration attended by
thousands who marched through pouring
rain the night before deploring Bush's 48
hour deadline to Iraq. Most of these
protesters were still in the streets on the
19th when we got word from passers-by
that the bombs had started falling.
Activists in San Francisco are showing
the world that they understand the
seriousness of the imperialist war on Iraq
and they are willing to make sacrifices,
stay out all day and night, to stand up
against the Amerikan empire.
Throughout the day groups of people,
ranging from groups of 20 to several
thousand, picked intersections and sat
down. These protests gathered strength
as others joined in. The police then moved
in to the intersections, surrounded and
arrested those who refused to move from
the street. Some intersections were held
by protesters for hours as police were
unable to get from one location to another
or gather together enough troops to take
on the crowds. Some protesters chained
themselves to cement blocks to make it
harder for police to move them. After
several attempts protesters finally were
able to get past police in the evening to
blockade the ramps to the bridge across
the bay, a key source of after work traffic.
Protests also shut down key businesses
Global anti-Amerikanism
is just and necessary for
eventual world peace
People often ask us at the Maoist
Internationalist Movement, "how can you
make any political headway by insulting
the people you should be organizing?" We
get this question most often when we
speak of the "Amerikkkan," who we
accuse of national supremacist ideas.
In 90% of the world's countries and
historical situations, our critic is right, just
not in the case of U.$. imperialism and
imperialism today generally. In most
countries, it makes no sense to insult the
majority of the population or tell them to
their face that they are today's equivalent
of Nazis or other repugnant national or
racial supremacists.
George W. Bush is repeatedly
mentioning the word "appeasement"
when speaking of those who oppose war
on Iraq. The term "appeasement"
referred to England's stance toward Nazi-
Last spring, following a series of
bombings on the southern Philippine island
of Mindanao, Philippine President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo convinced
lawmakers to pass a tough "anti-terror"
bill. While several of the groups charged
with the bombings denied any
involvement, evidence is mounting against
one group Macapagal-Arroyo has not
charged: the United $tates government.
Amerikan Michael Meiring lost both his
legs and suffered second and third degree
burns over 40%
of his body
when a bomb
exploded inside
his Davao City
hotel room on 16
May, 2002. He
was eventually
charged with
terrorism. "City
prosecutor Raul
Bendico said ... Meiring apparently
attempted to set up explosives intended
to blow up Evergreen Hotel when the
explosion went off..."(1)
Meiring was under police guard at a
Davao City hospital when agents of the
U.$. Federal Bureau of Investigation and
National Security Agency whisked him
to a chartered plane and a hospital in
Manila. Amerikan vice-consul Michael
Newbill paid Meiring's Davao City
hospital bill. While in Manila, only
Meiring's doctor, handpicked by the U.$.
Embassy, had access to him. Meiring was
later flown to San Diego.(1)
According to one of Meiring's friends,
the U.$. Embassy claimed "that Michael
would never be charged with a crime in
connection with the explosion. The
investigation will end up at a stone wall.
Michael will be protected and eventually
taken back to the safety of the United
Anti-Amerikan
protests in
Seoul, Buenos
Aires, Zurich,
Pakistan,
Greece, and
Paris were
among
thousands
around the
world.
Tidal wave of public opinion against Iraq war
U$A fakes terror in Philippines
Continued on page 5...
Continued on page 4...
Continued on page 6...
Continued on page 8...
MIM Notes 280 · April 15, 2003 · Page 2
What is MIM?
The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is the collection of existing or emerging
Maoist internationalist parties in the English-speaking imperialist countries and their English-
speaking internal semi-colonies, as well as the existing or emerging Maoist Internationalist
parties in Belgium, France and Quebec and the existing or emerging Spanish-speaking
Maoist Internationalist parties of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the U.$. Empire.
MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-speaking
parties or emerging parties of MIM. MIM upholds the revolutionary communist ideology
of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and is an internationalist organization that works from the
vantage point of the Third World proletariat. MIM struggles to end the oppression of all
groups over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM knows this is only possibly 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 humyn history. (3) As Marx, Engels and Lenin formulated and MIM has
reiterated through materialist analysis, imperialism extracts super-profits from the Third
World 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 to
advance Maoism within those countries because their standards of living depend on
imperialism. 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 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.
Editor, MC206; Production, MC12
Letters
MIM Notes
The Official Newsletter of The Maoist Internationalist Movement
ISSN 1540-8817
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comrades in order to avoid the state surveillance and repression that have historically
been 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-
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MIM gets it right on
Democrats
Dear MIM,
Fabulous analysis on Kerry and other
Southern democrat races in Dec. '02
MIM Notes [MN271]. The essay told me
more than I'd ever get from sources like
"The Nation," which now appears to be
nothing but a smokescreen of nonsense
put out by political writers barking at each
other--a mere diversion for persons who
have not yet learned that both parties are
a meta-party of elite I like to call "gluttons
of privilege."
-- an Oklahoma prisoner,
15 March 2003
NDF comrade says
`Carry on the Maoist
thought!'
Dear MIM:
I am a revolutionary cultural worker in
the philippines. I admire your support for
the philippine national democratic
revolution. ... Anyway, it was nice to know
that there are other marxist, leninist and
maoist people in the world under the
MIM. Long live the international working
class movement!
--Comrade X,
March 2003
Anarchist says not to
support Amazon
Dear MIM:
I'm writing in regards to your movie
review section on your website. First, I
must say that I'm impressed by the
amount of movies you've been able to
review and find them very entertaining. I
do, however, have one concern. You
recommend many movies to the public
and even supply a link to a website that
distributes the particular movie. My
concern is that the distributor is almost
always amazon.com. It seems curious to
me that anti-capitalists would encourage
others to buy from a huge corporation who
is a known union-buster. It would be great
if alternatuves could be found and used
instead of relying on capitalists at amazon
to bring the revolution.
Take the struggle to the people!
--an Anarchist reader, March, 2003
Web Minister responds for MIM:
MIM is recommending a number of
Hollywood movies, by which we mean
movies financed by imperialism through
monopoly controlled-banks. This has to
do with our take on applying a dialectical
materialist view.
We at MIM do not believe all good
things come from alternative lifestyles
somehow outside the system. Nor do we
necessarily love the petty-bourgeoisie
more than the "huge corporation."
Instead, we believe capitalism
dialectically gives rise to its grave-diggers.
That means we believe in this case that
Hollywood does give rise to some
movies--maybe 5% or 10% (an estimate
is something we have yet to vote on at
MIM)-- that tend to undercut capitalism.
If we target Amazon, it does not stop
the fact that the monopoly capitalist film
producers have their monopoly capitalist
distribution networks. The IWW
incorrectly targets monopoly capitalists for
boycotts based on raising the status of
the petty-bourgeoisie instead of the
interests of the proletariat.
The IWW has disproportionate
presence in bookstores in the U$A. Thus,
we receive letters like this one asking us
to support reform struggles for bookstore
wages.
However, if we boycott Amazon, it
means that people will buy more of their
movies at malls. The same malls throwing
out people for buying and then wearing
peace t-shirts will benefit if we boycott
Amazon. Read for example about the
Crossgates Mall near Albany, New York
that had some t-shirt wearers arrested.
That's the nature of the capitalist system.
Hence, in fighting reform struggles like
the IWW is fighting for bookstore workers
makes it even more crucial to correctly
define friends and enemies. A strike can
only succeed within such a system by
playing one capitalist faction against
another while also mobilizing the workers.
Boycotting Amazon necessarily benefits
another faction of capitalists: that's why
we call it a system.
That means that every struggle that
rewards the Amerikkkan petty-
bourgeoisie leaves us one less faction of
capitalists to play off on behalf of the
international proletariat. MIM would
rather at this moment be punishing the
mall capitalists for illegally stopping peace
movement activities on their premises
than punishing Amazon for busting a
petty-bourgeois union.
Such choices have to be made all the
time--even in our reform struggles. At
root, the oppressed and exploited of Iraq
should carry much more weight in our
minds at the moment than the bookstore
unions of the u.$.A. The security guard
lost his job for arresting the t-shirt wearers
in the Crossgates Mall. We say good
riddance. Let the monopoly capitalists
come down from their offices and arrest
people in the mall themselves and let all
security guards heed this example. We
don't need any sympathy for the petty-
bourgeoisie that is going to stop us from
correctly focussing our fire.
Note: http://www.timesunion.com
MIM Notes 280 · April 15, 2003 · Page 3
AWOL youth
challenges
Amerikan
military
In February MIM interviewed a young
man who is AWOL from the Amerikan
military and is actively seeking
conscientious objector status in opposition
to the U.$. wars. Joe (not his real name)
is not just seeking to avoid combat, he
has become an activist speaking out
against the Amerikan military and its
imperialist wars attending marches and
rallies.
Joe explained his current situation: "I'm
supposed to be down in Camp [X]
relieving the active people there and
sending them on their way. I'm supposed
to be down there going `go shoot
someone for me, rah rah.' From what
they tell us, we would probably have been
[there] for a year and then who knows
where they would send us. They would
send us to wherever the war is at then.
The CO status I am applying for is for
someone who is opposed to all war. I
don't want to participate in any war
whatsoever."
Many youth in Amerika, especially
oppressed nation youth, join the military
looking for direction, money or a job. Joe
explained why he joined the military: "Like
other people trying to get out of a difficult
situation; I was at a low point, I was
depressed and a lot of recruiters take
advantage of that. And I needed money
for school, it was just things like that.
Nothing was going right in my life and I
wanted a direction, and I think that was
the main reason I joined."
MIM: How have your views on the
military have changed, why do you now
want to get out?
Joe: I decided I wanted to get out while
I was still in training. I never realized how
hypocritical it had been for me to join; I
thought I was just a reservist so I can
just be there on the weekend. When I
was in boot camp I was exposed to so
many things about what the military does.
How they train people I think is crazy.
Beforehand I think the only strong
feelings I had was that I was anti-violence
and pro-civil rights. But then when I was
exposed to everything I learned that I
really was anti-war and that's their
business. Plus they were trying to teach
me to hate myself and dehumanize
people. My convictions against these
things are so strong now.
Some of the training is really crazy.
We'd have combat training and every
time we made a blow we had to shout
out "Kill." And we had to fight each other,
we had to hit each other hard and I never
could really do that. If we didn't hit each
other hard we were punished because we
had morals about violence. The changes
that I saw in other people that were going
along with the program; you'd see them
break down and all of a sudden they have
Continued on page 9...
LOS ANGELES, Saturday, 22 Mar
2003--Protestors have taken to the
streets here every day since President
Bush ordered the Amerikan military to
expand its war on Iraq. On Thursday
more than 3,000 protestors gathered in
front of the Westwood Federal Building
and shut down busy Wilshire boulevard
for several hours. On Friday actions
snarled traffic in several widely-spaced
locales, including downtown and
Westwood. Today around 10,000 people
marched to the CNN building in
Hollywood and then sat down in the
world-famous intersection at Hollywood
and Vine.
MIM finds the pace of events
encouraging. As we wrote in January:
"There are many movements that can
sustain a one demonstration event, but
sustaining energy over consecutive days
is more difficult. If the situation with Iraq
continues into the spring without decisive
U.$. victory, we can predict that it should
be a hot one politically based on the
upswing in determination and numbers
seen in the streets." There are more
events planned here for tomorrow and
another large rally scheduled next
weekend.
MIM, RAIL and SLALA passed out
over 1,100 copies of MIM Notes today
and collected over 600 signatures on a
petition opposing John Ashcroft's
proposed Patriot Act II.
Organizers of today's march focused
their ire on CNN as a propaganda tool
for U.$. imperialism. They passed out
signs saying, "CNN: War is not
entertainment" and "CNN: Afraid to show
us REAL reality TV?" MIM saw a hand-
made sign with the slogan, "Embedding
or in bed with?" This was a reference to
the U.$. military's practice attaching
journalists to military units in the field and
regulating their communications
equipment. The Pentagon warned
journalists that unauthorized transmissions
"are likely to be fired upon."(1)
A SLALA comrade rebuked a local TV
news cameraman for showing up at the
end of the rally to cover the arrests of
protestors engaged in civil disobedience.
Local coverage has typically focused on
confrontations with police to the exclusion
of the protestors' politics, while giving flag-
waving soccer moms five minute segments
to blather on about "my country, right or
wrong." When asked what kept him from
the bulk of the protest, the cameraman
answered, "I had a little league game"--
indicative of how serious mainstream
Amerikan media takes its supposed role
of keeping the public informed.
Other hand-made signs included explicit
denunciations of Amerikan imperialism,
which MIM liked. As usual there were
also lots of signs and t-shirts attacking
George Bush's arrogance and supposed
stupidity, such as, "`Yee-hah' is not a
foreign policy." MIM is less into the anti-
Bush thing, except to the extent that
Bush's bumbling thuggery exposes the
systemic nature of Amerikan imperialism
(see e.g. the article on the protests in
Washington D.C. in this issue). To borrow
Amerikan General Tommy Franks'
phrase, this is not about one man, it's
about a corrupt and brutal system.
Many of the protestors knew of Patriot
Act II, Attorney General John Ashcroft's
proposal to close the "loop holes" in the
original Patriot Act. Patriot Act II would
remove judicial oversight of search
warrants, allow secret evidence and
secret trials, etc. etc.(2) One persyn who
signed MIM's petition likened the new
Patriot Act's provisions for stripping
Amerikans of their citizenship to the
Nazis' "Nuremberg Laws on Citizenship
and Race" of 1935. These laws
proclaimed, "A citizen of the Reich may
be only one who is of German or kindred
blood, and who, through his behavior,
shows that he is both desirous and
personally fit to serve loyally the German
people and the Reich."(3) The "logic" of
the Patriot Act II is that Amerikans who
Boston,
March 20
Several thousand people demonstrated
against the war today in the afternoon
and early evening. A group of student-
aged people started events with a rally
and march at 3:00. Then by 5 and 6pm,
thousands packed the Government
Center plaza where TV cameras had
awaited their presence the whole
afternoon.
Anti-terrorist sentiment strong
Signs reading "Bush is the terrorist"
and "Bush: War Criminal" also appeared
at the rally. A speaker at the rally who
admitted to preparing his speech days
ago said, "You cannot stop war crimes
by committing them."
Many people carried signs pointing out
that the bombing of Iraq would produce
terrorism, just as the first Gulf War
produced an anti-Amerikkkan Osama
Bin Laden.
Anti-Bush sentiment strong
The U.S. President George W. Bush
continued to face difficulties for being a
minority-elected president that much of
the public doubts both in temper and
intelligence. "Stop Mad Cowboy
Disease" is a sign making its way around
Massachusetts rallies. Other signs said:
"US: Hijacked by a Moron" and "W is
for War."
One man carried a sign saying,
"Impeach Bush: Which is worse, this or
oral sex?" The sign referred to the fact
that the House of Representatives
impeached Bill Clinton over oral sex with
Monica Lewinsky. At the same time, the
Bush administration fabricated evidence
about nuclear weapons in Iraq only to be
exposed by UN weapons inspectors.(1)
The government is not supposed to be
using taxpayers' money to lobby the public
with fake information stirring up public
opinion. It's supposed to be the other way
around, the public lobbying the
government, so that is another reason
Bush should indeed be impeached. As
MIM pointed out in its review of a book
co-authored by a UN weapons inspector,
Bush also played loose with the facts
about weapons inspections up through the
1990s in his "State of the Union"
address.(2)
Many in the world have concluded as
one sign-carrier in Boston did: "The
greatest threat to America is Bush."
Another sign in the Boston rally read: "I
want dumb bombs and smart presidents."
Despite all that, and despite the fact that
it is obviously true that Bush administration
diplomacy failed to bring even traditional
allies and right-wingers such as Chirac
fully on-board, the anti-Bush sentiment
does not really float MIM's boat. Above
all, we do not care for the anti-Bush
sentiment, because the Democrats voted
to support the war and passed the
resolution authorizing the funding for it.
As one by-stander noted about the sign
mentioning oral sex, Clinton also attacked
Iraq.
True, activists for anti-war Democrat
Howard Dean distributed fliers at the rally.
They seek to gather enough activists to
gain him the Democratic nomination for
president in 2004. Like many other
bourgeois, Dean wants a multilateral
bourgeois approach to Iraq and problems
of international law in general. He said,
"this is a job for the United Nations and
not for the United States of America."(3)
Fortunately, others at the rally pointed
out that Vermont governor since 1991
Howard Dean did nothing about the police
murder of Robert `Woody' Woodward in
Brattleboro Vermont on December 2,
2001 in front of several witnesses in a
church. The attorney general did not
prosecute the cops who shot him.(4)
It could be that with Bush in power, the
Amerikkkan people may learn a lesson
faster than ever before. The yahoos who
voted for him will only make political
progress if they see Bush carry out a true
Anti-war protests in Los
Angeles achieve steady pace
Continued on page 7...
Boston continues rallies against war
Continued on page 5...
MIM Notes 280 · April 15, 2003 · Page 4
Did you know?
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the latest on the
U$ war, and much
more. MIM's
website is an
indispensable tool
for the
revolutionary
movement. Get
involved!
www.etext.info/
Politics/MIM
Local news media demonized the
recent anti-war protests in San Francisco
as "violent," even going so far as to claim
that demonstrators were using their
children as humyn shields. Those who
attended the protests know that the
demonstrations only became violent when
police attacked and beat protesters. Local
news media gave equal time to the 100
or so pro-war protesters and the tens of
thousands of anti-war protesters.
This is why alternative media sources
are so important to activists. It is not a
successful strategy to rely on coverage
by mainstream media. Instead activists
need their own media, both to educate
and inform their ranks and to provide
information to the rest of the population.
The internet provides activists with an
excellent opportunity for alternative media
at low cost and in real time.
MIM's website (www.etext.info/
Politics/MIM) has grown exponentially
since September 11, 2001 as people look
for information, news, and alternative
analysis. The anarchist-run indymedia.org
has also taken off in the last few years.
The San Francisco indymedia site
explicitly works "to encourage a world
where globalization is not about
homogeneity and exploitation, but rather,
about diversity and cooperation."(1)
Particularly in Amerika, where the
majority of the population has a firm
economic interest in imperialism, our
protests are not going to easily gain the
support of the majority. But we can
educate many people about our reasons
for opposing imperialism. We gain their
attention when we protest and need to
take advantage of this to offer information
from our perspective. We cannot allow
corporate media to mis-interpret our
actions. We also need independent media
to educate activists who get involved in a
very narrow way. We can broaden their
understanding of the connection between
imperialism and oppression and give them
more opportunities to get involved. To join
MIM in making independent media
contact us or visit our web site (http://
www.etext.info/Politics/MIM).
Notes: 1. indymedia.org sites generally allow
anybody to post articles. The downside to this
is it allows reactionaries to publish
disinformation and bait progressive activists.
Media bias in Iraq war coverage
Many of the photos posted to indymedia also
include faces of activists, which might be used
against them by the cops. MIM's site is
moderated and hence is more secure and
accountable. MIM of course also puts forward
political line.
This photo by Eric Wagner, posted on sf.indymedia.org, exposes San Francisco's finest
whooping it up at a pro-war rally March 29.
including Bechtel Corporation which is
presently developing earth penetrating
nuclear weapons specifically designed for
use in Iraq to destroy the very weapons
Bechtel had supplied to the country. The
Federal Building was also surrounded for
most of the day with all four entrances
blocked by protesters. At these locations,
and in many intersections, police arrested
groups of protesters only to have waves
of others replace them.
Several incidents of police brutality
were documented including one attack on
a man videotaping a protest. His arrest
received national media attention after
cops dragged his young son off his
shoulders and proceeded to beat him with
billy clubs.
Demonstrators were almost entirely
peaceful with most people only committing
the crime of failing to obey traffic laws
(walking in the streets). There were minor
acts of property destruction or just street
obstruction with demonstrators moving
trashcans and newspaper boxes into the
streets. In several of the marches through
streets MIM witnessed demonstrators
removing the trashcans and newspaper
boxes back to the sidewalk.
In response to our questions asking why
they did this two people said they wanted
the protests to be non-violent. A MIM
activist pointed out that putting newspaper
boxes in the streets is no more violent
than blocking the streets with people. One
young womyn responded that she feared
the mainstream media would focus on the
boxes in the streets and people would get
the wrong message. To this MIM
responded that she should work to build
independent media because that is the
only solution to mainstream media
misinformation and misrepresentation of
protesters. It also shows a lack of vision
in the "non-violent" mainstream peace
movement MIM has criticized. Those
angling for votes for supposed "peace"
Democrats and wringing their hands over
a few overturned trash cans show a
remarkable tolerance for the marauding
nincompoops running this country.
The lack of literature at the protest was
also a problem with the anarchist style of
leadership. Both participants and
bystanders were without information on
the purpose of the protests or analysis of
the war. The few people carrying signs
provided the only propaganda for those
greeted by these demonstrations when
they showed up for work today.
Likely because of this lack of literature,
MIM found those attending the protest
were eager for any analysis and quickly
accepted copies of MIM Notes. Even
after MIM activists ran out of current
issues and started handing out old copies
they were taken as quickly as we could
hand them out at the intersections being
blockaded. The issue from 1999 with a
cover story on Amerikan humyn rights
abuses was popular and recipients agreed
it was still very relevant today. MIM
spoke with many activists who stated their
disgust with the war and criticized Bush
for his actions. We pointed out that Bush
would not be able to act without the
support of the government. The 1999
MIM Notes provided evidence that
Clinton was just as much an imperialist
with its story about his invasion of Kosovo.
Throughout the day civil disobedience
protests were conducted in other parts
of the Bay Area as well. One student at
the downtown protests reported that 50
students were arrested at Stanford
University. Thousands of students at
University of California, Berkeley held a
demonstration and took over a building.
Protesters marched and blocked streets
in Oakland, Richmond, Santa Rosa,
Sonoma and other surrounding cities.
MIM applauds the devotion and
enthusiasm of those who have taken the
streets of San Francisco over the past
week and we will work to turn this energy
into sustainable anti-imperialist organizing
as the U.$. moves from this imperialist
war on Iraq to others throughout the
world. Not all imperialist wars are as
sensational or involve overt bombing,
ground troops and such a publicity
campaign. Amerika carries out similar
operations every year. From CIA
operations to overthrow leaders unfriendly
to Amerika, to training and financing of
friendly militias, to funding military
dictatorships, to active military
ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS SHUT DOWN SAN FRANCISCO
Continued from page 1...
MIM Notes 280 · April 15, 2003 · Page 5
the members of the U.S. armed forces
and their families. And it also commends
the president for `his firm leadership and
decisive action in the conduct of military
operations in Iraq as part of the ongoing
global war on terrorism,' a line that
generated anger among some
Democrats."(2) 11 voted against, but
there are 205 Democrats and 229
Republicans in the House.
Despite the vote the day before, people
at the rally were carrying signs that
continued purely anti-Bush sentiments. In
fact, in sections of the march, the
demonstrators were chanting slogans
from the 2000 presidential campaign about
"staying out of the Bushes" etc.
The present reporter has to admit that
the funniest sign of the day was: "Yee-
hah is not a foreign policy." Yet if this
war is just a stupid Texas cowboy thing,
then we have no explanation why for
example Massachusetts Senator Kerry
voted for it. The fact is that Democrats
are more on-board than not and even the
best of them tolerate war-mongering that
should not be tolerated for the species to
survive.
People who see this war for what it is
do not tolerate it: they leave the
Democratic Party. There is no other way
to show intolerance for pre-emptive
strikes and predatory wars. People who
stay in the Democratic Party, because
they believe it is important to implement
gun control or nominate pro-choice judges
show a complete lack of proportion and
a lack of understanding how fascism
across-the-board comes about through
war. Staying in the Democratic Party
says that the lives of Iraqis, U.$. troops,
Palestinians and other Arabs involved are
less valuable than Amerikkkan lives, and
that is the recipe for eventual global
nuclear catastrophe. There is no people
on Earth that is going to put up with that
treatment, so the first step for any political
party has to be internationalism.
We will have to learn to fight outside
the Democratic Party for reproductive
rights and against crime including the
crimes of how criminals are punished. It's
not enough to fight for the select few
Amerikans and their welfare, education
NEW YORK RALLIES AGAINST THE WAR
and abortion rights. Without an answer
providing security for all people in the
world, more war and terrorism are
inevitable and that will lead to a steady
march down the fascist road, with the
likes of the Patriot Act (which Democrats
voted for) and Patriot Act II.
Let's be clear that we support the signs
that say: "Bush: War Criminal" and
"Bush: International Terrorist," but this
war needs to be defeated with more than
rehashed campaign slogans from 2000.
As MIM circulated in the crowd, we said,
"we have to improve this movement, gotta
get tougher" and variations on that theme.
We spoke with one demonstrator who
said, "I don't need this [MIM Notes]. I've
got it all up here [pointing to his head]"
for why he opposes the war. MIM pointed
out that the movement failed to stop the
war, so we have to improve. Improving
requires more study of more material and
learning more about power struggle.
Having the majority in England did not
stop Tony Blair and having over 80% of
the people against the war did not stop
Spain and Bulgaria from making a major
endorsement of it. With the "Labor Party"
in England in power in favor of the war,
Democrats are kidding themselves if they
think Democrats would have stopped the
war. The "Labor Party" is more "left" in
that tepid bourgeois spectrum than the
Democratic Party.
In "democratic" Australia, the people
opposed the war in over 80% of the
population, but the government still sent
2000 troops into battle. This is a lesson
that the people themselves must learn the
art of power struggle, and not leave it to
their elected representatives. We
followers of Marx, Lenin and Mao say
we know something about power struggle
outside of parliament and recommend the
experience of Lenin in getting Russia out
of World War I. Mao also defeated
financially better off, technically better
equipped enemies during World War II
despite the fact that the conventional
political parties of his day were much
bigger than the communists to start with.
With our numbers globally and in the
imperialist countries, the anti-war
movement should have succeeded, but we
have a problem with the desire and
knowledge of power struggle in our
movement.
The leaflets
MIM received a leaflet saying that
Islam does not condone "terrorism."
According to the leaflet there is a
difference between "Holy War" and
"jihad." Jihad could be just an internal
struggle in the mind for self-improvement.
From MIM's point of view,
www.WhyIslam.org showed that Islam
has a lot in common with Christianity and
Judaism. Muslims just ad