From: New Liberation News Service <nlns@igc.apc.org>
Subject: NLNS: LETTER FROM EXILE
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 17:38:35 GMT

/* Written  6:18 pm  Sep 29, 1992 by nlns in cdp:nlns.news */
/* ---------- "NLNS Packet 3.2 *** 9/28/92" ---------- */

Letter from Exile 
Ray Luc Lavasseur

(NLNS)--Remeber Eugene Debs? One of the first Socialists I ever 
read, before I moved on to the hardcore. I used to quote him in 
letters--"where there is a lower class I am of it, where there is a 
criminal element, I am in it, where there is a soul in prison, I am not 
free." I don't know if he wrote this before or after his stint in 
Atlanta, but it always impressed me. Enough so I named a cat after 
him.
	I don't think prisoners and their struggle need to be 
romanticized, but what phase have we entered when the 
liberals/left, including that hightly suspect group "progressives," 
make no mention of prisons? They write enough about police and 
police repression--check that--not enough, but more than about 
prisons, and then let it die on the vine as if humanity ceases to exist 
after booking.
	I don't think this lack of consciousness problem is so much 
that predominantly white, middle class leftists/liberals have never 
experienced prison. It's more a case of their not being personally or 
politically threatened by it.
	They go on and on about Big Brother, civil rights violations, 
suppression of dissent, etc., but they all go past "go" and collect 
their $200. They can play monopoly like the rich folks--without the 
Get Out of Jail Free card. That wasn't the case in the past.
	At the turn of the century through the '20s, radicals, Wobblies, 
immigrants, union organizers, felt the crunch. Communists and 
unionists in the '30s. Reds in the '50s. Enough radicals and militants 
in the '60s-'70s to make people think. Black, radical and otherwise, 
have long been held in the revolving door. And Latinos the last few 
decades.
	Nowhere do you come up against the power of the law and 
naked force as blatantly as it's wielded in prisons. A virtual 
slavocracy as embodied in the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. 
We have barely any rights the State is bound to respect.
	If the Left did have any consciousness about the issue--and 
some Leftists do--they're not likely to act on it because they lack 
the strength and resource to wage a vigorous struggle. In their 
publications, Leftists often refer to the risk of imprisonment due to 
their activities, but I wonder how many would remain active if they 
seriously thought their actions carried the risk of imprisonment or 
bodily harm.
	Prisoners often mirror-image what is happening in the street. 
With the exception of "criminal justice" issues, the general level of 
political consciousness among prisoners is low. They are ripe for 
new ideas and alternatives, but don't see any. Which is 
understandable given there is no organized movements presenting 
any offerings. This is a period of near total abandonment of 
prisoners. Combine that with the condition of survival and it tends 
to breed an unhealthy cynicism.
	Many Marion prisoners have been involved in individual and 
group acts of resistance over the years. For their efforts, they have 
been subjected to beatings, torture, transfers, isolation, more time-
-the whole nine yards.  They see nothing positive coming out of it 
other than maintaining their integrity while staring down the worst 
abuses. They get no support outside and solidarity is lacking inside. 
Their hopes hinge on one more crack at the street. One more payday 
or payback, and hell hath no fury like an enraged ex-con.
	For five years now, prisoners have been sentenced under the 
new rule of mandatory sentences with no parole. Young dudes are 
coming in with big time. You can't do time on the installment plan 
anymore--the sentences are too steep, with no parole release. You do 
more than a couple of bits and your whole life is gone. So, the 
prevailing attitude is next time why show any consideration to cops 
or witnesses since you're coming back for 20 to 30 after doing 10 to 
15. The prevailing informational exchange is based on methods of 
criminal operation.
	So while a totally unsuspecting and scammed soul takes refuge 
in the fact that 1.2 million women and men are locked away, the next 
generation is slipping up to the back door, and ex-cons come out of 
their own frightful situation without a pot to piss in and no 
prospects.
	The reason there was such a high level of political 
consciousness among prisoners of an earlier era was because they 
reflected what was happening on the streets of the country at an 
earlier time, and to a lesser degree, internationally. Prison 
conditions are such that confrontations and rebellion will continue 
regardless of the existance of external movements. The lowest 
common denominator with us, without significant outside support, 
is how much suffering and bleeding we will endure before we are 
willing and able to turn the situation around. Or has the current 
situation become a permenant and expanding part of a larger 
nightmare we are all getting sucked into?

Ray Luc Lavasseur can be reached at 10376/016, Box 1000, Marion, 
IL, 62959. 

--- 30 ---

Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive