San Francisco -- On July 4 MIM and RAIL attended a teachout hosted by the All People's Coalition to Stop U.S. Terror and Occupation entitled "Whose Independence?" Most speakers focused on the contradiction between the oppressed and oppressor nations, both in the United $tates and around the world. One speaker from the Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines spoke of U.$. oppression in the Philippines, starting with a history of "liberating" the country from Spain by killing off tens of thousands of Filipinos and creating a new colonial relationship with the U.$. Speakers from the Barrio Defense Committee detailed the history of oppression against the Mexican peoples whose land was stolen for U.$. "freedom" and who continue to face national oppression within u.s. borders. And a speaker from the African Peoples Solidarity Committee (APSC) stressed the role of the white nation within the U.$. in supporting the imperialist government, pointing out that Bush is just one man but it is the white people in this country who support him.

The keynote speaker, Omali Yeshitela, the chairman of the African People's Socialist Party (APSP), correctly stressed the terrorism of the U.$. around the world. Representing an internationalist viewpoint, he pointed out that "the vast majority of people in the world have a different relationship with imperialism than do white people in this country." And he went on to say "The question for all of us is what side will we stand on in this struggle."

A speaker from the Green Party seemed to have missed the message of those who preceded him, stating that he thought we were all in agreement on the political message and so he was just going to talk about "tactics." He went on to explain the importance of the electoral strategy in the U.$., contradicting the revolutionary message of the previous speakers, instead advocating working within imperialism to change imperialism. As we have already seen from the Green Party history, working within the system of imperialism leads to compromising with imperialism and supporting imperialist wars.(reference recent article about German Greens--can't search web site, mn archives are down right now).

MIM made a statement at the event, first commending the organizing groups for their understanding of the contradiction between oppressed and oppressor nations that characterizes imperialism today, and for the correct position on the white nation as a part of the oppressor and not as oppressed. The MIM speaker went on to discuss the meaning of the 4th of July:

In 1776 John Hancock wrote the Declaration of Independence and in part he wrote: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government. ... when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security."

We could go on to use John Hancock's words to describe what the United $tates is doing today: The history of the United $tates is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over the majority of the worlds people for the benefit of the minority, the Amerikan citizens.

The evidence for this is found throughout Amerikan history. During the war for independence with Britain 65,000 African slaves joined the British forces, over 10 for every 1 enlisted in the continental u.s. ranks. Seeking refuge from the slavemaster the Africans were enlisted in the British army to fight the settlers. And even many of those who fought on the side of the u.s. were disarmed at the end of the war and put back in chains in spite of promises of freedom for their blood sacrifices.

• From 10 million indigenous people who once inhabited land now called North America, after four centuries of settler invasion and rule, in 1900 there were maybe 300,000 surviving descendants.
• From the legacy of internal genocide and slavery the u.s. went on to colonialism around the world, killing millions to create puppet governments that support the Amerikan "right" to exploit the people and resources of the Third World. 40,000 children die every day in the Third World from starvation or simple preventable diseases. This is the legacy of imperialism where there is sufficient food to feed everyone but the rich get fat while the poor die of starvation.

At home, the United $tates has been the world's leading prison-state per capita for the last 25 years. To find a comparison with U.$. imprisonment of Black people, there is no statistic in any country that compares including apartheid South Africa of the era before Mandela was president.

The rich and the U.S. government spend money at home and abroad to win elections. When the Yankee imperialists and their lackeys lose elections they send in the Marines and depose elected governments or pay to subvert them. Money or guns settle the matter, not the interests of the majority. The u.s. government serves the minority: the settlers in this country who have achieved wealth and power at the expense of the majority of the world's people.

The rights to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" should be unalienable Rights, and those who deny the people these rights, enforcing starvation, disease and poverty on the people, should be actively repressed. The majority has a right to rise up and overthrow the Amerikan tyranny by whatever means necessary. And we in this settler society have a responsibility to support the just struggles of the nations oppressed by Amerikan imperialism.

After MIM spoke an audience member rose his hand and asked if he could make a "pro-Amerika" statement. MIM takes this as a sign that our message was clear: we condemn Amerika for it's history of genocide and for the genocide that is ongoing Amerikan imperialism. Afterward a number of people at the event stopped by our literature table to commend MIM's correct line on the historical reality of the United $tates.

MIM unites with the member organizations of the All People's Coalition (which does not include the Green Party) in their correct position on Amerikan imperialism and the principal contradiction between oppressed and oppressor nations. And we find significant unity with the correct position of the APSP and APSC describing the white nation within u.s. borders as a privileged, not oppressed, nation which benefits materially from imperialism. These groups all fall firmly in the camp of anti-imperialism. But MIM goes further to advocate Maoism and the need for a communist party to lead the revolutionary struggle. We work with anti-imperialist groups such as these but maintain our independence to advocate the revolutionary communist perspective as a part of our work within imperialist countries of building public opinion.