Introduction to Issue 14

Welcome to the Fall 2009 issue of 4SM. Once again we have brought you some sharp, revolutionary analysis, opinion and information from the hearts, minds and lives of some of America’s long held political prisoners, along with other rebel voices.

Issue 14 has 4 sections. Section one is on ‘War, Imperialism and Resistance.’ The lead article on ‘Afghanistan and Obama,’ is followed by information on ‘The Black is Back Coalition and March.’ This new formation may be just what the freedom struggle needs right now – check it out and see what you think. We also have a firsthand account from the streets of Pittsburgh during the G20 gathering.

Section two is ‘Theory and Practice,’ which begins with some analysis of the lumpen proletariat. The ‘Prison Round Trip’ and Bill Dunne’s introduction to this long piece discuss urban guerrillas and prison.

The third section, ‘Prison Struggle and Political Prisoners’ is the longest and has lots of information, updates and bios on u.s. political prisoners. There are other articles like the ‘Invisibility of Women’s Prison Resistance,’ the ‘Survivors Manual’ for seg/control unit prisoners, and a ‘Round-up’ of the RDTW’s runs that you will want to read. We also offer up other goodies – poems and some book suggestions, which would make very good xmas and holiday gifts.

With the approaching holidays/New Year, let me send Kwanzaa and Red Season’s Greetings to all my political prisoners comrades, to revolutionary prisoners everywhere and to all freedom fighters, activists, radicals and protectors of our Earth. There is a lot of work to do and we have a brand New Year coming up in which to do it!

See you all in issue 15 – out in March 2010. We will be out before International Women’s Day, and issue 15 will feature the struggles of women – sisters in particular. Send us your words!

Freedom is a constant struggle,

Jaan Laaman, editor

Letters

Write to 4strugglemag! We welcome your views and analysis in the form of letters, articles, poems and artwork. Please let us know if we have permission to print your letters.

A Note on writing for 4SM

We value input from our readers. We print a lot of unsolicited articles and you are welcome to send in your revolutionary thoughts, poems, information and feedback. Make sure you have something to say, either contributing to an ongoing discussion at 4SM or offering revolutionary insight on some social, political, economic or military issue. Your writing does not have to be prison related. We want to at least maintain and actually upgrade the quality of writing in 4SM. The content, thoughts and ideas are most important, but the form, grammar, spelling, smooth flow of ideas and words, is also important. So send us your finished, proofread, final draft. We do have editors at 4SM who will help writers develop and finish their articles if necessary. We ask everyone to do their best writing for articles they send to 4SM.