Socialist Action /April 2000
International Call to Action on May
13
Save The Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal!
Mobilize on May 13!
Leonard Weinglass, Chief Legal Counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal, has sounded
the alarm: The next 90 days will be more critical to the life of Abu-Jamal,
than the preceding 17 years.
Federal District Court Justice William Yohn must decide whether or not
to grant review to the record of false evidence and official perjury that
punctuated the 1982 trial where Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted and sentenced
to death through the most systematic violation of his civil and constitutional
rights.
On Pennsylvania's death row for 18 years, Abu-Jamal, an award-winning
journalist, proudly and resolutely stands before his would-be executioners,
proclaiming his innocence while championing the cause of all who suffer
injustice and repression.
This is the decisive moment! On May 13 mass demonstrations will be held
in San Francisco and Philadelphia to demand justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal.
We will fight to stop the execution and demand a new trial where, for the
first time, the court can hear the long-suppressed evidence that points
to Mumia Abu-Jamal's innocence.
We call upon every organization that cherishes human and democratic rights,
in every country, to reach out to greater numbers of people than ever before
to join a vast international mobilization to save the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
The streets of cities around the world must be filled on May 13 with a sea
of humanity demanding justice without delay.
Our voices are representative and embrace every walk of life. There are
religious leaders who have embraced our movement: Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, Martin Luther King III, and the Rev. E.
Randell Osburn of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
There are political leaders: Nelson Mandela, Danielle Mitterand, Dick
Gregory, and multiple members of parliament from across Europe to Brazil
and Martinique-as well as from the Japanese Diet and the European Parliament.
There are writers and artists: Aime Cesaire, Toni Morrison, Sonia Sanchez,
Harry Belafonte, Ossie Davis, Danny Glover, and Paul Newman.
There are trade-union leaders from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe,
and the United States. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union,
which last year shut down the West Coast of the United States in support
of Mumia Abu-Jamal, has raised the banner of worker action and solidarity
everywhere.
Mumia Abu-Jamal has been targeted by state authorities for over 30 years,
a record revealed in 800 pages of secret FBI and police files now in the
hands of the defense. May 13 also marks the 15th anniversary of the murderous
police bombing of the MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia. Mumia's support
of the democratic rights of the MOVE organization was a key factor in drawing
police attention to him.
Neither the courts nor the holders of government power are immune to
public outcry. Let us make the political price of official murder and injustice
in Mumia's case too high to pay as we reach across every boundary and frontier
on May 13 and mobilize in our many millions to save the life and win justice
for a heroic figure.
Let us insist that when the judicial process is perverted to violate
fundamental rights, the government intervene to ensure equal justice before
the law. Stop the execution! For a new trial now! Justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal!
Issued by: The International Concerned Family and Friends
of Mumia Abu-Jamal; The Emergency National Conference to Save the Life of
Mumia Abu-Jamal, February 19, 2000, New York City; May 13 Coalition/Mothers
Against Police Terror; The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal; and the
National Coordinators of Mumia's Defense, as follows:
Pam Africa, International Concerned Family and Friends
of Mumia Abu-Jamal · Safiya Bukhari, New York Coalition to Free Mumia
Abu-Jamal · Herman Ferguson, Malcolm X Commemoration Committee ·
C. Clark Kissinger, Refuse and Resist! · Jeff Mackler, The Mobilization
to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal (California) · Monica Moorehead, International
Action Center · Joan Parkin, Campaign to End the Death Penalty ·
Marcus Rediker, Western Pennsylvania Comm. to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal ·
Muhjah Shakir, Jericho Amnesty Movement · Mark Taylor, Academics
for Mumia · Leonard Weinglass, Chief Legal Counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal
· Steve Wiser, The Bruderhof Communities
(More information: See Philadelphia and San Francisco phone numbers
& websites in article on previous page.)
Socialist Action /April 2000 |