ATIK | Confederation of Workers from Turkey in Europe | AHM-ATIK News Center
GERMANY | 02 – 11 – 2009 | It is now for almost 27 years that the African American journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal has been on death row in Pennsylvania, U.S.A., as a political prisoner. His trial and his conviction for murder were a typical example for racist bias and class justice.
The presiding judge denied Mumia the funds necessary for a defense and called him a “n….r”, the prosecutor first picked a jury which consisted almost exclusively of conservative White males, and then proceeded to paint a picture of the defendant as an ice-cold, ultra-leftist killer. In this trial, tainted as it was by racism and political repression, the former Black Panther Party spokesman Mumia never had a chance and was sentenced to death.
All the same, the unbearable conditions of incarceration on death row Mumia has had to suffer for so long have neither broken him nor snuffed his voice. Even there, he doesn’t give up and continues to write and broadcast against the injustices of capitalist society. Why we support Mumia Abu-Jamal:
The death penalty is racist: Close to a half of all inmates of death row in the Unites States are African Americans. The death penalty is directed against the poor: More than 90 % of those on death row are poor.
With regard to this, Mumia Abu-Jamal is just one case of many: He was Black, he was poor, and he couldn’t afford to pay for a real defense. His case thus stands for thousands of others. In addition, he is a political activist who is a thorn in the side of the authorities and the powerful.
In all these past years in prison, Mumia hasn’t just fought for his own freedom, but has also tirelessly struggled for all those sentenced to death everywhere in the world. As a “voice of the voiceless,” as he had come to be called even before his imprisonment on account of his work as a radio journalist, he gives a voice and a face to millions of prisoners and all those in society who get no representation in the “respectable” media.
In April 2009, the Supreme Court of the United States once more demonstrated what many people in the U.S. already know as the “Mumia exception”: Any existing law or procedure is reinterpreted or simply ignored whenever they represent an obstacle to the design of the judiciary and their political masters to punish Mumia for refusing to give in.
After the April 2009 U.S. Supreme Court decision made definitely clear that Mumia will not be given a new trial, there is now only one additional Supreme Court decision pending, which is scheduled for autumn 2009: namely, whether the death 1982 sentence is simply reconfirmed, or whether it is not confirmed, in which case the prosecution will be entitled to get a new jury which will then decide on whether Mumia is re-sentenced to death or “only” gets life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In this fateful decision, the Supreme Court of the U.S. found no more than two words to comment on this judicial scandal concerning the political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, which has now been publicly known for almost three decades: “Petition denied.” They want to execute Mumia, or to bury him in prison for the rest of his life.
The prosecution in Philadelphia (aka the District Attorney’s Office) is striving for Mumia’s execution at any price and exerts great pressure to achieve that goal. According to his lawyer, Robert R. Bryan, since his arrest in December 1981 Mumia’s life has never been in greater danger than right now.
So far, worldwide protests were able twice – in 1995 and 1999 – to prevent an execution that had already been ordered. It’s no different today: Only a broad international protestand solidarity can bring about a situation that makes it impossible for the authorities to carry out the planned murder of Mumia at the hands of the state.
Of course, Mumia’s defense team will continue to exhaust all possible legal steps to save him from execution. But regardless of what happens on the legal front, Mumia himself, his defense, and his supporters all around the world have always stressed the fact that political trials can’t be won merely in the courtroom, but are actually primarily won in the streets.
One of the present strategies of the solidarity movement in the U.S. is to exert political pressure on the Obama administration. Of course, everybody knows that to expect a fair treatment of political prisoners from the U.S. government is just as unrealistic as to expect such from the racist U.S. criminal justice system. All the same, the solidarity movement in the United States strives to hold the administration responsible in the broad
daylight of the public sphere and to force it to take a stance, motivated not least by its (so far hollow) electoral promises of a “change” of the government’s position with regard to racism in the courts.
One of several expressions of this drive is the demand by the nation’s largest civil rights organization, the NAACP, for a “Civil Rights Investigation” by the government concerning the documented racism in the course of the various courts’ handling of the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Solidarity is a Weapon!
Organize the Emergency Protests! Build Up the Movement!
What can the worldwide solidarity movement for Mumia contribute to vigorously support the demands of the U.S. activists? How can we, from our geographical location, increase the political pressure on the Obama administration?
Write Mumia to His Prison Address!
It is important that Mumia gets as much mail from different countries as possible. Since the authorities check every single piece of mail addressed to him, every mail bag filled with letters to Mumia represents a kind of silent protest demonstration that the judiciary and the government will undoubtedly notice. By doing this, we can clearly show them that Mumia Abu-Jamal isn’t forgotten even after 27 years of solitary confinement on death row – and that we are very well informed about the plans of the courts and will continue to watch them with diligence.
There are numerous additional good suggestions how to help Mumia on an individual basis. But we must also be clearly aware that we will need powerful collective protests should the racist U.S. criminal justice dare to reinstate the death penalty against Mumia.
Together with the numerous Mumia support groups and coalitions, the Rote Hilfe (Red Aid) is calling for a nationwide demonstration in Berlin for the life and freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal, as well as for the abolition of the death penalty. This demonstration will take place on the last Saturday before a possible future execution date for Mumia; the exact day will be announced immediately after the latter becomes known.
Compared to the situation in 1995 and 1999 when the first two execution dates against Mumia had to be canceled due to a successful interplay of legal appeals on the part of the defense and massive protests by the worldwide solidarity movement, right now mass protests in front of U.S. embassies and other U.S. institutions all around the world will be even more decisive, since differently from the 1990s this time around we won’t be able to stop the execution by legal means, as Mumia has already exhausted his ordinary legal
appeals.
“Mumia 3 + 12”
In case that the U.S. judiciary and the political forces behind it should really try to put their death threats against Mumia into practice, the FREE MUMIA movement additionally calls for a decentralized day of action: At 12 AM (or, if necessary, at a later hour) on the 3rd day after the reinstatement of Mumia’s death sentence, institutions of the U.S. government as well as dependencies of U.S. corporations should then be targets of protests and acts of civil disobedience.
Nobody knows the exact date of the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that will either give the green light for Mumia’s execution, or force the prosecution to apply for another sentencing trial if they want to see Mumia dead. But that decision could come any time after October 5. Should it confirm Mumia’s death sentence, there will possibly be only very little time left until the governor of Pennsylvania signs an execution order and
schedules a new execution date. If we start to think about forms of resistance against this state-sponsored judicial murder only then, it will already be too late.
But if the preparations for this worst case scenario begin right away, the necessary political pressure will also develop from right now on! – So what are we waiting for?
Without You, It Can’t Be Done:
Organize the emergency protests – Get loud, become active!
As soon as an execution date is set, everything must be done very quickly; mass protests must be organized and realized, and everything has to be already in place for them. And most of all, everyone should be aware that the necessary mobilization can be effected only with the support and participation of thousands upon thousand of people.
Solidarity Is a Weapon!
For the Life and Freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal!
No State has the Right to Murder Prisoners – Abolition of the Death Penalty
Everywhere!
Free Leonard Peltier! Free All Other Political Prisoners!
“Mumia 3 + 12” Decentralized Day of Action on the 3rd Day after the
Confirmation of Mumia’s Death Sentence – 12 AM (or, if necessary,
later that day)
National Demonstration to the U.S. Embassy on the last Saturday
before the Planned Execution! 2 PM / Oranienplatz, Berlin
YES WE CAN – Free Mumia!
ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY!
For the Life and Freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal!
