Revolutionary journalist faces lite in prison-Supporters say: FREE MUMIA NOW!
On December 7th, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams announced he would no longer pursue the death penalty for Black revolutionary journalist and Pennsylvania political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. This announcement comes after an October llth US Supreme Court ruling that upheld a federal appeals court decision taking, the death penalty off the table. Abu-Jamal has been transferred to State Correctional Institute Maha-noy in Frackville, PA to serve life in prison without parole.
Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted in 1982 of the killing of a Philadelphia cop, has been on death row for 30 years. The trial was condemned by Amnesty International for failing to meet even minimal standards of fairness. That's putting things diplomatically: during the trial the judge promised he would help the prosecution 'fry the nigger/ Appeals courts have since ruled over their own precedents in order to keep Mumia in prison or on death row.
After one such precedent-trashing decision, which upheld Mumia's conviction by the same court which overturned his sentence, many of his supporters appealed to the U.S. Justice Depart-
ment and new Attorney General Eric Holder to open an investigation into the violations of Mumia's civil rights. Unsurprisingly, Holder sided with the racist corporate system which has kept Mumia in jail for so long; that is, he did nothing.
Mumia's supporters are not giving up. After all, without the hell-raising that they have done over the decades, Mumia would already be dead. They are taking the case to international arenas to embarrass the United States further and to deepen support domestically for his immediate release. As revolutionary anarchists, we endorse these efforts. Moreover, we say:
DOWN WITH THE COPS & THE COURTS!
Why?
(1)A long line of District Attorneys, beginning with former governor Ed Rendell, have made the case into political football rather than a search for truth. The current DA, Seth Williams, is merely the latest.
(2)Life in prison without parole is unacceptable. We demand the immediate release of Mumia Abu-Jamal, an innocent man. We demand his release based on the fact that he has served some 30 years in solitary confinement under a death sentence which has been found to be unconstitutional. The United Nation's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights recently stated that a period of more than 15 DAYS in solitary confinement constitutes torture.
(3)We also demand that the state cease to use prisons and the death penalty to terrorize working class and oppressed people.
(4)DA Williams should keep the promises of his predecessor, Lynn Abraham, who vowed to move to vacate any conviction based on improper evidence handling, perjury, and other abuses of justice in her own department.
As revolutionary class struggle anarchists we believe that in place of a state with its armies, cops, courts, and prison complex to enforce capitalism, people should be able to govern themselves through federations of democratic organizations. Production and work should be organized for meeting needs; the environment should be respected and sustained; and people should be judged by who they are, not by their race, gender,
or sexual orientation. To get there we advocate mass direct action, such as general strikes, boycotts, and blockades, against the capitalists and the state.
We demand Mumia be released immediately. First, we believe the ample evidence that he is innocent. Second, the capitalist state is the prime organizer of terrorism against working class and oppressed people^] ust remember the bomb it dropped on MOVE in 1985, killing 11 people and burning down an entire Philadelphia neighborhood.
Contact: The Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition of New York Hotline - 212 330-8029.
The Coalition needs contributions — no amount is too small. Please send checks made out to FMAJG/IFGO to the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, P.O. Box 16, College Sta., New York, N.Y. 10030
Check www.freemumia. com for plans to protest at the Department of Justice in Washington D.G.
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