Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!
Resolution adopted by International Executive Committee of the Fourth International, February 1999
Mumia Abu-Jamal is the first class struggle prisoner to face execution in the United States of America since the Rosenbergs, more than 45 years ago. His conviction in the 1981 slaying of a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania police officer was the result of a frame-up in which the police, prosecutors, and the judge at his trial all played a role.
As an award-winning Black journalist, Mumia had gained the enmity of Philadelphia’s ruling circles for his exposure of their racism, and for his consistent support to the struggles of the poor, the oppressed, and the dispossessed. This is work he has pursued even while on Pennsylvania’s death row for the last 17 years. It has earned Mumia the title, "Voice of the Voiceless."
Mumia’s case focuses a clear spotlight on a number of troubling issues regarding the criminal justice system in the U.S.A. It is one of the few countries in the world which continues the barbaric tradition of the death penalty.
Both the death penalty and the criminal justice system more broadly reflect the deep racism which permeates every aspect of life in that country.
Four of every ten people on death row in the U.S. are Black, while they constitute only eleven percent of the general population. In the last 30 years the prison population of the United States has expanded six-fold, and it is still rising.
The US now has a greater percentage of its population behind bars than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. And that prison population consists disproportionately of Blacks and other people of colour.
In addition to Mumia there are scores of political prisoners in U.S. jails – people who have been imprisoned not primarily for any real or imagined criminal acts, but because they are committed to fighting for an end to oppression in the USA, and against that country’s role in the oppression of other peoples throughout the world.
Last October, ignoring overwhelming evidence of misconduct at his original trial and a large body of evidence which has since emerged to cast an even greater doubt about the legitimacy of its verdict, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court turned down Mumia’s appeal for a new trial.
This creates an emergency situation in his case. Without a favourable intervention by the federal courts (something which is far from certain) Mumia could be executed within a year. In truth, as Mumia, his legal team, and his supporters all state, his fate rests with our collective capacity to make the price of his political murder too high for the ruling powers to pay.
What happens to Mumia Abu-Jamal will have global repercussions. Already his case has generated substantial protests in the US and around the world.
Major mobilisations are scheduled to take place on April 24 in Philadelphia and San Francisco, as well as internationally. We call on all members and supporters of the Fourth International, all supporters of liberation throughout the world, and all those who simply believe in elementary justice and human rights, to do everything possible to participate in and support these and all other protests demanding:
Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal!
Mumia must receive a new trial now!
In the US contact: International Concerned Family and Friends to Free Mumia Abu Jamal 215 476 8812 or The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu Jamal 415 821 0459 or Fax 415 821 0166.
(Resolution adopted by International Executive Committee of the Fourth International, February 1999)
Additional information:
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Information about protests and activities can be found on a campaign web site at http://www.mumia.org/ ; any activities please inform the campaign as follows:
E-mail [email protected] and/or [email protected] or fax Pam Africa at +1 215-476-7551!
Any supporters who can make it to Washington, Philadelphia or San Francisco on April 24 are urged to attend the
Apr. 24
MILLIONS FOR MUMIA! March
Full details on the Mumia web site above.