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Calling All Abolitionists - Stand Up for Mumia Abu-Jamal! Join Cornel West, Barbara Becnel, Glen Ford, Ron Hampton, Medea Benjamin, Dave Zirin, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Frances Goldin, and dozens of gropus and indviduals from around the world to stand in solidarity with death row prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal!  We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the letter, signed by some US members of the steering committee of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, opposing Pennsylvania death row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal’s participation in the World Congress Against the Death Penalty and claiming that highlighting his case hurts the cause for abolition in the U.S. (See http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/116. See also Dave Lindorff’s article about this at http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/117.) We stand in solidarity with Mumia, who has spent the past twenty-eight years on death row, the victim of a trial and court procedures fraught with racism, and police, prosecutorial and judicial misconduct. Mumia currently faces a grave threat: the US Supreme Court has accepted an appeal to re-instate Mumia’s death sentence, and Philadelphia’s District Attorney has pledged his intention to pursue his execution. Mumia urgently needs our support, and we call for a new trial for him now. We reject any call by abolitionists to put “coalition-building” with law enforcement over and above the struggle for justice of any death row prisoner, be they innocent or guilty. We also reject the logic of having police organizations that fight tooth and nail for the execution of those with unpopular views as a partner or ally. Many police organizations – as well as prosecutors and judges-- have organized against our efforts to win justice for Mumia, and have served as guardians of an unjust “justice” system. We deplore divisive strategies that seek to exclude death row prisoners from our movement. We call on all participating organizations in the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty to re-affirm their support for Mumia Abu-Jamal and all death row prisoners in our struggle to end the death penalty worldwide. Signed: Albany Social Justice Center Danielle Allen, Willis, TX Anthony Arnove, Co-Author, Voices of a People's History of the United States Sylvia Barnard, Professor, University at Albany Barbara Becnel, Stanley Tookie Williams Legacy Network Megan Behrent, Delegate, United Federation of Teachers/AFT* Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder, CODEPINK Roland Bialke, Berlin, Germany Kwame Binta, UNIA-ACL Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild Campaign to End the Death Penalty Center for Constitutional Rights Uwe Darius, Mumia Abu-Jamal Bundnis, Nuremberg, Germany Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal Johanna Fernandez, Department of History, Baruch College/CUNY Glen Ford, Executive Editor, Black Agenda Report Frances Goldin, Literary Agent Freedom Socialist Party Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition Schohreh Golian, Hamburg, Germany Marty Goodman, former Executive Board Member, Transport Workers Union Local 100, NYC* Arun Gupta, The Indypendent* Teresa Gutierrez, May 1st Coalition Ron Hampton, Executive Director, National Black Police Association Noelle Hanrahan, Prison Radio Sue Harris, Co-Director, Peoples’ Video Network Howie Hawkins, Green Party Candidate, Governor of New York Lawrence Hayes, Former New York death row prisoner Laura Herrera, Co-Coordinator, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Larry Holmes, International Action Center Stanley Howard, exonerated death row prisoner; currently incarcerated in IL Terry Howcott, terryhowcott.com International Action Center International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal International Socialist Organization Jericho Amnesty Movement Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence Kevin Cooper Defense Committee Nada Khader, Executive Director, WESPAC Foundation Andreas Komrowski, Berlin, Germany Joachim Kuebler, Germany Sis. Marpessa Kupendua, Afrikan Frontline Network Monica Moorehead, Millions for Mumia Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal (LAC) Wolfgang  Lettow, Gefangenen Info, Berlin, Germany Candace Lider, Troy Area Labor Council Lee Loe, Co-Editor, Houston Peace News Jeff Mackler, Director, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Claude Marks, Director, Freedom Archives National Black Police Association Peter Nowack, Journalist, Berlin, Germany Kiilu Nyasha, San Francisco Bay View Newspaper Out of Control: Lesbian Committee to Support Political Prisoners Positive Anti-Crime Trust, Inc. Prison Activist Research Center Michael Ratner, President, Center for Constitutional Rights Yusef Salaam, Exoneree, Central Park jogger case Dagmar Schimmel, Berlin, Germany Carole Seligman, Bay Area, CA  Navdeep Sidhu, M.D., Goettingen, , Germany Joan Stallard, Washington, DC, Coordinator, CODEPINK Michael Letwin, Former President, Association of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW Local 2325 Mark Lewis Taylor, Princeton Theological Seminary* Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement Andy Thayer, Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism; Co-Founder, Gay Liberation Network* Marissa Torres, Chapter Chair, United Federation of Teachers/AFT* Carlos Villarreal, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter Donna Wallach, Justice for Palestinians, San Jose, CA Barry Weisleder, Socialist Action/Ligue pour l'action socialiste, Canada Cornel West, Professor, Princeton University Gerd Wildenbruch, Berlin, Germany Paul Wright, Editor, Prison Legal News Dave Zirin, Author, Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love *organization for identification only  If your group would like to sign onto this statement, please contact nyc@nodeathpenalty.org. Statement from the Campaign to End the Death Penalty  The Campaign to End the Death Penalty (CEDP) is appalled by the news that several individuals of leading anti-death penalty organizations have signed a confidential memorandum stating that the "involvement of Mumia Abu-Jamal endangers the U.S. coalition for abolition of the death penalty." The memo further argues that the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty should not highlight Mumia's case because doing so "unnecessarily attracts our strongest opponents and alienates coalition partners at a time when we need to build alliances, not foster hatred and enmity." (http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/node/116)   This memo was drafted on December 21, 2009, yet it only recently came to light following the 4th World Congress Against the Death Penalty, held on March 4 in Geneva, Switzerland. At this meeting, a telephone call came in from Mumia Abu-Jamal, and he addressed the audience. At this point, several members of U.S. abolitionist groups got up and walked out in protest.   The Campaign to End the Death Penalty strongly condemns this action and completely disagrees with the approach to the anti-death penalty struggle that this memo puts forth.   First of all, we unequivocally support and endorse Mumia Abu-Jamal in his struggle for justice. We believe in his innocence and see Mumia's case as fraught with many of the same injustices as other death penalty cases--racial bias, police misconduct and brutality, and prosecutorial and judicial prejudice.   Mumia Abu-Jamal has been on Pennsylvania's death row for the past 28 years and remains there because the courts, under pressure from the Fraternal Order of Police, have thwarted his efforts to win his freedom. From his prison cell, Mumia has galvanized an international movement of support towards his efforts to win justice. He has written numerous books and articles shedding light on our prison-industrial complex as well as other historical and current political issues. He is widely read, known and respected. His commentaries on prison radio are nothing short of brilliant. He has helped to educate millions of people about the true workings of the criminal justice system. But most importantly, he has been an inspiration to all those fighting to win abolition, lending his voice of hope, his encouragement and his unfaltering determination to our movement.   So why would a delegation of U.S. abolitionists would get up and walk out of a meeting when Mumia addresses the audience? Shouldn't they have stood and applauded?   The explanation for this reprehensible action is explained in the secret memo, which basically puts forth the argument that to have anything to do with Mumia's case ruins the chances of winning abolition of the death penalty.   Why? Here is what the memo states, in part: "The support of law enforcement officials is essential to achieving abolition in the United States. It is essential to the national abolition strategy of U.S. abolition activists and attorneys that we cultivate the voices of police, prosecutors and law enforcement experts to support our call for an end to the death penalty."   This statement points to a very disturbing direction that we have observed in recent years among some organizations in the abolition movement--of compromising our message in order to win the support of conservatives. This has lead leading death penalty organizations to downplay the impact of race in the criminal justice system and to advocate reaching out to law enforcement as a means of winning abolition of the death penalty.   Those who espouse this strategy ignore or downplay the role that police play in railroading many poor people and African Americans onto death row. They ignore the role that police, prosecutors and judges play as guardians of an unjust legal system that disproportionately targets the poor and people of color. The outcome of this strategy has led to the marginalization of prisoners like Mumia, whose voices from behind prison walls are so important in this fight.   The individuals who drafted the memo go on to identify the voices that they seek to include: "The voices of the Innocent, the voices of Victims and the voices of Law Enforcement are the most persuasive factors in changing public opinion and the views of decision-makers (politicians) and opinion leaders (the media). Continuing to shine a spotlight on Abu-Jamal, who has had so much public exposure for so many years, threatens to alienate these three most important partnership groups."   We in the CEDP couldn't disagree more with this strategy. We believe the most "persuasive factor" in changing public opinion is to build a vocal, visible movement that forthrightly puts forward its demands-- instead of working to make our message palatable to the opposition.   Consider the analogies to past struggles. What if Martin Luther King compromised the goals of integration in order to reach out and try to win over segregationists? No, he reached out to organize and uplift progressive forces into fighting for change. That is the kind of strategy we need.   The men and women on death row across the country--including the guilty--are not our enemy. The enemy is the system of punitive thought that portrays them as monsters so that the public can feel okay about killing them. It is part of the punitive philosophy upon which the legal system is based--the same system that breeds crime in the first place, that gives so little support to victims of abuse, that says it believes in rehabilitation but then won't fund it, that says it believes in education but then takes money away to build prisons instead.   We reject the logic of having the Fraternal Order of Police as a partner or ally. The FOP has organized against our efforts to win justice for Mumia, for Troy Davis, for the Burge torture victims in Chicago and countless others.   Our approach is based on an anti-racist perspective. We know that the history of aggressive policing, sentencing and the death penalty has its roots in slavery--that the tough on crime rhetoric of lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key is racially coded language.   The Campaign stands completely and unequivocally with Mumia Abu-Jamal. We also stand by a different strategy to win abolition.   Instead of marginalizing voices like Mumia, we should be developing more innovative and creative ways to put them forward--and not just Mumia's, but others, including Troy Davis, Rodney Reed and Kevin Cooper, to name a few. We need to put the human face on this issue. We need to build a movement that challenges the racism and class bias nature of the death penalty--and to point out that these injustices exist in the broader criminal justice system as well.   In order to build a fight that can win real justice, we cannot marginalize "divisive" issues like racism. Instead, we have to take them on frontally. And instead of reaching out to the conservative elements in society, we should be reaching out to progressive elements and building bridges there. Let's not forget that the lowest level of support for the death penalty (42 percent) was in 1966, at the height of the civil rights movement. Let's work to place the fight for abolition squarely in the progressive camp, where it most surely belongs.   FREE MUMIA! ONWARDS TO ABOLITION!
Order a DVD of HOWARD ZINN in conversation with DAVE ZIRIN at the 2009 convention of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty. This video captures one of the last speeches Howard Zinn ever gave. Incredibly moving, insightful, witty and charming. Send $12 (or $25 solidarity price) to: CEDP, PO Box 25730, Chicago, IL 60625. To order a one-year subscription (4 or 5 issues) to the CEDP's New Abolitionist newsletter (the current issue features Howard Zinn and Dave Zirin’s speech), send $12 dollars to the above address. If you send $24, it allows us to send an issue to a person in prison. Read Marlene Martin's tribute to Howard Zinn.
VICTORY! U.S. SUPREME COURT GRANTS TROY DAVIS A NEW HEARING IN FEDERAL COURT The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the federal district court in Savannah, GA, to hold a hearing on the evidence regarding Troy’s innocence, which is a significant victory for the ongoing grassroots campaign. This will be the first time a court has heard Troy's case for innocence, so this is HUGE! Solidarity vigils are called for on the first day of Troy's hearing in federal court. Stay tuned and we will update people as soon as the date is announced. Please consider organizing a vigil in your community or at a federal building on this day! Find out more about the facts of his case here » Read an Interview with Troy's sister Martina Correia » Sign this petition for Troy Davis. Download fact sheets and petitions for Troy.  Find out where the Campaign to End the Death Penalty has chapters so that you can get involved. If you are a professor, join historian Howard Zinn, author and activist Angela Davis and author Noam Chomsky in signing the "Concerned Professors" letter in support of Troy. Help the Campaign to End the Death Penalty keep up its efforts by making a much needed and appreciated donation! We are a non-profit determined to put an end to the death penalty. All donations are tax deductible. Donate today! CONTACT Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and demand that he COMMUTE Troy Davis' death sentence: Office of the Governor Georgia State Capitol Atlanta, GA 30334 Fax:(404)657-5947 Tel:(404)656-1776 Contact web page: http://gov.state.ga.us/contact.shtml Other Georgia officials to contact: Thurbert E. Baker Office of the Attorney General 40 Capitol Square, SW Atlanta, Ga 30334 Phone:(404) 656-3300 Fax:(404) 657-8733 Larry Chisholm, Chatham County District Attorney Chief Assistant District Attorney David Locke 133 Montgomery Street Savannah, Georgia 31401 Phone: (912) 652-7308 Fax: (912) 652-7328 or (912) 447-5396