Stand With Mumia Abu-Jamal!

STANDING WITH MUMIA

Cornel West, Barbara Becnel, Glen Ford, Ron Hampton, Medea Benjamin, Dave Zirin and dozens of groups and individuals from around the world 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 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:

Organizations:
 
Absent Cause zine, Brooklyn, NY
Albany Political Prisoner Support Committee
Albany Social Justice Center
Amig@s de Mumia de MExico
Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Center for Constitutional Rights
Coalition for Prisoners' Rights, Santa Fe, NM

Communities United Against Police Brutality, Minneapolis, MN
Death Penalty Free Austin
Edmonton Small Press Association (ESPA), Edmonton, Canada
Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Fight Imperialism Stand Together
Freedom Socialist Party
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition
Gray-Haired Witnesses for Justice
International Action Center
International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal
International Socialist Organization
Jericho Amnesty Movement
Kevin Cooper Defense Committee
Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal (LAC)
National Black Police Association
National Black Women's Defense League
Out of Control: Lesbian Committee to Support Political Prisoners
Positive Anti-Crime Trust, Inc.
Prison Activist Resource Center
Rainbow Flags for Mumia, the Lesbian,Gay, Bi and Trans Coalition for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Reconstruction, Inc.
Returning Citizens United
South Jersey for Mumia
Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement

Individuals:
 
Ramona Africa, MOVE Organization
Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma'at. FONAMI & N'COBRA, Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area
Danielle Allen, Willis, TX
Toni Arenstein, Bail Out the People Movement
Anthony Arnove, Co-Author, Voices of a People's History of the United States
Julien Ball, Champaign, IL
Alicia Banks, Eloquent Fury
Sylvia Barnard, Professor, University at Albany
Zaki Baruti, President/General, United African Peoples Organization
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
Christy Chavez, Albuquerque, NM
Mark Clements, freed IL police torture victim
Kevin Cooper, CA death row prisoner
Uwe Darius, Mumia Abu-Jamal Bundnis, Nuremberg, Germany
Susan Elizabeth Davis, Founder, Writers for Mumia
Alison Dieter,  Austin, TX
Johanna Fernandez, Department of History, Baruch College/CUNY
Glen Ford, Executive Editor, Black Agenda Report
Lynn Furay, Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF
Robert Gartner, Abolition Movement, Houston, TX
Mike Gimbel, Local 375/AFSCME; Chair, Labor/Community Unity Committee
Schohreh Golian, Hamburg, Germany
Frances Goldin, Literary Agent
Marty Goodman, former Executive Board Member, Transport Workers Union Local 100, NYC*
Shujaa Graham, Exonerated death row survivor, activist
Regina Guidry, Houston, Texas
Arun Gupta, The Indypendent*
Teresa Gutierrez, May 1st Coalition
Ron Hampton, Executive Director, National Black Police Association
Noelle Hanrahan, Prison Radio
Mercedes Harris, Albuquerque, NM
Sue Harris, Co-Director, Peoples%u2019 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, still incarcerated in IL
Terry Howcott, terryhowcott.com
Pat Jameson-Amwele, Executive Director, Vukani Mawethu Choir
Malaika H. Kambon, Peoples' Eye Photography
Paula Woodruff Keeth, Member, Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Nada Khader, Executive Director, WESPAC Foundation
Andreas Komrowski, Berlin, Germany
Joachim Kuebler, Germany
Sis. Marpessa Kupendua, Afrikan Frontline Network
Jamese Wells Kwele, Lansdowne, PA
Wolfgang  Lettow, Gefangenen Info, Berlin, Germany

Michael Letwin, Past President, Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW Local 2325
Candace Lider, Troy Area Labor Council
Lee Loe, Co-Editor, Houston Peace News
Orie Lumumba , NYC Friends of MOVE
Marlene Martin, National Director, Campaign to End the Death Penalty
Jeff Mackler, Director, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
Claude Marks, Director, Freedom Archives
Jeanie Miller, Albuquerque, NM
Bro. Moorbey, Chairman, Black Unity Movement 
Monica Moorehead, Millions For Mumia
Patricia Nichols
Peter Nowack, Journalist, Berlin, Germany
Kiilu Nyasha, San Francisco Bay View Newspaper
Neil Partun
Phyllis Prentice, Abolitionist and activist
Michael Ratner, President, Center for Constitutional Rights
Shakeerah Abdul al-Sabuur, Advocate Associates
Zhaleh Sahand, Permannent Revolution
Yusef Salaam, Exoneree, Central Park jogger case
Dagmar Schimmel, Berlin, Germany
Carole Seligman, Kevin Cooper Defense Committee
Navdeep Sidhu, M.D., Goettingen, , Germany
Michaela Simms,  Activist
Joan Stallard, Wash., DC, Coordinator, CODEPINK
Carol Taylor R.N. First Black USA Flight Attendant, Institute for "Interracial" Harmony, Inc.
Mark Lewis Taylor, Princeton Theological Seminary*
Andy Thayer, Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism; Co-Founder, Gay Liberation Network*
Darby Tillis, Exonerated IL death row prisoner
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

Bruce Wolf, OPEIU Local 2 Social Justice Committee, Takoma Park, MD

Lee Wood, Committee to Abolish Prison Slavery

Paul Wright, Editor, Prison Legal News
Dave Zirin, Author, Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love

*Organization for identification only