At 07:45 10/11/98 -0800, you wrote: >Apologies for duplicates due to cross-postings. Pass it on! ______ Okay, the message below does not tell us what should we do. specially a person like me--a non-citizen sitting in Australia--what should I do at this moment? I don't understand how come Clinton, who has got rock bottom support of the black community in America and who have saved his presidency, is not intervening in this matter in a decisive way. Why aren't the black community and political leaders taking this case up? Will a letter to Clinton help? How? Cheers, ajit sinha >============================= >Dear RN list, Nov. 9 > >Just this morning I visited a web site from which it is possible to send a >message to several addresses, including to the US President and the Governor of >Pennsylvania urging action on Mumia Abu-Jamal's behalf: > ><http://www.slip.net/~kbaird/freemumia.html> > >The site comes up relatively easily and is very good. > >I believe we need Mumia Abu-Jamal. This Renaissance-Network list is intended >to help build the links we'll need to make a revolution for a better, >livable world a reality. As the passage I copied from the web site (below) >shows, Mumia Abu-Jamal's struggle is our struggle. > >all the best, Jan >**************************************************************************** >Mumia's Life and All Our Futures > >from Refuse & Resist! > >Mumia Abu-Jamal has come to mean something very special to a whole new >generation of young activists. They are moved by his penetrating writing. >They are touched deeply by his gentle manner. They are emboldened by the >utter fearlessness of his dedication to the people in the very face of >death. Can we be less dedicated now to saving his life? > >The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal concentrates the criminalization of Black men, >the suppression of dissent, the expanded death penalty, the gutting of >defendant's rights, and a whole political atmosphere based on blame and >punishment of the most oppressed. Only twice in the 20th century have there >been court ordered executions of political dissidents in the United States. >And the government has not dared to carry out the legal execution of a >prominent Black revolutionary since the days of slavery. > >The movement to save Mumia has been a formative experience for this new >generation awakening to political life. That experience has been much more >than just a cause to believe in. It has shown them the power of people >working together - - people of different races and nationalities, people coming >from different social backgrounds and political outlooks, coming together >against injustice and repression. For many, the battle that stayed Mumia's >execution date in 1995 was their first real taste of the power of the people. > >We have now reached a turning point in this movement. The decision of the >Pennsylvania Supreme Court to deny a new and fair trial means that a >political decision has been made at the highest levels to try to push ahead >with Mumia's execution. It means that all the new evidence brought forward >in the various hearings since 1995 has been officially rejected. It means >that the gross prejudice shown Mumia in the court system has been endorsed. >It means that his case will now be in the federal courts with their new >political agenda of speeded-up appeals and swift executions. > >The government has thrown down a challenge. How we respond and whether we >succeed is going to shape the political climate of this country for years to >come. > >Power concedes nothing without demand. And justice will not come in Mumia's >case simply by wishing for it. Only a mass movement that is characterized by >a conscious attempt to build its breadth and diversity, and by a spirit of >selfless determination, can stop the wheels of state-sponsored murder. Our >movement cannot be narrowly based. It must take in people from all walks of >life and varying points of view - - both those who are appalled by this >injustice and those who see it as another step in a larger agenda. Mumia's >name must become a house-hold word, with the broad public straining to hear >the latest news in the battle and moving to take Mumia's side. > >Our victory in 1995 was won by bringing so many different forces into motion >that it threatened a larger anti-Black youth, "law and order" political >alignment that government leaders had worked so hard to create. That is, our >movement to save Mumia opened so many eyes to this flagrant injustice, that >it threatened larger political goals of the leaders of both major parties. >They were forced to back off for a time. > >It was and is possible to do this precisely because, as we say in Refuse & >Resist!, it's all one attack. The politics of poverty, punishment and >patriarchy is the same politics that wants to silence Mumia's voice forever. > >Refuse & Resist! calls on people everywhere to make your voices heard in the >coming days and weeks. Determination comes in many forms, but its common >essence is the refusal to stand by in silence where the ability to act >exists. The time is now. > >download a PDF version of this statement > >[posted October 31, 1998] > > > Mumia Index | Protests Planned | R&R Main Page > > >Contact Refuse & Resist! >305 Madison Ave., Suite 1166, New York, NY 10165 >Phone: 212-713-5657 >email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >--------------------------------------------------------------------- >To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
