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	Workers Vanguard No. 898	14 September 2007

British, Greek Unions:

Mumia Is Innocent! Free Him Now!

With a federal appeals court likely to rule at any moment on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a MOVE supporter, award-winning journalist and former Black Panther Party spokesman who has been on Pennsylvania’s death row since 1982, it is all the more critical for the organizations of the working class and the oppressed to speak out and act now. We print below two of the more recent statements issued by trade unions around the world affirming Mumia’s innocence and demanding his freedom. The first is an August 7 statement of the All Workers Militant Front (PAME) trade-union federation in Greece, signed by Giorgos Pontikos of the International Relations Department. PAME is associated with the Communist Party there and represents a half million workers in more than 200 unions. The second is an August 28 appeal by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Britain and Ireland to its members. We print the NUJ appeal as it appears on the union’s Web site.

As the NUJ letter points out, hundreds of other trade unions and individual unionists, as well as anti-racist organizations and prominent individuals, have joined in signing a statement initiated by the Partisan Defense Committee, a legal and social defense organization associated with the Spartacist League, calling for “the immediate freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal, an innocent man.” Among those demanding Mumia’s freedom are two major labor federations in South Africa, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the National Council of Trade Unions.

The PDC has called for emergency protests in the event that the Third Circuit Court of Appeals upholds Mumia’s death sentence, which was reversed in 2001, or denies his appeals for a new trial or a new hearing. The fate of this passionate fighter for social justice must not be allowed to rest in the hands of the racist, capitalist courts. Now more than ever, it is necessary to translate into action the sentiment expressed by the thousands upon thousands of workers, youth and fighters against racial oppression that Mumia must be freed immediately. When Mumia faced execution in 1995, a worldwide outpouring of protest, including from unions representing millions, stayed the executioner’s hand. It will take an international mobilization of the masses based on the power of the working class—the power seen in its ability to withhold labor through strike action—to win this battle. Free Mumia now! Abolish the racist death penalty!

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Mumia Abu-Jamal Is Innocent

Mumia Abu-Jamal, known for his struggles against injustice, racism and state violence, has been on death row for 24 years following a rigged trial.

The sensational case of Mumia is the tip of the iceberg. It throws a spotlight once again on the class-biased and racist American justice system.

PAME, which represents the class union movement in our country, demands:

The immediate release of Mumia Abu-Jamal

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Free Honorary Member on Death Row 25 Years

The death row case of NUJ honorary member Mumia Abu-Jamal has reached a critical stage and the union is asking members to take urgent action to support him.

Twenty-five years ago Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted in the US for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. He has been threatened by the death sentence ever since. Many are convinced he was framed for his political beliefs and activism as a journalist who fought with passion and conviction against racial, ethnic and class bias and for social justice.

The NUJ made Mumia an honorary union member in 1995 and NUJ members have continuously helped campaign for his immediate release.

Evidence of Mumia’s innocence, including the sworn confession of Arnold Beverly that he, not Mumia, shot and killed Faulkner but have been ignored for more than 25 years and the Pennsylvania state and federal courts have rejected or even refused to consider this evidence. The NUJ believes he should be freed.

Mumia’s case is now at a critical juncture and time is of the essence. In May this year, the US Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Philadelphia heard oral arguments in the appeal—both by Mumia and the prosecution. Shortly the courts will decide what is next for Mumia—death, life in prison or possibly more legal proceedings.

There is an urgent need to revitalise the mass protest to free Mumia on the basis that he is an innocent man and the NUJ is asking members to write to the US ambassador asking for justice for Mumia.

Please send letters to Ambassador Robert Holmes Tuttle, US Embassy, 24 Grosvenor Square, London, W1A 1AE.

Last year, [NUJ general secretary] Jeremy Dear joined the hundreds of trade unionists, anti-racist groups, journalists, authors and others who have signed an internationally-circulated statement entitled, “We demand the immediate freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal, an innocent man.”

Other signatories to the statement in Britain include the Fire Brigades Union, the Communication Workers Union, Bob Crow of the RMT [rail, maritime and transport union], Gareth Peirce, Michael Mansfield, Ken Loach, the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, and Tony Benn. International signatories include the novelists Nadine Gordimer of South Africa, Dario Fo of Italy, and the railway workers section of the powerful CGT union federation in France.