Rally in London to Free Mumia

(Class-Struggle Defense Notes)

Supporters in Britain of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal will join a May 5 rally, sponsored by the Partisan Defence Committee, to demand: “Mumia Abu-Jamal is an innocent man! Free Mumia now!” As the flyer for the rally emphasizes: “Mumia’s life is in danger—mobilise now!” Oral argument on Mumia’s habeas corpus legal appeal is due to be heard on May 17 in Philadelphia. With the U.S. capitalist state determined to execute this courageous fighter against racist oppression, what is urgently required is mass struggle—in the U.S., in Britain and internationally—centered on the social power of the unions.

Internationally, unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers have called to free Mumia. This month, the annual conference of the Scottish Trades Union Congress passed a motion, presented by the Aberdeen Trades Council, stating that Mumia “should be freed immediately from prison, as he is innocent, and the inherently racist death penalty should be abolished.” A show of strength by the integrated working class on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal would strike a blow for all of us against the racist warmongers in Washington—whether Republican or Democratic—as well as their loyal lapdog, Tony Blair’s Labour government.

Among the rally speakers will be renowned civil rights lawyer Gareth Peirce, known for defending some of the most prominent victims of racist capitalist injustice in Britain. Peirce was key in winning freedom for the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six, who spent many years in jail after being framed up during the anti-Irish witchhunts that followed pub bombings in the early 1970s. She has also represented British detainees held in the U.S. torture camp at Guantánamo Bay; the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, an innocent Brazilian electrician killed by police in the London Underground as a “terror suspect” in July 2005; and the victims of the June 2006 police “anti-terror” raid in Forest Gate.

Rachel Wolkenstein, staff counsel of the Partisan Defense Committee (U.S.) and a former member of Mumia’s legal team, will also speak. Wolkenstein was instrumental in first bringing Mumia’s case to international attention and in uncovering evidence of his innocence, including securing the sworn confession of Arnold Beverly that he, not Mumia, shot and killed Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. Also on the platform on May 5 will be barrister Matthew Ryder of Matrix Chambers; Paul Moffat, Eastern Region Secretary of the Communication Workers Union; Glenroy Watson, chair of the Finsbury Park London branch of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and general secretary of the Global Afrikan Congress; and Steve Hedley, also a member of the RMT and a longtime supporter of Mumia.

Mumia was falsely convicted in 1982 of killing Faulkner and sentenced to death based on his political history and beliefs as a former Black Panther Party spokesman and supporter of the MOVE organization. His racist frame-up illustrates what the death penalty in the U.S. is all about—a legacy of chattel slavery, the lynch rope made legal. Freedom for Mumia will not be won by reliance on the same racist “justice” system that has kept him on death row for over 25 years. The London rally must be part of rebuilding the type of massive protest that stayed the executioner’s hand in 1995, when millions worldwide took up Mumia’s cause. Now more than ever that support must be mobilized to demand: Free Mumia Abu-Jamal now! Abolish the racist death penalty!