Workers World May 25, 2000: Around world Mumia supporters take to the streets

Email this article

------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the May 25, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY

Mumia supporters take to the streets

By Greg Butterfield

Thousands of workers and anti-racists worldwide took to the streets May 13 in support of death-row journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. The actions came less than a week after 6,000 people filled New York's Theater at Madison Square Garden, organized by Millions for Mumia/International Action Center.
The clock is ticking down to an important hearing on Abu-Jamal's case. Federal Judge William Yohn has not yet announced the date. When he does, Abu-Jamal's supporters say, they will mobilize to pack the courtroom and surround the federal courthouse in Philadelphia.
The May 13 International Day of Action for Mumia Abu-Jamal was launched at a Feb. 19 organizers' conference in New York. It quickly became a rallying point for international supporters of Abu-Jamal--especially in Italy, where actions were held in 14 cities.
It also began a "summer of resistance" that will include mass protests at the Republican and Democratic Party conventions.
A week of actions began May 7 at the Madison Square Garden event. Demonstrations, teach-ins and labor meetings followed throughout the week. They culminated with the demonstrations on May 13.
It was the 15th anniversary of the Philadelphia police bombing of MOVE headquarters.
Eleven MOVE family members--including five children--died that day. An entire African American neighborhood was burned to the ground.
In the U.S.
A Western Regional Mobilization for Mumia in San Francisco brought out thousands of students, union members and activists to demand a new trial for the former Black Panther. They came from throughout California.
Several unions participated. They included a delegation from the International Longshoremen's Association Local 1422 of Charleston, S.C., which marched with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. A representative of the local announced that this year's Labor Day event in Charleston will demand the removal of the Confederate flag from the State Capitol and freedom for Abu-Jamal.
Workers World Party vice-presidential candidate Gloria La Riva spoke about her participation as a guest speaker at the massive May Day rally in Cuba. La Riva spoke to more than a million people there about Abu-Jamal's case, and gave President Fidel Castro a message from the U.S. political prisoner.
La Riva denounced the racist U.S. criminal justice system, which targets African American men.
The demonstration was initiated by the Bay Area Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal.
In Chicago, hundreds demonstrated downtown as part of the Midwest Mobilization for Mumia. Activists came from Milwaukee, Detroit, Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, and other areas.
Speakers included Delbert Tibbs, a wrongfully convicted person who spent years on death row, and Tina Beacock of the Chicago Teachers Union, which recently passed a resolution calling for a new trial.
"This rally today will become part of the decision-making process," said Standish Willis of the African American Committee to Free Aaron Patterson and Mumia. He said the powers that be took careful note of the size and militancy of pro-Abu-Jamal actions. are also hearing from the other side, from the police who want Mumia executed.
"What we're doing today is just evening up that decision-making process," Willis said.
During a militant march some young people stopped traffic. When police tried to use horses to push people onto the sidewalk, the protesters stood their ground.
Twelve activists were arrested during the march. Police threw a newspaper box at one woman. Protesters spied at least five cops who had removed their badges to avoid identification, according to the May 14 Chicago Sun-Times.
Hundreds more rallied in Abu-Jamal's hometown, Philadelphia, to combat police brutality. Many families of police-terror victims spoke. They included Ramona Africa, the only adult survivor of the 1985 bombing.
The march was organized jointly by Mothers Organized Against Police Terror and International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Houston activists held a day of activities called "Liberation Education/Act Your Rage." Those who came out to the El Dorado Ballroom joined in workshops on Abu-Jamal's case, the death penalty and police brutality.
That night there were performances by Freedom Sold, Mezza, Zin, and other local musicians, poets and spoken-word artists. Houstonians United for Mumia sponsored the event.
Around the globe
Actions in London; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Madrid, Spain; Vienna, Austria; Valletta, Malta; and other cities targeted U.S. embassy buildings.
In Paris, between 2,000 and 3,000 protesters--including members of the CGT labor federation--marched, shutting down busy intersections on their way to the U.S. Embassy.
"Free Mumia, the voice of the voiceless," they chanted. "Clinton, Bush--assassins!"
Pan-African journalist Julia Wright, coordinator of International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal/France, described the farce of Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial: He had "no chance, being Black, poor and a political dissident. No way his side of the story would be heard fairly," she said.
Wright, the daughter of African American author Richard Wright, explained, "I know had my father been alive, he would have done something for [Abu-Jamal] too."
Asked by a reporter why he was marching, Fall Momar pointed to his 2-year-old daughter Yonde. "This is the reason. It's an expression of unity that is not for me, but future generations." (Philadelphia Inquirer, May 14)
L'Humanite, the daily newspaper of the French Communist Party, had urged its readers to come out in a May 12 editorial.
Trucks and other big vehicles were an integral part of the demonstration in Berlin, where protesters aimed to tie up traffic to bring attention to Abu-Jamal's plight. After a rally at the U.S. Embassy, protesters attended a teach-in on the state of Abu-Jamal's legal case at Humboldt University.
Meanwhile, in Hamburg, Germany, anti-racists lit torches and drummed for Abu-Jamal as they marched through the Reeperbahn district.
At an April 15 national conference in Italy, Abu-Jamal's supporters decided to embark on actions across the country.
A call issued by the National Coordination for Mumia Abu-Jamal says: "Today the battle to save Mumia's life is emblematic of the struggle against the racist, anti-poor death penalty in the U.S.A., a form of 'legalized lynching' used primarily against Blacks, Latinos and all those who don't have enough money to afford a good legal defense.
"[Abu-Jamal's] work in denouncing all injustice, and in particular the police brutality and corruption in his native Philadelphia, which earned him the name of 'voice of the voiceless' ... has continued unflaggingly during his long years on Pennsylvania's death row."
May 13 demonstrations were held in the Italian cities of Milan, Florence, Cezna, Ravenna, Palermo, Bari, Naples, La Spezia, Pecara, Sassari, Ferrara, Forli, Bologna and Perugia. An action was held in Rome on May 12.
The Italian activists have established a form of protest called "Free Mumia Corner." The protesters take over a busy intersection and transform it into an on-the-street teach-in with signs, speeches, music, banners and literature tables.
Video showings were planned in Pisa and other cities later in the week.
Actions were also held in Cayenne, Guyana; Barcelona, Spain; Vera Cruz, Mexico; Quebec, Canada; the Czech Republic; Switzerland; Oslo, Norway; and Luxembourg.
Brenda Sandburg in San Francisco
and Phil Wilayto in Chicago
contributed to this story.

This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)

HOME :: U.S. NEWS :: WORLD NEWS :: EDITORIALS :: SUBSCRIBE :: DONATE