IN SHADOW OF CITY HALL
Camp Free Mumia steps up fight for death-row
prisoner
By Leslie
Feinberg
Camp Free Mumia
Dillworth Plaza, Philadelphia
For 48 hours beginning May 11 Dillworth Plaza was
liberated by those who believe that Mumia Abu-Jamal must be
free.
They traveled many hours to get to this patch of concrete
and strip of trees on the east side of Philadelphia City
Hall--from Alaska, New Mexico, Indiana, Missouri, South
Carolina, Ohio, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New
York. And, most important, many came from Philadelphia.
This was a diverse crowd. They were clad in denim and
khaki, kente cloth and Guatemalan weaves. They waved black,
green and red flags and rainbow flags.
Their T-shirts quoted Mumia Abu-Jamal, Che Guevara, Assata
Shakur, John Africa and Emma Goldman.
Scores of variously designed "Free Mumia" T-shirts--some
faded almost beyond readability--demonstrated that long-time
supporters of Abu-Jamal had been drawn to this urban protest
encampment.
The solidarity growing out of the rising new youth
movement was evident. A youth wore a sticker on his backpack
that read "Rape-Free Zone." Other buttons and stickers read
"Another Man for Choice" and "Straight but Not Narrow."
The plaza was bedecked with banners with militant slogans.
A dozen colorful tents sprouted in front of City Hall. Booths
provided registration forms, logistical information,
literature.
Some 150 people camped out all over the plaza on the night
of May 11. More than 100 camped out May 12 despite cold and
wind and choking pollen levels. Members of the group Food Not
Bombs provided everyone with something to eat.
The sounds of chanting, drumming, hip-hop and militant
rallies could be heard non-stop.
Drummers kept up pulsating percussion from nightfall to
dawn. They gave energy to hours of vocal chanting demanding
Abu-Jamal's freedom.
And all night long people from the encampment--young and
old--stood along the curbside, holding up posters reading
"Honk if you support Mumia." From dusk to dawn cheers greeted
the steady cacophony of car horns sounded in support.
Judi Cheng, a supporter from Jersey City, N.J., estimated
there were "nine honkers for every heckler."
All told, it was a symphony of solidarity.
Non-stop protest
The encampment was a non-stop protest--from the moment the
camp began to take shape on Friday afternoon to the time it
was struck on Sunday.
It took great cooperation among strangers from diverse
communities and far-flung regions. Many people commented on
the mood of Camp Free Mumia--how relaxed everyone was with
each other.
Particularly noteworthy were the bonds quickly forged
between homeless African American men who regularly sleep in
the shadow of City Hall and Abu-Jamal's supporters.
Some of the homeless men told Workers World about the
violence and racism the cops unleash on them with impunity.
On the nights of the encampment, the police backed off from
their nightrider attacks in and around the plaza.
"All night long we looked out for each other," said
Deirdre Sinnott, one of the International Action Center
coordinators of the event. "Some of the most political people
I've talked to have been the homeless."
Brad and Douglas were part of a group that drove about 14
hours from Indiana to get to the encampment. The two white
youths slept outdoors on May 11 in solidarity with the
homeless.
Douglas told Workers World: "I wanted to have a little
better understanding of what it's like to have to sleep
outside. It sucks. It was noisy, it was uncomfortable, it was
cold, it was hard. The wind was very nagging. It gave me a
lot of respect for the people who have to live this way year
round."
Brad found out about the encampment by visiting the
www.mumia2000.org web site. He involved others by sending out
"a bunch of e-mails. And I asked my school, Manchester
College, to help fund our transportation. I got $350 from
Peace Studies."
He said that Abu-Jamal's case "represents so much that is
wrong with the prison system, the death penalty and the
Justice Department. I fully believe Mumia is a political
prisoner because he speaks out so against the system."
Brad explained: "I got involved through my anti-sweatshop
group at Indiana University. Mumia is like one of the first
activities for me--the birth of an activist."
Natalie, from Manchester College, added, "The death
penalty has been a really big issue on our campus."
In their own words
Johnnie Stevens, a co-coordinator of the People's Video
Network, described the May 11 concert that opened the protest
program: "The hip-hop concert was great. There was a constant
flow--predominantly young people from Philly."
Stevens said that after the concert people stayed to watch
videos about Abu-Jamal's case, the prison-industrial complex
and the 1985 Philadelphia police bombing of the MOVE
Organization. They were projected right onto the walls of
City Hall.
A powerful tribute to the MOVE members closed the
weekend's program.
Ramona Africa, the sole adult survivor of the bombing of
MOVE, told Workers World, "This whole weekend is really
important because it's dealing with major issues people can't
afford to close their eyes to--like the death penalty."
She referred to the recent affidavits filed by Abu-Jamal's
new legal team that contain a statement from a man confessing
he was hired to kill Daniel Faulkner, the white cop Abu-Jamal
is convicted of shooting. "Yet this man--Mumia
Abu-Jamal--sits on death row. Why is that?"
And she emphasized: "Executions don't only happen
so-called legally by lethal injection, but take place on the
street. Mother's Day commemorates the 16th anniversary of the
bombing of my family. This government has a lust for blood
that has nothing to do with justice at all."
Jason Corwin from the Seneca Nation said: "I've been a
long-time supporter of Mumia. I came into awareness of his
case while working for Leonard Peltier [an imprisoned leader
of the American Indian Movement]. Mumia really represents the
finest qualities of human beings. He's a caring family man, a
strong, outspoken person for truth, and unwavering in his
commitment to see all oppressed people--all oppressed
life--gain their freedom."
Rainbow bunting for Philadelphia's annual Pride Fest hung
from lampposts on all major thoroughfares. But none waved
more proudly than the rainbow flags at Camp Free Mumia.
On the afternoon of May 12, Tim Eubanks, who described
himself as a queer Black activist from New York, explained
why he took part. "When I heard it was an encampment, the
idea of that sparked my mind. It adds something to it to stay
overnight. Walking up here today and seeing all the signs,
the Rainbow Flags for Mumia banner, I got really
excited."
A group of Lesbian Avengers--Gunner, Jillian, Matie, Katie
and Kate--explained why they traveled from Boston to be
here.
Matie: "People are marginalized by the system and an
injury to one is an injury to all. We all need to stick
together."
Katie: "Racism is so linked to queer oppression. Anyone
who is not a white, straight, Christian, non-trans rich man
is marginalized. Mumia has spoken out for queer rights."
Jillian: "Coming with the Lesbian Avengers, there's power
behind that name and the power of the organization. Bringing
that power to a cause that's worthwhile adds rather than just
coming as out individuals."
Gunner: "It's important to have a place to dialogue with
people, to create spaces like this one here about causes and
to be able to also dialogue with others about other
issues."
Corwin, the Avengers and Eubanks were speakers at the
afternoon rallies that day.
'The people united can
never be defeated!'
The range of speakers demonstrated the broad solidarity
that Abu-Jamal's struggle has inspired.
Monica Moorehead, a national leader of Millions for Mumia,
and Leslie Jones, youth coordinator of International
Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, co-chaired
the rally.
The program wove together the struggle to free Native
warrior Leonard Peltier, oust the U.S. Navy from Vieques,
defend the Charleston 5 dock workers, win a living wage for
Harvard's most impoverished workers, and defend Palestinian
self-determination with the battle to free Abu-Jamal.
Speakers included Ramona Africa; Larry Holmes,
International Action Center co-director and organizer of Camp
Free Mumia; Pam Africa, national coordinator of ICFFMAJ;
Marlene Kamish, one of Abu-Jamal's new legal team members;
Ray LaForrest, Haitian activist and union organizer; Mark
Taylor of Academics for Mumia; Katie Herzig and Matie from
the Boston Lesbian Avengers; Clark Kis singer, leader of
Refuse & Resist; and Minnie Bruce Pratt, a national
organizer for Rainbow Flags for Mumia.
One thousand marchers then stepped off from Dillworth
Plaza to take their message to downtown shoppers. The march
moved slowly down the broad avenues, making a whole lot of
noise.
Borrowing a popular chant from the AIDS movement,
protesters chanted: "Our brother Mumia is under attack.
What're we gonna do? Act up, fight back!"
Throbbing percussion of scores of drums, cowbells and
other instruments accompanied the chants.
Many pedestrians, shoppers and drivers greeted the
marchers' demands with raised fists of solidarity, applause
and cheers. One clapping bystander told her friend: "That's
right! They need to free him."
Nodding at the powerful march, Pam Africa told Workers
World: "People are organizing all over the world against this
most terroristic government--in the face of the Republican
National Convention, in the face of Seattle. Even the most
traitorous tricks of this government haven't been able to
divide this movement."
A whole row of people carried a 65-foot quilt made by
Fatirah Aziz to demonstrate support for Abu-Jamal. Aziz had
put out a call over the Internet for 8-1/2-inch squares, and
got responses from Kentucky to Senegal. She quilted them
together in three weeks.
Aziz told Workers World: "I wanted to make something to
show how many care about him--people who couldn't be here. It
was a labor of love. "
The marchers passed a site of the Underground Railroad.
Painted on the side of the building was a two-story mural of
Harriet Tubman looking down on demonstrators, holding up her
lantern to show the way to freedom for those escaping
slavery.
Abu-Jamal demonstrators won overwhelmingly more support
than heckling as thousands of predominantly white,
middle-class runners and walkers passed by in a Mother's Day
"Race for a Cure" for breast cancer.
A sanitation worker who brought up the rear of the race
was chanting along with demonstrators. And the municipal
workers who cleaned the park afterward found many concrete
ways to express their solidarity with the encampment.
By the time marchers returned to Camp Free Mumia, a strong
wind had blown in a cold front. But the chanting, drumming
and car horns blaring for Abu-Jamal throughout the night
brought reporters back to the encampment at 2 a.m. and again
at 4 a.m.
On Sunday morning, as protesters prepared to make their
way to the closing MOVE event, Larry Holmes told those
gathered: "The media hate to cover Mumia. But we made them do
it. We were on every television channel, in every newspaper,
we even got national coverage."
The organizers had had to go to court just to get permits
from the city to hold the encampment. Holmes concluded:
"We've been here for 48 hours. We won this battle. But it's
not over. Not until Mumia is free."
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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