Download the secret memo. - Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia Abu

August 2010. The case of internationally renowned death-row inmate
Mumia Abu-Jamal is now before the Third Circuit Court--on the sentencing
issue only. Mumia's 1982 kangaroo-court conviction for a crime he did not
commit has already been upheld by the US Supreme Court. The
sentencing issue revolves exclusively around reinstating Mumia's death
sentence, or putting him away for the rest of his life, without the possibility
of parole. A ruling could come very soon.
In this context of an imminent new threat to execute Mumia Abu-Jamal,
a handful of supposed death-penalty "opponents" has proposed, in a
"Confidential Memorandum," dropping Mumia's name from anti-death
penalty activities. Why? Because mentioning Mumia "alienates" potential
"allies," such as the Fraternal Order of Police! The cops, you see, might go
for abolishing the death penalty that they have hitherto supported if they
could be convinced that it is "too expensive." This outrageous move to drop
mention of Mumia in anti-death penalty activities was made by certain
leaders without consulting their own boards of directors or
memberships--hence, "the secret memo."
(For more details on how the "Memo" came about behind the backs of
the anti-death penalty movement, and for the text of the "secret memo
itself," see the article, "The Politics of Death: Throwing Mumia Abu-Jamal
Under the Bus," below.)
This is the statement of the Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia
Abu-Jamal (LAC) on the "Secret Memo."
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Abolish the Racist Death Penalty! No to "Life Without
Parole"!
For Labor Action To Free Mumia!
An Open Letter to the Death Penalty Abolition Movement, from the
Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
Adopted 25 July 2010
We hereby denounce the "Confidential Memorandum," addressed to the
French organization ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty), and
signed by a few leaders in the U.S. abolition movement.
The signatories of this secret memo--"secret" because it was issued
without the knowledge of their own memberships or boards of
directors--were attempting to exclude U.S. death-row prisoner Mumia
Abu-Jamal and his attorney, Robert R. Bryan, from participation in the
World Congress to Abolish the Death Penalty, whose meeting was hosted
by the ECPM in Geneva, Switzerland, in March of this year. When Bryan,
and Abu-Jamal (by telephone from his supermax prison in Pennsylvania)
did in fact address this congress, supporters of the "Confidential
Memorandum" turned their backs and walked out.
The stated reason for this treacherous act was that Mumia Abu-Jamal
"alienates" possible support from politicians, the media, and ...law
enforcement. According to the "Confidential Memo" these groups,
including the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), may agree that the death
penalty is too expensive. This makes the question one of economics: what
is "cheaper," the death sentence, or life without the possibility of parole
(LWOP)?
We reject the barbaric "alternative" of "lock 'em up and throw away the
key." Cases such as that of Leonard Peltier, the American Indian
Movement (AIM) activist framed for the killing of two FBI agents, show the
injustice of LWOP. (Because of prejudice against him, Peltier has
repeatedly been denied parole.)
Mumia Abu-Jamal has been on Pennsylvania's death row for the past 28
years for a crime that (mostly unheard) evidence proves he did not commit.
He remains there because the courts have systematically denied him the
benefit of precedent and established law. From his prison cell, Mumia has
written numerous books and articles shedding light on the U.S.
prison-industrial complex as well as other historical and current political
issues. He has helped to educate millions about the true workings of the
criminal justice system. Mumia Abu-Jamal has been an inspiration to all
those fighting to win abolition of the death penalty, lending leadership, his
voice of encouragement, and his unfaltering determination to the
movement.
We reject the politics of compromise, which leads some death penalty
opponents to ignore or downplay the role that police, prosecutors and
judges play as guardians of an unjust and racist legal system that
disproportionately targets the poor and people of color. The FOP has
spearheaded the campaign of corrupt police to execute Mumia from the
beginning, and helped protect those guilty of framing him. This is typical
activity for this cabal of official gangsters. The FOP, for instance, routinely
finances the defense of cops such as John Burge, guilty both of torture,
and of sending many innocent men to prison, some to death row.
We stand for abolition of the racist death penalty, and no to "life without
parole." For labor action to free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, and
all political prisoners!