Welcome to BASE21

by Christian/Base21 Media Activist
dvs-b@t-online.de

Mumia Abu-Jamal is an African-American journalist on death row in Pennsylvania. He was sentenced to death in 1982 as a result of a thoroughly rigged trial in which he was convicted of killing a Philadelphia policeman. The prosecution demanded the death sentence on the basis of Abu-Jamal's revolutionary political beliefs.
A powerful movement has arisen demanding justice for Mumia. From the U.S. to Germany, Italy, France, and England, to South Africa, Brazil, India, and Mexico, tens of thousands of people have protested Mumia's unjust conviction and demanded his freedom.
The state of Pennsylvania set an execution date twice for Mumia, in 1995 and again in 1999. Both times the execution was stopped by the actions of people here and around the world. The fight for Mumia has shown that the people must struggle to win justice. This is all the more true at this moment.
Mumia is still on death row! Even though a federal judge set aside his death sentence in December 2001, he is still locked in a small cell 23 hours a day on death row at SCI Greene, while the District Attorney of Philadelphia appeals the first admission that the state did anything wrong in Mumia's case in 20 years. The death sentence could be reinstated by another federal court, or the state could hold another sentencing hearing and go for it again. It's our job to make sure this execution never happens.
Mumia's unjust conviction still stands. The federal judge DENIED all the issues in Mumia's petition related to his guilty verdict -- without hearing any arguments in open court, without hearing a single witness, and in the face of new evidence pointing to a government frame-up in Mumia's case. Mumia's case has now moved to a new, critical phase. Our movement has opened a crack in the solid wall of injustice. Let's seize upon this new development to further build up the movement to stop the government from executing Mumia and to overturn Mumia's conviction so that he may be free.
The United States is at war internationally and here in the US repression against the people is rapidly intensifying to unprecedented dimensions. There is an atmosphere of intimidation, suppression of dissent, and the super-glorification of the police. Basic rights of the people are being erased by new laws and presidential order. People are not supposed to question the rounding up of Muslims, Arabs and other immigrants and their "indefinite detentions." Racial profiling is considered legitimate and necessary in the interest of "security" and "safety." This repression has to be resisted and stopped.
What would it mean at this time -- in this hour of decision -- to stop the execution and force the government to overturn the conviction of Mumia and win his freedom?
It would mean the government could not get away with silencing a powerful voice of resistance... and they will not be able to silence the resistance of the people. It would mean the power of the people is ultimately greater than the power of this government and its repression.