Open World Conference of Workers
In Defense of Trade Union Independence & Democratic Rights
Support the Dec. 11 International Delegation for Mumia
1) Presentation: Support the December 11 International Delegation to Janet Reno and the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of Mumia
Abu-Jamal!
2) Invitation by Labor for Mumia to participate in and support the December 11, 2000, Delegation to Washington, D.C.
3)
Appeal of the International Committee "Save the Life of Mumia
Abu-Jamal" in Support of December 11 Delegation to Washington
4) Open Letter to Attorney General Janet Reno and the Department of Justice From U.S. Trade Unionists (initiated by Labor for
Mumia)
1) Presentation: Support the International Delegation to Janet Reno and the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of Mumia
Abu-Jamal!
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
We are writing to request your support for an extremely important initiative undertaken by the labor movement internationally on behalf of death-row inmate Mumia
Abu-Jamal.
On December 11, 2000, a broad-based international delegation will travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno to demand that the Justice Department order an immediate investigation into the civil and constitutional rights of Mumia
Abu-Jamal.
Such an investigation, without a doubt, would represent a breakthrough in the fight for a new trial. It would legitimize and bring to public attention all the information that the courts and judges have refused to hear over the past 18 years concerning the sustained violation of
Abu-Jamal's civil, constitutional and due-process rights. The disclosure of such information by the U.S. Justice Department, we believe, would help pave the way for a new trial - and freedom for
Abu-Jamal.
We urge all supporters of labor and democratic rights to read carefully the materials below and to support this initiative.
Unionists and activists in the United States should send all messages of support and financial assistance to Labor for
Mumia, c/o San Francisco Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St., suite 203, San Francisco, CA 94109, email:
Labor4Mumia@aspenlinx.com . Please make checks payable to Labor for
Mumia, with the notation "response to OWC appeal."
Unionists and activists living outside the United States should send their statements of support - and financial assistance - to the International Committee "Save the Life of
Mumia-Abu -Jamal," c/o Entente Internationale des Travailleurs, 87, rue du Faubourg Saint Denis 75010 Paris, France. Tel: 01-48-01-88-27 - Fax : 01-48-01-89-24; email :
cimumia@wanadoo.fr . Please make checks payable to "Jean-Pierre Barrois - Comité international."
Thank you for your continued support. Together we will win a new trial -- and freedom -- for Mumia
Abu-Jamal!
In solidarity,
Alan Benjamin,
OWC Continuations Committee
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2) Invitation by Labor for Mumia to participate in and support the December 11, 2000, delegation to Washington, D.C.
Dear Friends:
I'd like to take a moment to request your participation in a delegation on December 11, 2000, in Washington, D.C. The delegation will include representatives from the organized labor movement internationally to meet with U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno. We will be demanding Justice for Mumia
Abu-Jamal.
We will present thousands of letters from trade unionists in the Unites States and throughout the world which demand that the Department of Justice intervene to stop the planned execution and guarantee the rights of
Abu-Jamal, which have been consistently violated. We believe that the most powerful delegation possible is needed.
As you well know, the forces that working people are up against in this case are quite powerful indeed. In spite of the fact that both sides in this case know that Mumia
Abu-Jamal was railroaded through a racist court trial in Philadelphia, characterized by 29 separate constitutional violations, the lynchers continue to pursue Mumia's execution, actually campaigning for it in this country.
One needn't look back too far to find cases where we in the labor movement failed to respond appropriately, only to gain another martyr. Enough martyrs! "The labor movement has to show that it's not going to sit in the bleachers while someone is being sent to the gallows," says Walter Johnson, secretary treasurer of the San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO).
We're well aware that given the distance to Washington, D.C., many of you may find it difficult to participate in this delegation. If a representative of your union or organization cannot participate in the delegation, you can still help us by endorsing the Open Letter to Janet Reno [see below] and calling on her to receive the delegation. We also urge you to send a financial contribution - large or small - to help us with all the costs of organizing an effort of this magnitude - from the making of the banners, to the rental of a press conference room, to the printing of all the materials, to the payment of all the phone bills, to the local transportation of all the delegates.
Your support, in whatever form, would be quite important and much appreciated. We feel it is critical that we win this case. We need to "pull out the stops." Please join us in this effort.
In Solidarity,
Randy Christensen,
Coordinator - Labor for Mumia
(Labor for
Mumia, c/o San Francisco Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St., suite 203, San Francisco, CA 94109, or return by email to:
Labor4Mumia@aspenlinx.com )
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3) Support the International Delegation to the Department of Justice of the United States on December 11, 2000!
(Statement of the International Committee "Save the Life of Mumia
Abu-Jamal")
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
In late October, the Labor for Mumia campaign in the United States voted to issue a call for an international labor delegation to the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C., on December 11. The purpose of the delegation is to insist that U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno intervene immediately to save the life of Black activist and unionist Mumia
Abu-Jamal.
Our International Committee calls upon all those who, over the past year, have supported our initiatives to free
Mumia: Let us mobilize with renewed strength to build this international labor delegation to Washington on December 11! Let us save the life of Mumia
Abu-Jamal!
On December 11, the race for the U.S. presidency will be over. There will be six weeks left before the new president takes office - ample time for the Clinton administration to take action and order an investigation into the violation of the civil and constitutional rights of Mumia
Abu-Jamal, which it has the full authority to do under U.S. law.
Last January 12, a first international delegation traveled to the U.S. Justice Department in Washington. It included labor activists and Members of Parliament from Spain, Great Britain, Germany, France, and Martinique -- as well as U.S. trade union officials, union activists and prominent figures in the African American and human rights communities.
That international delegation was received for an hour by Janet Reno's top assistants. The delegation requested intervention by the Department of Justice as a first step toward ensuring a fair trial in which
Abu-Jamal could prove his innocence.
Mr. Stuart Ishimaru, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, told the delegation: "We can neither promise that the case will be reopened, nor the contrary. We cannot guarantee this in advance. We can only commit to examining carefully what you have provided us."
The delegation asked: "Will you then give us your response to this material upon examining it?"
Mr. Ishimaru replied: "I can only state you will receive a separate answer to every question you pose and regarding every document which you submit to us. ... Whatever the form, I commit myself to providing you a full response."
On May 12, on the eve of the International Day of Action to Free
Mumia, our International Committee again contacted Mr. Ishimaru in Washington over the phone. Mr. Ishimaru responded: "We are now examining the possibility of ordering such an investigation."
A man has been detained for 18 years in the sinister "death row" of the SCI Green prison in Pennsylvania. He has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. Mumia
Abu-Jamal could be executed at any moment. Abu-Jamal has stated: "They don't just want my death, they want my silence."
We will not - we cannot - accept this! Janet Reno and Bill Clinton must now take action - or they will be the accomplices in the legal murder that is being prepared!
Let us answer - the world over - the call of Labor for
Mumia!
Trade unions, labor and democratic organizations, elected officials, activists, workers and youth: Let us send thousands of letters to "Labor for
Mumia" to say:
We support your efforts to save the life of Mumia
Abu-Jamal! Janet Reno must receive the international delegation! She must answer positively to the demand for a federal investigation! Stop Mumia's execution! A fair trial for
Mumia! Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!
Let us make ours the fighting slogan of the U.S. labor movement: "An injury to one is an injury to all!"
signed/
Dominique
Vincenot, on behalf of the
International Committee
"Save the Life of Mumia
Abu-Jamal"
(International Committee "Save the Life of Mumia-Abu -Jamal," c/o Entente Internationale des
Travailleurs, 87, rue du Faubourg Saint Denis 75010 Paris, France. Tel: 01-48-01-88-27 - Fax : 01-48-01-89-24; email :
cimumia@wanadoo.fr )
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4) Open Letter to Attorney General
Janet Reno and the Department of Justice From U.S. Trade Unionists
We trade unionists demand justice for our union brother, award-winning journalist and National Writers Union member
(UAW Local 1981), Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Abu-Jamal has been on death row for the last 18 years, convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer and sentenced to death in a trial that can only be described as a travesty of justice:
-
Abu-Jamal was denied a competent defense, refused the right to represent himself, and even barred from the courtroom during much of the proceedings.
- African-Americans were systematically excluded from the jury.
- Witnesses were intimidated and coerced by the police. Vital evidence was falsified or suppressed.
- The trial was presided over by a judge who has sentenced 33 people to death (all but two of them people of color), more than any other sitting judge.
- A so-called "confession" didn't come to light until two months after the event, and even then, the "witness" (a police officer) was conveniently "unavailable" for cross-examination during the trial.
- In the sentencing phase, the prosecutor, in arguing for the death penalty, cited
Abu-Jamal's writings, in effect, condemning him for the expression of his beliefs.
In short, it is clear that Mumia
Abu-Jamal was denied his basic Constitutional rights. He was targeted for this treatment because, as a Philadelphia journalist, he stood up for poor and working people.
He was spied on and harassed as a part of the illegal government COINTELPRO operation against Black and other anti-establishment organizers, even though he had never been convicted of breaking any law.
In spite of new evidence indicating
Abu-Jamal's innocence, including witnesses recanting their original testimony,
Abu-Jamal's right to a fair trial has been consistently denied in the courts. This is a situation all too common for people of color on death row, a product of the racism and class bias in the criminal justice system.
During his 18 years on death row,
Abu-Jamal's writings have been repeatedly censored, as he has sought to expose injustice. As
Abu-Jamal himself puts it, "They don't just want my death, they want my silence." The injustice that has been done to Mumia
Abu-Jamal - the denial of his Constitutional rights- is an injustice and a threat to us all.
Attorney General Janet Reno, justice demands that you intervene to guarantee the rights of Mumia
Abu-Jamal. We demand that you guarantee Abu-Jamal's right to a new trial. We demand justice. Anything less would amount to your complicity.
Sincerely,
Labor for
Mumia, c/o San Francisco Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St., suite 203, San Francisco, CA 94109, or return by email to:
Labor4Mumia@aspenlinx.com