Open World Conference of Workers

Dear supporters of the International Committee to Save the Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal throughout the world:

The International Committee to Save the Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal wishes to inform you of the latest developments in the struggle to save the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on death row for the past 18 years. Abu-Jamal - a well-known radio journalist, a proud member of the National Writers Union and staunch trade union activist, and a Black activist since he was 14 - was sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit. His trial was a mockery of justice.

That is why the International Committee to Save the Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal - a broad-based international coalition of trade unionists, political activists, members of Parliament, youth, workers, human rights activists - has collected more than 1.35 million signatures to date on an "Open letter to President Clinton" in more than 70 countries in the Americas, Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe. The International Committee is not in competition with any other coalition devoted to save the life of Abu-Jamal.

International Delegation to Washington

On January 12, 2000, an international delegation organized by the International Committee to Save the Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal met with three top officials of the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C. The delegation presented a representative sample of the signed Open Letters to President Clinton and urged the Justice Department to open a federal investigation into the flagrant violations of Abu-Jamal's due process, human and civil rights.

The international delegation included Members of Parliament, trade union leaders, youth and human rights activists from Spain, Great Britain, Germany, France and Martinique. They joined trade union leaders and human rights activists from the United States, including Baldemar Velasquez of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC/AFL-CIO); Jerry Gordon, secretary of the delegation; Lindsay McLaughlin of the ILWU; Dick Gregory; Ossie Davis; Roxanne Gregory from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (representing Martin Luther King III); Alisa Wilkins from the National Lawyers Guild; as well as long-time organizers of the Abu-Jamal defense efforts - Pam Africa and Steve Wiser.

The officials from the U.S. Justice Department committed themselves to studying the documents presented to them by the delegation (particularly the document prepared by Clark Kissinger on the 29 Human and Civil rights violations claimed by Mumia in his petition for Habeas Corpus) to determine whether or not they could open such a federal investigation into Mumia Abu-Jamal's case.

International Committee Supports May 13 Call to Action

The International Committee to Save the Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal then decided to make known all over the world the "International Call to Mobilize on May 13" issued by the main coalitions involved in the Mumia Abu-Jamal defense effort in the United States. The International Committee issued its own statement in support of the May 13 demonstrations, underlining its view of the necessity in each and every country to call for demonstrations, rallies, and delegations to the U.S. embassies and consulates with the following demands to President Clinton:

- "Uphold the Constitution! Stop the Execution!

- "Direct Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate the flagrant violations of Mumia Abu-Jamal's due process, human and civil rights!"

On May, 12, one of the officials at the U.S. Department of Justice - Stuart Ishimaru, deputy attorney general, civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department - made a phone call to the International Committee office in Paris (France). Answering a question regarding the status of the federal investigation, Ishimaru said, "[T]he Justice Department still has not decided if this investigation will take place or not, but we are analyzing the documents you gave us to decide if a federal investigation is possible in this case."

A spokesperson of the International Committee asked Ishimaru if we were in the same situation as we were last January when the delegation traveled to Washington. Ishimaru replied: "No, before receiving your international delegation, we didn't even imagine that something could have been done by the U.S. Justice Department on this case."

May 12 Labor Conference for Mumia

On May 13, throughout the world, dozens of demonstrations and mass rallies were staged at U.S. embassies. Where it was not possible to organize mass actions, high-level delegations on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal were sent to the U.S. embassies or consulates.

The first event of this international day of action was a trade union conference in Defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal which took place in Oakland, California, on May 12. The event was sponsored by Labor Action Committee to Free Mumia and was endorsed by dozens of union locals, local AFL-CIO labor councils and some international unions, such as ILWU. The event was supported by both the International Committee to Save the Life of Mumia Abu_jamal and by the Continuations Committee of the Open World Conference in Defense of Trade Union Independence and Democratic Rights (OWC).

The resolution adopted by the conference stated, in part:

"For a broad Labor campaign to win Justice for Mumia: We should constitute ourselves/this conference as the launching pad for a broad labor campaign to defend Mumia, called Labor for Mumia. This new formation should be anchored in the affiliated Central Labor Councils."

The resolution went on to raise the need for major media campaigns, postcard/petition campaigns, Mumia support groups in the trade unions, resolutions campaigns in the unions, and union-initiated community speakouts and teach-ins, among other possible activities.

The final resolution also stated:

"One focus of this work should be in demanding that the U.S. Justice Department launch an official investigation into Mumia's case. With 29 constitutional violations, it shouldn't take 18 years to discover only one, which is grounds to throw the case out. We must expose their inaction, which amounts to complicity. ..."

Mumia Abu-Jamal himself sent a message to this May 12 Labor Conference.

Report on May 13 Mobilizations the World Over

In the United States, one week after more than 6000 activists gathered at a May 7 rally in New York City's Madison Square Garden to demand Mumia's freedom, mass demonstrations were organized on May 13 in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia. The San Francisco demonstration of 7000 people included a large contingent of unionists led by the ILWU banner, which proclaimed: "An Injury to One is An Injury to All, Free Mumia Abu-Jamal!"

o In Switzerland, a national delegation of trade union leaders and students came from all parts of the country to the U.S. Embassy in the state capital of Berne. They submitted to the U.S. officials all the documents on Mumia's civil rights violations, as well as tens of thousands of signatures collected on the Open Letter to President Clinton.

Four days later, the first secretary of the U.S. Embassy sent to our brothers and sisters from Switzerland the following letter: "Please extend my sincere thanks to the International Committee to Save the Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal for taking the time to travel to Berne to explain your views to me and to Ms Koenig. This is to confirm that, as requested, the delegation's Open Letter to President Clinton and the attached communiquŽs have been forwarded to Washington for delivery to the White House."

o In Belgium, a press conference took place in Brussels with the participation of the International Committee, Amnesty International, the International Human Right Federation, and Lode Vanoost, member of Parliament. Belgium is the country where on April 27, 2000, the Foreign Affairs Commission of the national Parliament voted unanimously a resolution calling for a new trial for Mumia.

o In Spain, hundreds of activists, trade unionists and youth gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, in an action led by Senator Manuel Camara, who participated to the International delegation to Washington on January, 12. Other events in support of Mumia took place in Barcelona, Bilbao, and Valencia. In Tenerife, on the Canary Islands, a May 15 event gathered students from the University of La Laguna as well as leaders and rank-and-file members of the CCOO union federation, the United Left, and the Tagoror Ecological Alternative in a teach-in for Mumia.

o In Portugal, a delegation went to the Embassy on May 12. A festival to free Mumia the next day in the capital city of Lisbon was a giant success. In Italy, rallies and demonstrations took place in several cities, as was the case throughout Germany and Austria.

o In London, Great Britain, 500 unionists and activists gathered at the U.S. Embassy in response to the call issued by the International Committee, the coalition "Mumia Must Live" and many trade unionists of the Trade Unions Congress (TUC). A few weeks earlier, 21 British Members of Parliament from the Labour Party presented a resolution to the House of Commons calling on "the Government of her Majesty" to demand of President Clinton that he open a federal investigation and that he support the call for a new trial for Mumia, given that Mumia's Constitutional rights were not respected in his 1982 trial.

o In France, events were organized in more than 50 cities throughout the country. Mass demonstrations took place on the streets of Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier and Rennes, gathering several thousand people in each city - all with large contingents of youth. The largest of the actions gathered close to 4000 in a march and rally throughout downtown Paris. A few days earlier (on May 8), 450 youth from the Paris area met in a concert-rally organized by the International Committee to prepare the May 13 demonstration. Thousands of people shouted, "Clinton le peut, Clinton le doit: un nouveau proc�s pour Mumia" ("Clinton can do it, Clinton must do it: a new trial for Mumia") and "Par l'action internationale, nous libŽrerons Mumia Abu-Jamal" ("International action will free Mumia Abu-Jamal").

The demonstrations were genuinely broad-based. For example, in the small city of Valence, not far from Lyon, all the union federations and "left" political parties met in a common rally that voted to support the Open Letter to President Clinton. Following the rally, the Valence city council voted unanimously to endorse the Open Letter and to forward their endorsement to the U.S. authorities. The local newspapers published dozens of articles on the May 13 mobilization, and some published the entire text of the Open Letter.

Five thousand new signatures on the Open Letter to President Clinton were gathered throughout France on just that one day.

But this international day of action was not limited to Europe and the United States. In the West Indies, on the island of Martinique, on the campus of Schoelcher, hundreds of youth, students, trade unionists and workers met to watch a video on Mumia's frame-up and to listen to a report on the death penalty in the United States.

On May 22, a delegation of youth and trade unionists went by boat to the U.S. Consulate in Sainte-Lucie, with the support of the president of the General Council of Martinique. The delegation brought the 1651 new signatures on the Open letter to President Clinton collected since the January 12th international delegation to Washington. On the island of Barbados, the only country in which there is a U.S. Embassy in this part of the West Indies - a top representation of the country's Justice Department told the International Committee delegation that he would support a delegation to the U.S. authorities in his country.

A mass demonstration also took place on the island of Guadeloupe on May 13.

o In Mexico City, a mass rally was organized in front of the U.S. Embassy.

o In Brazil, demonstrators took to the streets in Sao Paulo, in Brasilia and in Salvador da Bahia. May 13 in Brazil was also the National Day Against Racism. Dozens of unions, the United Black Movement (MNU) and many activists, members of Parliament and officials of the Workers Party (PT) of Brazil participated in these events, which gathered several thousands of people across the country. A few months earlier, at the behest of the International Committee, the 2000 delegates gathered at the national convention of the Workers Party voted to support the "Open Letter to President Clinton" after the proposal was submitted by the anti-racist commission of the convention.

o In Quito (Ecuador), a rally took place in front of the U.S. Embassy. One of the organizers of the rally, Jairo Vera Kooke, member of the preparatory committee of the International Youth Conference for Revolution, was arrested for more than 10 hours by U.S. military forces on the grounds that "he remained too long time on the sidewalk in front of the Embassy." After threatening to use force on him and after copying all his documents, the U.S. military forces of the Embassy were compelled to let him go following a growing protest that was developing outside the embassy compound.

o Asia was also a continent where important meetings and actions took place on May 13 to save the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal. In India, several national trade unions sent instructions to all their locals to organize on May 13 pickets in the streets with banners and flyers in local languages, explaining the link between the struggle of these unions for democratic rights and the struggle for democratic rights in the United States. Local unions were asked to gather signatures on the Open Letter to President Clinton, demanding that he intervene to save Mumia Abu-Jamal's life.

o Rallies and delegations to the U.S. embassies were organized in Bangladesh. In Pakistan, where the military regime has forbidden all public meetings, rallies and demonstrations, the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation (AFTUF) and the Working Women Organization (WWO) organized a public rally for Mumia on May 13 in defiance of the regime. The action gathered more than 500 union and human rights the city of Lahore. Rally speakers - Gulzar Ahmed Caudhry of APTUF and Rubina Jamil of WWO - spoke in favor of a new trial for Mumia, and demanded that Presidnt Clinton intervene to stop the execution.

o In Africa, May 13 was also a day of action. Beginning in the north, in Algeria, there was a press conference and delegation to the U.S. Embassy that included several Members of Parliament. In the west, in LomŽ, Togo, a large conference on Mumia's case took place in the Labor Education Center of LomŽ, with the participation of scores of unionists and students from several associations. In the east, the Teachers Union of Chad organized a mass protest rally. In the south, in South Africa, a mass demonstration was organized at U.S. embassies and consulates, all led by historic leaders of the anti-apartheid struggle. Across the African continent, unionists, activists, youth shouted together to demand a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Repercussions of May 13

It is not a coincidence if, a few days later, The New York Times service and the International Herald Tribune (Monday, May 22) published articles on the broad-based international mobilization to free Mumia Abu-Jamal. One such article stated,

"While Mr. Bell [Daniel Faulkner's partner in the police patrol] insists that Mr. Abu-Jamal deserves execution, some outside investigators are not so sure.

"'The trial was grotesquely unfair and included fabricated evidence,' said Stuart Taylor, the legal affairs columnist for the National Journal. Among other things, he noted that the police claim that Mr. Abu-Jamal loudly, proudly, confessed to the shooting did not show up in the official record until two months after the crime. ...

"Mr Abu-Jamal, now 45, had no previous arrest record at the time. He alleges that his constitutional rights were violated wholesale by the police, prosecutor and judge in his furious trial in Philadelphia in 1982. His defenders insist that only a fair retrial can establish the facts and prove his innocence ... Six thousands believers in Mr. Abu-Jamal gathered this month in Madison Square Garden in New York, and thousands more demonstrated in European capitals, blocking some Paris intersections."

Mumia's case is gathering more and more support by the day. Randy Christensen, a member of Communication Workers of America Local 9415 and a coordinator of the "Labor for Mumia" coalition in Oakland, California, informs us:

"In an extremly significant display of Solidarity, the 1100 delegates to the International Convention of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) voted without dissent to demand justice for Mumia Abu-Jamal. Representing the largest union in the United States, with 1.4 million workers, this convention was assembled in the very state where Mumia continues to sit in the death row.

"Meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the assembled delegates voted to support a Moratorium on Death Penalty and a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal. ... It's important to salute the 49 delegates from SEIU Local 1000 for their exemplary work, many of whom participated in the Labor Conference for Mumia in Oakland on May 12. The 49 delegates from SEIU Local 1000 spearheaded the effort to take this action on Mumia's behalf at their International Convention. Local 1000 represents California State Employees."

This decision by the SEIU national convention comes after several union bodies across the United States have passed similar resolutions calling for a new trial. These include the ILWU, FLOC, the California Nurses Association, several AFL-CIO central Labor councils (San Francisco and Alameda), and the state convention of California Federation of Teachers.

It is Time to Broaden the Campaign to Save Mumia!

In such conditions, the International Committee to Save the Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal calls on all its supporters throughout the world - on the organized labor movement, on all supporters of democratic rights - to broaden ever more the campaign to save Mumia. We call on you to gather more and more signatures on the Open Letter to President Clinton. We call on you to get your union and/or organization to take a position in support of the demand that President Clinton instruct Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate the flagrant violation on Mumia Abu-Jamal's due process, human and civil rights.

Save the Life of Gary Graham (Shaka Sankofa)!

The International Committee to Save the Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal has also been informed on the case of Gary Graham (Shaka Sankofa).

Gary Graham, death-row inmate in Texas for the past 18 years, was sentenced to death when he was 17. He was charged with the murder of a drug dealer, and sentenced in a two-day trial on the basis of the testimony of only one eyewitness. In 1993, new lawyers launched a full investigation into his case. Much of the evidence was in police reports and could have been discovered earlier. Six crime scene witnesses listed in Houston police reports have sworn in affidavits under oath that Gary did not kill the man because he did not meet the physical description of the killer. Four other people passed polygraph tests attesting to the truth of their claim that Gary was with them on the night of the murder.

But Gary Graham has been scheduled five times for execution. Never has it been decided to open new hearings of the witnesses. Gary Graham is also a victim of a frame-up. None of his constitutional rights have been respected.

The Sixth amendment of the Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution (1791), quoted by Mumia Abu-Jamal in his last article on Gary Graham ("Texas, the death State"), states:

"In all criminal prosecution the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense".

Gary Graham's constitutional rights, as Mumia Abu-Jamal's, have been violated.

Gary Graham is scheduled for execution on June 22.

The Gary Graham/Shaka Sankofa Justice Coalition in Houston, Texas, calls upon everyone: "A people's movement is the only hope for Shaka. People must pressure the U.S. government for Justice. Write fax, and call President Clinton and Governor Bush daily if necessary".

We demand that the President of the United States, and the Attorney General intervene immediately to stop the execution of Gary Graham, open a federal investigation to determinate if his basic civil rights have been violated, and give him a new and fair trial.

A youth delegation went to the U.S. Embassy in Paris, on June 20, to present these demands to the White House.

Contact the International Committee to Save the Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal:

In Paris: c/o Entente internationale des travailleurs, 87, rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, 75 010 Paris - FRANCE. fax (33) 1 48 01 89 24 / E-mail cimumia@wanadoo.fr )

In San Francisco: c/o, Open World Conference, San Francisco Labor Council, 1188 Franklin St. #203, San Francisco, CA 94109. Tel. (415) 641-8616. Fax: (415) 626-1217. Email: ilcinfo@earthlink.net 

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