From: Mark Clement Subject: CUBAN PRESS TAKES UP MUMIA'S CASE Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 20:12:22 -0400 ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the June 15, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- CUBAN PRESS TAKES UP MUMIA'S CASE By Greg Butterfield The floodgates have opened. Politicians who advocate the racist, anti-working class death penalty are on the defensive. Many articles about the controversy in the mainstream U.S. press--from the New York Daily News to USA Today--cite Mumia Abu-Jamal's case as one of those driving the movement to end executions. Now comes new solidarity, from Cuba. Granma, the daily newspaper of Cuba's socialist government, published an important article on Abu-Jamal in its May 31 edition. The article by Mario Jorge Munoz began by quoting one of Abu-Jamal's recent columns denouncing police brutality. "Such denunciations were written from a cold cell on `death row' in Pennsylvania," wrote Granma. "For 18 years the author is aware that at any moment they could carry out the sentence. For that reason he expounds as if each moment were his last. "The word, each day ever sharper, continues to be his most powerful weapon in unmasking the countless injustices of the system and to show his support for the countless noble causes that are still fought on the planet." The article describes how police targeted the young Black journalist, his subsequent arrest and frame-up for the murder of Philadelphia cop Daniel Faulkner, and the biased trial that followed. Munoz quoted Abu-Jamal's trial judge Albert Sabo's statement that "justice is just an emotion, a sentiment." The Cuban journalist added that the judge's "hatred of Blacks was on the list of his deepest sentiments." The U.S. policy of targeting poor and working people, especially people of color, for execution is abhorrent to Cubans, who have built a society based on solidarity. Cuba has been a haven for exiled Black freedom fighters like Assata Shakur. Abu-Jamal "is sentenced to death for his opinions and political conduct," the Granma article concluded. "The Cuban press is making a high priority of Mumia's case," said Gloria La Riva of the International Action Center. She said Cuba will host a roundtable discussion on Abu-Jamal and the U.S. death penalty the weekend of June 17. Among those participating from the United States will be Pam Africa of International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal, lawyer Leonard Weinglass, Monica Moorehead of Millions for Mumia/IAC, Gloria Rubac of the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement and journalist Rosemary Mealy. La Riva described the roundtable as "a new institution to engage the whole population in discussion" that originally focused on Eli n Gonz lez. The popular roundtables are broadcast on national TV and radio several times a week. Transcripts are made available in pamphlet form. STUDENT ACTIONS ON BOTH COASTS In the United States, students continue to organize for a new trial as the school year winds down. In New York, hundreds of young people turned out June 3 for a concert to benefit Abu-Jamal's legal defense and victims of police brutality. Hip-hop artists Mos Def and Dead Prez headlined the show, "Voices for the Voiceless." Hunter College Student Liberation Action Movement sponsored the event. Students at two University of California-Santa Cruz campuses won the right to have the political prisoner speak at their graduation ceremonies. His taped message will be played June 10 at Merrill College and June 11 at Stephenson College, according to the Santa Cruz Coalition to Free Mumia and all Political Prisoners. Clark Kissinger of Refuse & Resist and other activists in the Free Mumia movement will hold a news conference June 6 at the U.S. Probation Office in Brooklyn, N.Y. Kissinger and 10 others were given harsh terms by a federal magistrate for their participation in civil disobedience last July 3 at the Liberty Bell. Besides having to report "on every aspect of his life" to a parole officer, Kissinger is restricted from visiting Abu-Jamal or traveling outside New York without permission for a year. A protest campaign is under way. On June 2, Abu-Jamal's lawyers filed a new 15-page brief with Federal Judge William H. Yohn. Prosecutors have until June 23 to respond. Then Yohn is expected to set a hearing to decide whether he will allow new evidence. Abu-Jamal will be in the courtroom. Groups throughout the country plan to mobilize for the hearing. Supporters will pack the courtroom while others rally outside for a new trial. Major demonstrations are planned at both the Republican and Democratic political conventions this summer. For more information, readers can call Millions for Mumia/IAC at (212) 633-6646 in New York or (415) 821-6545 in San Francisco, or visit the Web site www.mumia2000.org. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@workers.org. For subscription info send message to: info@workers.org. Web: http://www.workers.org)