“There are no borders to consciousness.” – Mumia Abu-Jamal
Activists and supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal, award-winning journalist, humanitarian & political prisoner, converged in Philadelphia, April 24th on his 70th birthday. Buses came from Boston and NYC. This important milestone was observed with the delivery of 1,000 petitions, collected in France, to District Attorney Larry Krasner and to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, calling for Mumia’s release to rejoin his family and seek immediate medical care. Free Mumia events were also held in other cities including Houston, Detroit, Washington DC and San Diego.
Since the 1990’s, the French Collective for the Liberation of Mumia, consisting of over 100 organizations and public figures, has fought for Mumia’s freedom. Today, Mumia is an honorary citizen of Paris and 25 additional French cities.
Later, an evening gathering was held at the historic Waters Memorial AME Church. Speakers included Marc Lamont Hill, Dr. Johanna Fernandez, Pam Africa, Cornel West, Vijay Prashad, speakers from Samidoun, the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a special phone call from Mumia, and veterans of the Black Panther Party. Mumia’s birthday observation made sure the program linked the struggle for his freedom with the global fightback movement against the racist, settler-colonial occupation and genocide in Palestine. Mumia has been caged for nearly 42 years, including 28 of them on death row. He is a veteran Black Panther, grandfather and foremost revolutionary thinker. He has written 11 books.
Visit linktr.ee./Mumia for more information.
Click here to see 107 photos taken by Joe Piette
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Julia Wright, daughter of famed African American writer Richard Wright, and longtime supporter, was asked by the Mumia German Collective to introduce Mumia at the yearly Rosa Luxemburg Conference in Berlin in January of this year.
This segment was produced by Prison Radio. For more visit prisonradio.org.
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The decades-long movement to free the revolutionary journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal continues. His grandson, Jamal Jr., shares why demands for the freedom of his grandfather have not been answered. He appeared on the Breakthrough News podcast in Dec. 2022.
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JR Valrey of Block Report Radio spoke to Bilal Sunni Ali, former political prisoner, musician, and administrator of IJAN, the Imam Jamil Action Network, about the campaign to free and exonerate Imam Jamil Al-Amin, formerly H. Rap Brown. After being incarcerated for 24 years, Imam Jamul Al-Amin has maintained his innocence.
For more information about the case of Imam Jamil Al-Amin visit www.ImamJamilActionNetwork.org
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The anniversary of Leonard Peltier’s conviction for the murder of two FBI agents was April 18. Leonard Peltier, a citizen of Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and also Lakota, was convicted in 1979. He was a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM).
He has spent 49 years in prison for a crime he maintains he did not commit. The conviction was based on FBI misconduct including witness intimidation and the withholding of exculpatory evidence. Amnesty International considers him a political prisoner and calls for his release. Here’s the voice of Peter Coyote for Amnesty International with excerpts from the Robert Redford film Incident at Oglala. We also hear from Leonard Peltier’s attorney and official ad hoc support group members from the January 2024 What’s Happening show on Pacifica’s WBAI. Thanks to producer Jacquelyn Battise of KPFT (Houston).
Peltier is considered a political prisoner serving time in the US. Tribal Indigenous Nations, Nobel Peace Laureates, former FBI agents and even the former U.S. Attorney James Reynolds, whose office handled the prosecution, have all called for Leonard Peltier’s release. He is eligible for parole this year.
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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange remains in a UK prison, facing possible extradition to the US on espionage charges for exposing US war crimes. Julian’s wife Stella Assange claims that the justice system is ‘an accessory’ against her husband. She spoke in Italy’s Perugia when she received the ‘Federico Caffe Award: Economic Policy at the Service of People’ on behalf of her husband. In March, the British High Court ruled that Assange would not be subject to extradition unless the US gave certain assurances.
On April 16, the United States Embassy filed two assurances with the British Foreign Office saying it would not seek the death penalty against Julian Assange and that Assange can try to raise the First Amendment at trial and sentencing. However, the U.S. Department of Justice can’t guarantee that he would get those rights.
And that concludes today’s edition of Capitalism, Race & Democracy. We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by the Capitalism, Race & Democracy collective: Akua Holt (producer, host), with contributions from JR Valrey, Jacquelyn Battise, Steve Zeltzer, Ann Garrison, and Polina Vasiliev.
You can find this and all previous episodes at our website “capitalism race and democracy dot ORG”. Make sure you click the subscribe button. Follow us on X, formerly Twitter, @PacificaCRD.
Thanks for listening.
Music:
Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science – No Justice (For Political Prisoners) ft Meshell Ndegeocello
Reggae artist, I MARA, “Free Mumia Abu Jamal”
Julie Robbins, “A Crime that Isn’t Mine” from the album, In The Spirit of Crazy Horse, Songs for Leonard Peltier
