There are countless issues facing the progressive movement today: rebuilding the union movement, defense of reproductive rights, opposing welfare "reform", protesting the on-going war against Iraq, defeating the AIDS crisis and many more. Most activists pick an issue, try to make a contribution and hope others are fighting on other fronts.
But sometimes one issue takes center stage. For many different reasons, it becomes the central battlefield between the progressive, anti-racist, working class movement on the one side and the government, corporate class and right-wing on the other. And whether we win or lose affects our ability to struggle on all the other issues.
Opposing Mumia's execution has become such a defining fight.
Mumia Abu-Jamal is one of us. He's a political activist, a fighter for the people. He's on Death Row, not for any criminal act, but because he was an outspoken opponent of the thoroughly racist police and city government of Philadelphia.
Mumia has become a symbol of the fight against police brutality, a biased and unjust court system, a rapidly expanding prison-industrial complex and a racist and anti-poor system of capital punishment.
And Mumia has come to represent something else: the fundamental right to fight back.
The fight against racism has always been the acid test for the progressive movement in the United States. Neglecting or abandoning that fight has always preceded the decline of that movement. Uniting now and reaching out in the broadest possible way to save Mumia's life will strengthen us for the many battles to come. Failing to meet this challenge will only weaken us all.
Millions for Mumia Mobilization: (212) 633-6646;
International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal: (215) 476-8812;
On April 24, millions of people will march in Philadelphia, San Francisco and in many cities overseas to demand a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Mumia is known around the world as a political prisoner. Falsely convicted of murder in the 1981 shooting death of a white Philadelphia police officer, the former Black Panther and celebrated radio journalist has become a focal point in the struggle against racism, political repression, police brutality, a rapidly expanding prison-industrial complex and the racist, anti-working class use of the death penalty.
Mumia was tried before Philadelphia's Albert Sabo, who has sent more people to Death Row than any other sitting judge in the country. His lawyer was later disbarred for incompetency. The prosecution systematically barred African Americans from the jury. Key witnesses later came forward to say they had been pressured by the police to lie in court.
Mumia is asking for one simple thing: a new trial, so he can prove his innocence. Millions of people have spoken out in support of this demand, from Nelson Mandela to Amnesty International to scores of members of the European Parliament, the Japanese Diet and other elected bodies, as well as thousands of labor and community groups in the U.S.
In 1995, Pennsylvania Gov. Thomas Ridge, a right-wing Republican elected on a pro-death penalty platform, signed a warrant for Mumia's execution. That August, faced with a massive demonstration in Philadelphia, Judge Sabo was forced to lift the warrant.
On October 30, 1998, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied Mumia's last state appeal for a new trial. Gov. Ridge has vowed to sign a new death warrant if Mumia's federal appeals are denied, a likely prospect under the new Effective Death Penalty Act signed by President Clinton in 1996.
Only a truly historic demonstration of outrage and opposition can save Mumia's life.
That demonstration will take place on April 24.
In a major new development, the South Central Federation of Labor, representing 30,000 union members in the Madison area, has unanimously passed a resolution calling for a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal. The resolution also calls on members to attend the April 24 march in Philadelphia and authorizes the carrying of the Fed's official union banner. The resolution detailed the major contradictions in the case and noted that "Mumia has lent his name many times in support of labor's cause, most recently refusing a scheduled interview with 20/20 because of ABC's lockout of NABET/CWA members." Councils in Seattle, San Francisco and Oakland, CA have also called for a new trial.
A Job is a Right Campaign in Milwaukee and Solidarity in Madison are chartering a bus to Philly. Tickets are $100.00 round trip. The bus leaves Madison Friday evening, April 23, stops in Milwaukee and returns midday Sunday. Seats are limited, so get your tickets now! In Madison, call (608) 835-7501. In Milwaukee, (414) 374-1034.
From Madison to Milwaukee, LaCrosse to Green Bay, Wisconsin is organizing for April 24! Under the banner of Wisconsin for Mumia, volunteers are passing out leaflets, putting up posters, sending out mailings and emails, making phone calls, raising money and more. We want to bring the largest possible number of people to Philadelphia and at the same time bring the truth about Mumia to the people here in Wisconsin. Call today to find out how you can help: 414-374-1034.
We have six different videos about Mumia. AJRC, the Wis. Network to Stop the Transfers and Muhammad Mosque No. 3 have already hosted showings and we're in the process of arranging more. If you'd like to host a video showing at your home, school, union meeting, library or church, temple or mosque, call us today. (Rental is free.)
Please send whatever you can. Make checks or money orders payable to "AJRC/April 24" and mail to PO Box 06053, Milwaukee, WI 53206. (Donations of $25 or more are tax deductible if made payable to "People's Rights Fund/AJRC".)
For the first time, an official elected body has declared that Wisconsin's welfare reform program, W-2, has resulted in a sharp increase in homelessness in Milwaukee County, home to a majority of the state's W-2 participants.
Stating that "a substantial number of evictions occur when W-2 families are unable to pay monthly rents," the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors voted 25-0 on Feb. 18 to call for the creation of an "Emergency Rent Payment Plan and Voucher System". The emergency relief would be available to people facing eviction as a result of W-2 and would be developed by the W-2 agencies.
The resolution grew out of the Campaign for a Ban on Winter Evictions led by A Job is a Right Campaign, Repairers of the Breach and the Women & Poverty Initiative. The three groups held signs reading "Stop the Evictions!" and cheered as the votes were counted.
With W-2, Wisconsin has led the country in slashing its welfare rolls. As a result, Gov. Tommy Thompson and others have declared the program an "amazing success." W-2 is being used as a model by other states as well other countries, including England and New Zealand.
However, in January the state released the results of its first survey examining what has actually happened to the former welfare recipients. The report revealed that only 62% of those surveyed were actually working, with an average hourly wage of $7.42. Even so, "welfare expert" Lawrence Mead was quoted in The New York Times as arguing that "these work levels represent the greatest achievement in anti-poverty policy since the Great Society programs created under Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s."
Mead is the author of "The End of Entitlements", a book he wrote while employed at the right-wing Manhattan Institute in New York City. The Institute is funded in part by Milwaukee's ultra-conservative Bradley Foundation, which also funded the development of W-2.
Vicky Selkowe, W-2 project coordinator for the Institute for Wisconsin's Future, points out that the state's survey was conducted largely by phone, thus eliminating anyone who couldn't afford a phone or who had already been evicted. Altogether, a full one-third of the Milwaukee targeted population was never even interviewed.
Meanwhile, homelessness has skyrocketed. About 1,000 eviction notices are issued to County tenants each month, about the same as before W-2. (There are 375,100 households in the county.) However, the number of physical evictions has increased dramatically. In 1998, the Sheriff's Department physically evicted households on 2,389 occasions. Before W-2, the annual number averaged 700, according to Oscar Seymer of the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin, a landlord group.
The major reason for the sharp reduction in the welfare rolls is that built into the W-2 system is a financial incentive for the administering agencies to force people off the program as quickly as possible.
The agencies are paid a set amount whether they are providing services or not. As a result of aggressive "sanctioning" (withholding checks for alleged infractions) and prematurely declaring W-2 participants "job-ready", the five W-2 agencies in Milwaukee County have amassed $8.4 million in profits for their first year of operation.
Aggressive sanctioning was also demanded by W-2 state director Jean Rogers in a memo sent to the agencies early in 1998. Private agencies in Wisconsin are the first in the country to receive profits under the new welfare-to-work programs. The Campaign to Ban Winter Evictions is demanding that financing for the Emergency Rent Payment Plan come out of these W-2 agency profits. List | Home