#politics #usa #prison-regime #bpp #free-mumia #free-them-all

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal now!

AFL-CIO Vermont branch chairman David Van Deusen released a statement on the ongoing court battle over the retrial of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal:

It is time for Mumia Abu-Jamal and all black political prisoners organized in the Black Panther Party to be released. The time has come for organized labor to stand unhesitatingly with Black working-class communities as they advocate for true freedom, economic equality, and self-determination.

The long march towards the liberation of the working class has taken many turns since our anti-imperialist revolution of 1777. A generation ago, from that turning point, from that just and legitimate struggle, the Black Panther Party was born. This party, dedicated to the struggle for black liberation and socialism and the goal of “power to the people”, set an example for militant struggle in the United States and brought together countless organizers and leaders of the Resistance, including brother Mumia Abu-Jamal.

When he was still at large, he fought for the liberation of his people. Because he has reached many people as a radio journalist and his messages for a better world have become a threat to the longtime ruling class of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the American empire, agents of that ruling class have tried to put him at risk. be silent. He was sentenced to death on trumped-up charges after a sham trial for a crime he didn’t commit. However, the reason was not the crime that he is not guilty of, but that his words and his actions posed a threat to the status quo of the racist class state.

The rulers wanted Brother Jamal to go “through the valley of the shadow of death” straight to death row, but like so many of our political martyrs before him, he “feared no evil” because there was an outcry from tens of thousands of workers representing the wealthy and made it clear to those in power that if Mumia were indeed dead, Philadelphia would burn. The fact that he is still alive today demonstrates that true justice can ultimately only be achieved through struggle.

Therefore, I join our members in calling for the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal! Together we raise our voices and demand justice. Let’s make sure Brother Jamal can leave the bars of oppression behind and come back to us to continue the long overdue fight for change! The quest for working class unity expresses the will of all workers – be they black, white, Hispanic, indigenous or Asian – to break once and for all the chains of exploitation and capitalism to create a new world that opens up justice economy, cooperation based on solidarity and a more direct participatory democracy which is at the heart of trade unions.

Free Mumia Abu Jamal!