An important victory was won in the fight to stop the legal murder of Mumia Abu-Jamal when Judge Albert Sabo flip- flopped and granted the well-known Black activist an indefinite stay of execution on August 7. Abu-Jamal was just 10 days shy of being put to death. Working people the world over should celebrate what we fought for and won.
The ruling is a testament to the international campaign waged on Abu-Jamal's behalf, which forced Sabo - known as a "hanging judge" - and the government of Pennsylvania to back down from their rush to send Abu-Jamal to the death chamber. The planned demonstration in Philadelphia on August 12 should be a celebration of the successful fight and an opportunity to build on the momentum to press forward with the demand for a new trial.
Mumia Abu-Jamal has become an international symbol in the fight against the death penalty. His case shows how hundreds of thousands of working people, particularly Blacks, end up in prison; and how hundreds also end up on death row. More than 40 percent of inmates on death row are Black, more than three times the percentage of Blacks in the U.S. population. In the last six decades, more than 50 percent of executed inmates were Black.
The campaign to stop the execution exposed the utter contempt by Judge Sabo, the government prosecutors, and the cops, for Abu-Jamal's basic legal rights. Sabo has sent more people to death row than any other judge in the United States. In a travesty of justice he is both the judge that sent Abu-Jamal to death row 13 years ago and the judge reviewing the proceedings to see if Abu-Jamal should be granted a new trial.
As the countdown drew towards the August 17 execution date, support swelled for Abu-Jamal, placing tremendous pressure on the capitalist rulers and their plans to maintain state-sanctioned murder as a weapon in their arsenal against working people. The outrageous conduct of Judge Sabo started to become a political liability for them.
The thousands who protested around the world - in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Ireland, Cuba, and many other countries - forced the government to back off from Abu-Jamal's execution, at least for now, and struck a powerful blow against the death penalty. The fight to stop the hangman's noose from wrapping around Abu-Jamal's neck helped to bring to light the injustices of the capitalist courts, government, and cops.
Supporters of Abu-Jamal should not let up. The momentum is now on our side. The government blinked first and they will be hard pressed to deny Abu-Jamal a new trial if his supporters keep up the pressure. Working people and all defenders of democratic rights should redouble their efforts to take advantage of the mass sentiment that exists for a new trial. This fight is now the best avenue to expose the frame-up character of the case, as well as get the death sentence removed. Abu-Jamal wrote, "I am not now under an active death warrant, although I remain under an active death sentence."
The stay of execution was also a blow to cop brutality, which Abu-Jamal was a victim of. The police often consider themselves judge, jury, and executioner and this case challenged that prerogative. Revealing the typical thinking of the boys in blue, one Philadelphia cop told the New York Times after Judge Sabo's decision, "Maybe we should have executed him at 13th and Locust where he executed Danny Faulkner."
Supporters of Abu-Jamal should also take notice that the cops continue to mount their campaign to deny the political activist his basic rights. They are doing all they can to prevent a new trial for him and to intimidate his supporters. In addition to packing their guns while attending courtroom proceedings in Philadelphia, they have organized to block fund-raising activities and other events by Abu-Jamal supporters. Their actions should be roundly condemned by all supporters of democratic rights.
The groundswell of support that grew for Abu-Jamal can also be viewed as a step forward in the fight to defend affirmative action and other struggles that Blacks and others are fighting around today. The fight to stay the execution for Abu-Jamal demonstrated that it is possible to go up against the power of the capitalist rulers, their courts, and their cops, and win. Working people have the power to stop the attacks against our democratic rights and the gains won from past struggles.
If we keep up the fight now it is possible to make the rulers pay a very high price for their attempts to move forward with the death penalty against Mumia Abu-Jamal. Supporters of Abu-Jamal should continue to reach out around the world. We should build on this victory and demand:
A new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal!
Lift the death sentence!
Abolish the death penalty!