[Pnews] Message from Political Prisoner Jalil Muntaqim 1/30/17

[Prisoner News]

http://us12.campaign-archive1.com/?u=0aca83ec057f583557dec5ce0&id=a966ca419a&e=e9f3d86b9a

Friends & Comrades:

For decades, I have been fighting for the amnesty and freedom of not 
only myself, but all U.S. political prisoners. Back in 1977, as part of 
initiating the first national prisoners’ petition campaign to the United 
Nations and establishing the first national prisoners’ newspaper “Arm 
the Spirit,” I wrote and distributed a call for a national 
organization—Political Prisoners Revolutionary Solidarity Movement 
(PPRSM). Unfortunately, that call to action was premature, and activists 
failed to respond in any appreciable numbers. The general support base 
for PPs at that time was sectarian and divided on political lines of 
whether one was a revolutionary nationalist, Marxist-Leninist or Maoist.

After being paroled from San Quentin and moved to NYS apartheid prison 
system, I wrote and had published, with assistance from Attorney Bob 
Boyle (editing) and PFOC (publishing), a pamphlet titled “A Case Against 
United States Domestic (Neo) Colonialism—for the National POW Amnesty 
Campaign.” That pamphlet provided both legal and political analysis and 
explanation of the importance of petitioning the United Nations to 
redress U.S. failure to give recognition to the existence of political 
prisoners, and for our demand for amnesty.

By 1980, the United Nations International Jurists toured the U.S., 
interviewing a selective group of U.S. political prisoners, and then 
reported to a U.N. Special Subcommittee that political prisoners do 
exist in the U.S. Some of those same political prisoners still languish 
in prison. … A year prior to the International Jurists tour, 
then-President Jimmy Carter fired his U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young for 
his response to the question that I asked a journalist to pose to him: 
“Are there political prisoners in the U.S.?” He answered, “Yes, perhaps 
thousands.” (Ironically, now former President Jimmy Carter wrote a 
letter to former President Obama to grant clemency to Oscar Lopez 
Rivera. I wonder, did he ever offer an apology to Andrew Young?)

Fast forward to 1997-98. I made the call for the Jericho March in 
Washington in support of U.S. political prisoners, and more than 6,000 
activists across the country responded. Beloved comrades Safiya Asya 
Bukhari and Baba Herman Ferguson organized this national determination 
culminating with the advent of the Jericho Amnesty Movement.

Next year will mark the 20th Anniversary of the Jericho Amnesty 
Movement. Jericho has gone under several leadership changes after the 
demise of Sister Safiya and Baba Herman. Jericho has provided political 
prisoners with legal support, medical assistance, and political campaign 
solidarity. Jericho continues to raise the existence of U.S. political 
prisoners to the international community, building solidarity with 
political prisoner support groups around the world, and petitioning 
United Nations forums.

However, unfortunately, the U.S. progressive community has yet to 
provide Jericho the essential support necessary to ensure Jericho’s 
growth, development and capacity to represent U.S. Political Prisoners 
to the best of its ability. This lack of support and solidarity 
generally weakens the overall political prisoner support movement, 
negatively impacting the fight to win amnesty and freedom for political 
prisoners.

As we approach the 20th Anniversary of the Jericho Amnesty Movement, I 
personally request all those who have a copy of my book “We Are Our Own 
Liberators” to read the chapter “A Case Against United States Domestic 
(Neo) Colonialism” (pages 41-60), and if possible make a copy of the 
chapter and post online if you agree with what was written over 35 years 
ago is relevant today in our continued fight to win amnesty and freedom 
for our political prisoners. Furthermore, I ask that you contact Jericho 
Amnesty Movement representatives across the country to learn how you can 
support our collective capacity to support political prisoners.

Our collective determination has not diminished. Recognizing we are 
entering a new phase of repression, we must come to terms that a greater 
potential exists for more activists to become political prisoners. It is 
incumbent on all of us to anticipate these developments and adapt to the 
changing political environment. While our successes have been few and 
far between, the Jericho Amnesty Movement has been a constant, a 20-year 
national determination that will always represent the best character of 
our class and national liberation struggles—the character and principles 
of the indomitable revolutionary spirits of our political prisoners.

In the Spirit of Nelson Mandela
in Apartheid NYS Prison System

Jalil A. Muntaqim
Jan. 30, 2017, Southport
-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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