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<h1><font size=4><b>German Academy of Arts Demands Freedom for
Mumia</b></font></h1><font size=3>
<a href="http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/8320/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/8320/<br>
</a>By
<a href="http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/author/view/356">Victor
Grossman</a><br><br>
<img src="http://www.politicalaffairs.net/images/1x1.gif" width=14 height=1 alt="[]">
</font><font size=1>3-31-09, 9:40 am</font><font size=3> <br><br>
BERLIN – The call to free Mumia Abu-Jamal from the death cell resounded
once again across the street from Berlin’s famous Brandenburg Gate. This
time it was not chanted out on the square by a hardy bunch of fighters,
muffled against the icy weather, some of them active for most of the 27
years of Mumia’s captivity. In well-spoken words it had been taken up by
some very prominent people at a meeting in the super-modern Academy of
Arts building, just two doors away from the new U.S. Embassy. The
respected Academy, founded by royalty in 1691, had decided on action.
<br><br>
Most prominent speaker was Danielle Mitterrand, widow of the former
French president and a fighter against injustice since anti-apartheid
struggle days. Recalling that a street in Paris is named for Mumia, an
honored citizen of Paris, she denounced the death penalty in general and
said, to loud applause: <br><br>
“Silencing Mumia would mean silencing 3000 people condemned to death in a
land where the number of imprisoned people is breaking all records…The
Americans do not deserve such barbarism!” <br><br>
The meeting was chaired and organized by the German section of P.E.N.,
the worldwide organization of poets, essayists and novelists, whose US
section chose Mumia Abu-Jamal for membership. His latest book, with a
foreword by Angela Davis, is almost ready for publication. Among the many
noted German members who support his right to a fair trial are Nobel
Prize author Guenter Grass and the best-known East German writer, Christa
Wolf. <br><br>
Also supporting the rally was amnesty international, which has published
a lengthy documentation proving the unfairness and illegality of the
1982Abu-Jamal trial, against which, despite all the evidence, no appeal
has ever been granted. <br><br>
Gerhart Baum, once a member of the West German government for the
conservative Free Democratic Party, added his voice to the meeting:
<br><br>
“I visited American prisons as cabinet minister and found that the
majority of prisoners were people of color. They have no money, they
receive no proper defense, they are used as scapegoats – this racist
background forced me to be skeptical... <br><br>
“The Americans are recuperating from the awful ‘Bush II’ phase…That is
all changing now, and I can only hope that … even though the President
has no direct influence in this case the atmosphere in the USA will now
change….” <br><br>
The meeting opened with a clip from the documentary film„
"Imprisoned my whole life" by the young Englishman William
Francome, who was inspired to do the exhaustive research and interviewing
because he was born on exactly the same day, July 3rd 1982, when Mumia
Abu-Jamal was sentenced to death. <br><br>
The film was followed by Mumia’s chief counsel, Robert R. Bryan, who flew
in especially from his home in San Francisco to speak and explain the
current situation regarding the case. <br><br>
Within the next few weeks the Supreme Court of the USA must decide
whether to rule on either or both of the following questions: <br><br>
The demand by the Pennsylvania state to quash the revision of Mumia’s
death penalty, thus possibly leading to his execution. <br><br>
The demand by the defense that the original court trial in 1982 be
annulled because of racist practices used in selecting a jury. At least
one such case in the past led to success, which provides a ray of hope
that Mumia Abu-Jamal might even win his demand for a new and fair trial
or for his release. Mr. Bryan pointed out that the Supreme Court
generally accepts only one or two percent of the cases brought before it.
But the situation is not yet hopeless, he added. <br><br>
A new petition campaign has been begun, in Germany and internationally,
to ask President Obama, although he cannot alter any decisions by
Pennsylvania courts, to make an influential statement. Such a campaign
could also serve to again publicize a highly symbolic case, which has
largely been ignored by the main media and neglected by many former
supporters, although the decisions are now more crucial than ever.
<br><br>
Many at the meeting were surprised to learn that Franz Müntefering,
national head of the Social Democratic Party which now shares government
power in Germany, has also expressed support for Mumia. But some recalled
the nearly forgotten fact that a decade ago the Bundestag, Germany’s
congress, not only officially opposed the death penalty in all countries
but called explicitly for a new, fair trial for Mumia. If Europe could
decide he would probably be free tomorrow. <br><br>
<br>
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San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
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