42 years in prison, but hasn’t lost a day of the revolutionary spirit…
by Eli Sorrel
April 24th, 2024 was the 70th birthday of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. This milestone of life was celebrated in Philadelphia with petitions being delivered to the district attorney and governor of Pennsylvania demanding Mumia be free. The rally in Philadelphia included talks with family members and organizers from the campaign to free Mumia and revolutionary chants such as “Brick by brick, wall by wall, we’re going to free Mumia Abu-Jamal!” The event also included a call from Mumia himself with those in attendance singing happy birthday to him and with Mumia giving his thoughts on the Palestinian liberation struggle and its connection to the struggle for Black and indigenous liberation in the US.
Mumia has been a political prisoner since 1982. Originally sentenced to death but was later changed to a life sentence after mass outrage, he is a Black Panther veteran, journalist, writer, activist and grandfather. The campaign to free Mumia picked up in the 1990s with support from prominent figures such as the Hip-hop groups Public Enemy, Dead Prez, the rock band Rage Against The Machine, the late rapper and revolutionary Tupac Shakur, and progressives such as Cornel West and Noam Chomsky.
Mumia joined the Black Panther Party at the age of 15, being a member from 1967-1970. After leaving the party, he went back to school and became a radio journalist and became known as the “Voice of the Voiceless” for his reporting on Philadelphia’s black community, particularly on issues on police brutality, poverty and the general national oppression of Black people in Philadelphia.
Mumia was wrongfully convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of police officer Daniel Faulkner on December 9, 1981. Mumia was also critically injured during the incident with a chest-wound, but this fact did not afford him any sympathy. There was no evidence with which to convict him, and the courts were deliberately manipulated to keep Mumia from having a trial by peers. He spent the first part of his sentence in solitary confinement before being transferred to the general population
Since being wrongfully imprisoned, Mumia has kept his revolutionary spirit, writing on the conditions of American prisons and the treatment of Black political prisoners in particular. Reamining steadfast in his beliefs, Mumia expressed the reason behind his resolve:
“Conventional wisdom would have one believe that it is insane to resist this, the mightiest of empires, but what history really shows is that today’s empire is tomorrow’s ashes; that nothing lasts forever, and that to not resist is to acquiesce in your own oppression. The greatest form of sanity that anyone can exercise is to resist that force that is trying to repress, oppress, and fight down the human spirit.”
Mumia’s case is not an isolated one, in France, Georges Abdallah, former member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is currently the longest held political prisoner in Europe. Other notable political prisoners such as Leonard Politer of the American Indian Movement and the late Abimael Guzman, better known as Chairman Gonzalo who was the great leader of the Communist Party of Peru, are further proof that Mumia’s case as a political prisoner is no isolated incident. It is a tool of the ruling class to keep our elders and leaders locked away from the struggle and from organization. Revolution is no crime for the masses that suffer everyday due to this disgusting system but to the ruling class it is the highest crime. We must work to free Mumia and all political prisoners so they can live free lives and lives at the forefront of struggle!
FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
FREE GEORGES ABDALLAH
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS
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