Union Action Calls to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
As we go to press, important international union actions calling for freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal are in the works. The International Longshore Workers Union, ILWU local 10, has called for a work stoppage shutdown of the Ports of Oakland and San Francisco, California on February 16th to free Mumia. Solidarity demonstrations at U.S. Embassies and Consulates are set for Pretoria and Durban, South Africa, and Tokyo, Japan, organized by large labor unions there. Several California Teachers Unions, acting in solidarity, have also passed resolutions calling for Mumia’s freedom and are organizing curricula to teach about his case, the death penalty, and the racist U.S. “justice” system.
These actions are timed to coincide with the legal appeal in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where in a December 16, 2022, ruling, Judge Lucretia Clemons ordered a huge number of materials (as many as 200 boxes!) previously hidden in the D.A.’s office from the defense—an egregious violation of constitutional rights—turned over for examination by Mumia’s defense team.
In the California Bay Area, and beyond, these union actions are attracting attention and support from the supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, Ruchell Magee, and all political prisoners, as well as supporters of innocent death row prisoner, Kevin Cooper.