Sentenced to death in 1982 on trumped up charges of killing a Philadelphia cop, Abu-Jamal has been on Pennsylvania's death row ever since. Tens of thousands of people have participated in marches and protest actions around the world demanding his freedom. Opponents of the death penalty have rallied around the case, and Abu-Jamal himself has spoken out against capital punishment on radio and in books and articles.

The rally opened with greetings from Pam Africa, representing the International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal. She urged those present to join demonstrations throughout the country on December 6 against police violence, frame-ups, and for Mumia Abu-Jamal's freedom. A meeting to plan a December 6 action in San Francisco was announced.

Featured on the rally program was Geronimo ji Jaga, formerly known as Geronimo Pratt. Ji Jaga was a leader of the Black Panther Party who was recently released from California's prisons on bail after serving 27 years for a murder he did not commit. He was freed after it became known that the chief witness against him, Julius Butler, had been a police informer in the Black Panthers. Ji Jaga received a prolonged ovation when he appeared on the stage. After thanking everyone for their support, he called to the stage the mother of the late rap musician Tupac Shakur; along with Ron Kovic, author of the anti-Vietnam war novel Born on the Fourth of July; Angela Davis, and others.

Earlier in the day, ji Jaga joined hundreds of supporters gathered in Lowell Park in the Black community of west Oakland to celebrate his release. He told the crowd that people needed to learn about their history, including that of the FBI's COINTELPRO operation that aimed to destroy the effectiveness of political movements and organizations of Blacks, Chicanos, Native Americans, and opponents of the U.S. war in Vietnam, among others. He urged those present to stand in solidarity with those still behind bars. "I would be remiss in not mentioning the brothers that I left behind those walls. There are many that did not get the publicity that I did."

COINTELPRO existed way before the Black Panther Party, the activist reminded the crowd in San Francisco. It went back to the 1919 Palmer Raids, where FBI cops summarily deported hundreds of immigrant workers and political activists, and to the U.S. government's campaign against Black nationalist Marcus Garvey in the 1920's.

"Mumia was an activist, a journalist in Philadelphia in the 1970s and early '80s and a leading critic of the cops," Leonard Weinglass, Abu-Jamal's lawyer told the crowd in San Francisco. "He was threatened by the Philadelphia government for what he was saying." Weinglass said that it was no surprise that in 1981 local radio stations began to drop his commentaries, and he had to make a living by driving a cab.

It was while working as a cab driver on Dec. 9, 1981, that Abu-Jamal stopped when he saw the Philadelphia police beating his brother on the street. Before all was over, Mumia Abu-Jamal found himself laying in a hospital, brutally beaten and shot by police. Daniel Faulkner, a Philadelphia cop, had been shot dead. Weinglass explained that five people at the time told the cops that the one who shot Faulkner ran away, yet none of these people were called when Abu-Jamal went to trial for murder the following year. One woman who testified against him under pressure from the cops has since recanted, while another has been declared dead by the court, although evidence for her death is not clear.

Today, Weinglass said, Abu-Jamal is fighting for a new trial, where he would be able to present evidence contradicting the cops' story. His motion for a new trial has been denied by Judge Albert Sabo, a notorious pro-death penalty Philadelphia judge who presided over his original trial and conviction. Weinglass explained that if the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upholds Sabo's decision, Abu- Jamal would try to appeal to the federal courts, in hopes of winning a new trial or getting his conviction reversed. He pointed out, however that this would not be easy to do. The 1995 "anti-terrorist" bill signed into law by U.S. president William Clinton included a part called the "Effective Death Penalty Act," which contains severe restrictions on death row inmates' right to appeal to the federal courts. Weinglass noted that some 40 percent of death penalty cases heard in federal court have been reversed.

Other speakers included author Alice Walker, radio commentator and activist Kiilu Nyasha, and San Francisco AFL- CIO secretary-treasurer Walter Johnson. Johnson urged participants to join a march in support of striking Teamsters at United Parcel Service that had been set for August 21. Rally organizers announced that the event had raised $21,000 for Mumia Abu-Jamal's defense expenses.  
 
 
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