Mumia Abu-Jamal, on Death Row for several decades, whom many feel was wrongly convicted, continues to speak out from the executioner's shadow. Here is a recording he made on democracy in fantasy and reality. Guilty or not, he has powerful things to say about society, philosophy, politics and history.
Here is his Wikipedia bio as well for your info:
Mumia Abu-Jamal
(born Wesley Cook on April 24, 1954) was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner, and is currently a prisoner at State Correctional Institution - Greene near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. In December 2001 a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania affirmed the conviction but quashed his original punishment and ordered resentencing. Both Abu-Jamal and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appealed. The case was orally argued before a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia on May 17, 2007, and is pending.
His case has received international attention. Supporters and human rights campaigners variously assert that he is innocent, that he was setup, that he did not receive a fair trial, and/or oppose the death penalty. Opponents assert that he is guilty, that he received the benefit of due process and was legitimately convicted of murder. Execution proponents among these assert that under Pennsylvania law his eventual judicial execution is warranted and mandated by the nature of his crime.
Prior to his arrest he was a Black Panther Party activist, cab driver, and journalist. During the period of his imprisonment he has courted controversy as an honoree of municipal, educational and civil society organizations, and as a spoken word commentator and published author of several works - most notably Live from Death Row.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Mumia Abu-Jamal, LIVE FROM DEATH ROW -- When Democracy Equals Empire
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4 comments:
Great You Tube find Mac....are you familiar with the historian he cites? I've read Howard Zinn's History of the People and wonder if there's a history book you'd recommend?
Buzz...Buzz...
I cruised the internet and found the pamphlet Every Cook Can Govern online...it is here if anyone wants to read it
http://www.marxists.org/archive/james-clr/works/1956/06/every-cook.htm
Mac....I also found some of James work...very heady stuff. I took a number of philosophy courses and remember how powerful the readings were....but reading philosophy is also arduous. It really makes us work our minds.
Hopefully, I'll have some time some day to really read C L R James. buzz...buzz...
I was going to say no I can't offhand, but you found some works anyway. Good for you.
Mac
There is an author named Luis Rodriguez...first published work is "Always Running: La Vida Loca; my gagng days in L.A."
Luis is fortunate enough to not have got caught up in the system, but rather escaped every deliberate or not trap he encountered growing up in East Los. He has since published many novels, memoirs, and books of poetry.
While Luis' books don't directly further Mumia's cause, it instead gives the perspective of a man up against the very sam monster that consumed Mumia.
Also...John Josephs' books Evolution of a Cro-Magnon and Meat is for Pussies are great reads and in very different ways look at the dysfunctional family that the US has become. Evolution is his coming of age & early auto-bio...Meat is an indictment of the meat industry.
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