Statement by Carl Dix,
National Spokesperson, Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
Revolutionary Worker #1098, April 15, 2001, posted at http://rwor.org
This statement by Carl Dix was delivered at the national "Freedom for Mumia! The Power of the People is ona Move" conference, held in Washington, DC, March 30 and 31:
The leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), Bob Avakian, said: "Revolutionaries, who embody the highest interests of the people and inspire them to fight for these interests, are very precious. People must defend such revolutionaries and refuse to accept the 'right' of the oppressors to persecute or legally murder them." This is true in an urgent way in the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Mumia has given his life to the people. As a teenage leader of the Philadelphia Black Panther Party and as a revolutionary journalist, Mumia has stood with people abused by this system, helping them expose the attacks coming down on them. Even from behind prison walls, Mumia has supported people struggling worldwide and has continued to call out the crimes of this system and inspire people to join in fighting against them.
The capitalist rulers of this country want to use the execution of Mumia to silence his revolutionary voice, and, thru this, deliver a message of intimidation. They hope to get away with this in the face of the exposure of the Philadelphia story that's been brought out in this case. This ain't a story of brotherly love. It's a story of cops who brutalize and murder. And of prosecutors who ignore or cover up these crimes while they fill the jails with our people. And of politicians who've built their careers on vicious attacks on Mumia and the MOVE organization and are desperate to cover their tracks.
We must not let them murder Mumia! There are over 3,000 people on death row. Most are people of color, almost all are poor and many of them were convicted in trials as full of violations of the system's own laws as Mumia's trial was. Across the country people are being brutalized and even murdered by cops who almost never face any punishment. Poor people are being targeted for one government attack after another. It would be a crushing blow to our chances to do anything about all this if we allow the U.S. rulers, who are responsible for all this shit, to get away with murdering Mumia.
It will take mobilizing many more people and waging even more determined struggle to save Mumia's life. Last year, Bush presided over the execution of Shaka Sankofa in spite of a mountain of evidence pointing to his innocence. That shows us we're up against a killing machine that will not easily back off its plans to murder Mumia.
We in the RCP are Maoists. Our stand towards the enemy's vicious attacks is: Dare To Struggle, Dare To Win! The enemy has thrown a lot at Mumia and those who stand with him, and they will throw a lot more. But we can throw a lot back at them too. Look at what's concentrated in this case--police brutality, the criminal justice system denying a Black man his rights, the attempt to criminalize resistance to the system's attacks. Many people are angry about this and are fighting against it. Many others can be won to see the need to join the fight against these problems. A lot of people have thrown their hearts into the fight to stop Mumia's execution and free him from jail. Youth of all nationalities, celebrities, lawyers, educators and many others of all races and nationalities. Students in Mexico, peasants waging revolutionary war in South Asia and others from around the world have taken up this fight too. This gives us a solid basis to take this battle even higher.
So, how do we win this fight? You need a strong legal case, and Mumia's got that. But we can't win this battle solely in the courts. No legal argument, no matter how solid, no matter how just, is going to win this battle. The Supreme Court has ruled that innocence is no bar to being executed. The key to winning this fight is mobilizing people throughout society.
To build the kind of fight we need to win this battle, we in the RCP are working to get those on the bottom of society--the proletariat, those with nothing to lose--to learn about what's going on in the battle to stop the execution of Mumia and free him from jail. And we're working to get them to join this fight. And we are going throughout society, encouraging and organizing people and groups from different backgrounds and political perspectives. We're calling on them to get into this case, not just to support Mumia Abu-Jamal but to take responsibility for winning their organizations, their churches and more to join in this monumental battle to save his life.
If this case proves anything, it's that this system is no damned good and overdue for extinction. We in the RCP are revolutionaries, and we're developing a new Draft Programme, a battle plan for revolution right here in the belly of the beast, to get rid of this system. We're serious about this. We need our comrade and beautiful brother Mumia Abu-Jamal out here on the streets helping to build the movement we need to do this--a revolutionary movement. We fully intend to walk hand in hand with Mumia, not only into the 21st century but into a new, revolutionary and just society.
Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal and Free Him From Jail!
The Capitalist System Is the Problem,
Proletarian Revolution Is the Solution!
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