W.E. A.L.L. B.E.: Mumia Speaks: Punishing Lynne

Monday, July 26, 2010

Mumia Speaks: Punishing Lynne

Punishing Lynne

[col. writ. 7/18/10] (c) '10 Mumia Abu-Jamal

Lynne Stewart, the activist lawyer, was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison.

This outstanding lawyer, a 70 year old grandmother, who is facing the serious threat of breast cancer, was originally sentenced to 2 years and 4 months, but the federal appeals court apparently felt that wasn't enough.

The same appeals courts that traditionally reverses the convictions of cops who torture or kill Black citizens, and who traditionally rely on the judgements of the trial courts, reversed Stewart's sentence as not tough enough.

So much for judicial tradition.

For Lynne's tradition wasn't that of the tony, tie and tails law firs of downtown Manhattan. She didn't represent the rich, the powerful, the well-heeled.

She represented the poor, the oppressed, the destitute and the dispossessed; the Black, the Latino, the Arab, the damned; those whom Frantz Fanon famously called 'the wretched of the earth.'

A juxtaposition: Many, many lawyers on the Office of Legal Counsel, in the White House, the CIA, and the Defense Dept. violated criminal laws, the military legal code, the Geneva Conventions, and the Convention Against Torture (CAT) [not to mention the U.S. Constitution!] to aid and abet violations of law -- for years.

Guess how many of them faced trial? Guess how many of them will in future?

How many of them will ever face prison?

None, None -- and none.

For their crimes were on behalf of the powerful; the state; hence their immunity.

Or consider what is know in international law as the 'supreme crime': wars of aggression.

Iraq will be a basket case for generations, thanks to American arrogance and greed.

Will anybody be brought to book for this crime, that shattered a nation, that sent millions into exile, and killed perhaps a million men, women and children?

Don't hold your breath.

There are still black sites, secret prisons, where tortures happen daily. There is still extraordinary renditions - clear violations of the Convention Against Torture (CAT)

But politicians are doing it - not to 'protect' the nation -- but to secure elections. Torture for votes.

And a 70 year old grandmother, a lawyer, is sent to prison for 10 years - for violating a prison rule that is an unconstitutional relic of the so-called war on terror.

This is what an empire in decline looks like.

--(c) '10 maj

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URGENT Need for Petition Signatures at: http://www.iacenter.org/mumiapetition/

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Mumia Abu-Jamal's new book -- JAILHOUSE LAWYERS: PRISONERS DEFENDING PRISONERS V. THE USA, featuring an introduction by Angela Y. Davis -- has been released! It is available from City Lights Books: http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100448090

If you are planning to organize an event or would like to order in bulk, you can also receive a 45% discount on any bulk orders of 20 copies or more. The book retails for $16.95, for orders of 20 copies or more the discounted price would be $9.32 per book, plus shipping and handling. Prepayment would be required and books are nonreturnable. If you or your organization would like to place a bulk order, please contact Stacey Lewis at 415.362.1901 or stacey@citylights.com

Let's use the opportunity of the publication of this brilliant, moving, vintage Mumia book to build the momentum for his case, to raise the money we desperately need in these challenging economic times, to get the word out – to produce literature, flyers, posters, videos, DVD's; to send organizers out to help build new chapters and strengthen old ones, TO GET THE PEOPLE OUT IN THE STREETS … all the work that we must do in order to FREE MUMIA as he faces LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE OR EXECUTION!

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