PERMISSION IS GRANTED TO REPRINT, SO PLEASE HELP SPREAD THIS INTERVIEW AROUND THE PHILADELPHIA AND PA ACTIVIST COMMUNITY!

Confronting Human Rights Abuses in US Prisons
--an interview with Bret Grote of HRC/Fed Up!

By Angola 3 News

I chose this strong title to emphasize how very real the threat of execution still is. Recently, the renowned Law journal, The Legal Intelligencer wrote a two part series looking at the Spisak case, which the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments for on October 13. Apparently the US Supreme Court is waiting for a decision on this case before ruling on the Philadelphia DA's request to re-impose the death penalty on Mumia Abu-Jamal, without giving Mumia a new penalty hearing. Here are the links to the two Legal Intelligencer articles:

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202434453364&Ohio_Death_Penalty_C...

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202434533155&Mumia_AbuJamals_Life...

Below here is a new article written by Jeff Mackler, a longtime Mumia supporter, who looks at this serious threat of execution that is currently pending.

This article is featured in today's issue of Counterpunch. I am only posting an excerpt, so please go to the main link for the full article.

http://www.counterpunch.org/washington10212009.html

Julio Maldonado faces flying into an uncertain future if federal authorities succeed in deporting this former construction worker to Peru, the South American country he left 39-years-ago as a three-year-old child.

Maldonado faces deportation due to dictates of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA).

This law requires expulsion of both illegal immigrants and legal aliens like Maldonado who have criminal records.

Maldonado’s predicament is truly Kafkaesque from the circumstances producing his criminal record to the fact that federal authorities imprisoned him for four years based on his refusal to sign his deportation papers.

Below is an open letter written to Philadelphia DA Candidate Seth Williams, by Maria Rolon, written about her two cousins Denis Calderon and Julio Maldonado.

Please sign petition to stop the deportation of Denis Calderon and Julio Maldonado: http://www.change.org/actions/view/grant_justice_and_stop_the_deportatio...

More info at: http://www.denisandjulioandfaith.com/

View PDF version of the open letter:

http://www.denisandjulioandfaith.com/PRIVADO/ResponseToWilliams-09-05-20...

OPEN LETTER:

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Dear Mr. Williams,

The trailer for the new film about the Mumia Abu-Jamal/Daniel Faulkner case, titled The Barrel of a Gun has just been released. The title refers to a quote from Mao Zedong, that Abu-Jamal made as the 15 year old information officer of the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party in response to the murder of BPP members Fred Hampton and Marc Clark by the Chicago police and the FBI in December 1969: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

In this new article, German author Michael Schiffmann confronts the film's pernicious title and explains why the scenario presented by prosecutor Joe McGill is ballistically impossible.

We, Journalists for Mumia, grant permission to reprint this article, so please help us spread the word in any way you can.

You can watch the trailer for "The Barrel of A Gun" here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2w_WntxpLE

Be sure to check out this important report-back just released by the Defenestrator Newspaper

Read the full report here: http://defenestrator.org/pgh_g20_report_back

Despite a veritable police state in Pittsburgh, the time was inspiring and rewarding enough we felt we should send out this report back to those who couldn't make it. We also temporarily lost a caravaner who was wrongfully arrested while filming some of the police repression in the streets, so we're combining this with an urgent appeal for funds for his release!

SAVE the DATE: Report-Back Event on Sunday, October 18, 7pm at the Calvary Center, 48th & Baltimore, West Philly.

RELATED: Special G-20 issue of the Defenstrator's print newspaper

Philadelphia's Dan Berger discusses his new research into US prison movements of the 1970s, which Berger is researching and writing about for his PhD dissertation at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

http://angola3news.blogspot.com/2009/09/video-dan-berger-on-political-pr...

On Saturday, August 15, 2009, Pam Africa was invited to speak at the NAACP Pennsylvania state conference, and to address the PA chapters of the NAACP about further actions to support Mumia Abu Jamal, Troy Davis, and other political prisoners. At the NAACP National Convention in July, the NAACP passed a new resolution calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate Mumia Abu-Jamal's case.

Link here for more information about the campaign seeking a federal civil rights investigation:

http://freemumia.com/civilrights.html

This is a new article by veteran Philly journalist Linn Washington Jr. Permission is granted to reprint, so please help spread the word:

WRONGS IN CIVIL RIGHTS UNDERLYING ABU-JAMAL’S CONVICTION

By Linn Washington Jr.

During 1981, Philadelphia, Pa police proudly announced making arrests in four separate hi-profile homicides including the murders of two policemen.

However, investigations later revealed that police and prosecutors engaged in serious misconduct in each of those murder cases.

Event:
"Community Media in times of popular struggle, political mobilization, and repression- from Venezuela to Oaxaca to Honduras."

Date:
Wednesday, July 29
Time:
6:30pm-8:30pm
Location:
Central Library
1901 Vine Street
Skyline room- 4th floor

Description:
Social movements throughout the hemisphere are fighting for a better future; one where land & indigenous rights are recognized and communities have control over their resources. But, how do they tell this story when the corporate media is controlled by those they are fighting against: a powerful few who exploit resources for profit and repress the movements that challenge their greed.

Hi folks,

Check out my new review of Victoria Law’s book: Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women. Permission is granted to reprint as long as Alternet is cited as the original source.

http://www.alternet.org/story/141474/

Beyond Attica: The Untold Story of Women's Resistance Behind Bars
By Hans Bennett, AlterNet

"When I was 15, my friends started going to jail," says Victoria Law, a native New Yorker. "Chinatown's gangs were recruiting in the high schools in Queens and, faced with the choice of stultifying days learning nothing in overcrowded classrooms or easy money, many of my friends had dropped out to join a gang."

"One by one," Law recalls, "they landed in Rikers Island, an entire island in New York City devoted to pretrial detainment for those who can not afford bail."

Check out this excellent new photo-essay by Rich Gardner, from Phillyimc.org:

http://www.phillyimc.org/en/anti-casino-protest

Casinos are cool places, but in the wrong places, too close to communities, they can be a bad thing. Casino Free Philadelphia is fighting to keep a casino from opening right on Market St.

Check out my new article at Upside Down World, reviewing a new book that documents the 2006 rebellion in Oaxaca, Mexico. If you enjoy the article, please help spread the word, because paramilitaries just attacked a protest last week, and international solidarity is still needed as much as ever.

Permission is granted to reprint in any format, as long as Upside Down World is cited as the original source.

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1917/1/

Check out this new article by Philly writer Cyril Mychalejko

Anti-abortion Terrorism Can Be Prevented

By Cyril Mychalejko

The assassination of Dr. George Tiller last month by anti-abortion extremist Scott Roeder set off a fiery debate about the potential culpability of the anti-choice movement and whether this heinous act could have been prevented.

This is an uncomfortable conversation to have. It's a conversation that will offend some people. But it is one we must continue to have in order to ensure that we create the conditions that will inhibit similar violent acts from happening in the future.

Hi YPP,

I hope you enjoy my new interview focusing on some really important and creative organizing -- a good example of the poor organizing transnationally and drawing connections between different communities. If you like the interview, please help spread the word. Permission is granted to reprint as long as UpsideDownWorld.org is cited as the original source.

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1908/1/

Appalachia and Colombia: The People Behind the Coal

--An interview with Aviva Chomsky

By Hans Bennett