| [Note: Following are the greetings that were sent to the August 13
demonstration in Los Angeles by Mumia Abu-Jamal. The message was read
to the 5,000 protesters gathered in front of the Staples Center,
where the Democratic Party convention was about to be held, by
Mumia's son Mazzie Jamal.]
The L.A. convention is but an echo of the recent convention in Philadelphia. It is a convention bought and paid for by corporate capital. It is a convention of the well-to-do and wealthy, not of the workers or the poor, and Philadelphia shows us that politicians are nothing but public relations spokesmen for their bosses. Whether one votes for the Democrats or Republicans, ultimately one votes for their own repression. The prisons that dot our landscape, 2 million men, women and children held in American jails and prisons, the 3600 men, women and juveniles facing death at the hands of the state are each and all the political result of the politics of repression, estrangement, of separation and of isolation. We are not used to seeing politicians, or for that matter police, as tools and instruments of political ill will, but they are that. We need to think outside the box of the two-headed dog of American politics. Why not a party of those who labor? Why not a party which includes the interests of youth, mothers, students, or the growing poor? You will see none of those interests represented on the stages of the two-party system. Isn't it time to create an alternative? Both parties are parties of death, of war, of alientation and of unending conflict. Why not a party of peace and justice, of life and our common humanity? Why not a party that speaks to our hopes instead of our darkest fears? The need for change was never more obvious than now. To quote John Africa, "Revolution means change. Revolution means doing it or it ain't getting done." Let's do it. One Move! All my love. Free the Move 9! Long live John Africa! - Mumia Abu-Jamal |