Today the FOP and PA Legislature will Try to Silence Mumia and PA Prisoners THIS IS A CALL TO ACTION: Please call your legislature and tell them to vote NO on House bill HB2533 and Senate bill SB508. Today the FOP and PA Legislature will Try to Silence Mumia and PA Prisoners THIS IS A CALL TO ACTION: Unconstitutional State Legislation Targets Mumias ability to Speak! Vote to happen this week! ICFFMAJ/Prison Radio/Campaign to Bring Mumia Home/HRC/ and Decarcerate PA are seeking your support. The Pennsylvania Senate will vote this week on House bill HB2533 and Senate bill SB508. The Governor has pledged to sign it.. This bill will make it illegal for prisoners to speak publicly AND allow the AG or DA to sue prisoners and the folks that assist them. This legislation was fast tracked in direct response to the positive support Mumia received for his Goddard College commencement speech. Audio Judiciary Committee PA House hearing Fast Track Hearing PA State Judiciary Hearing 10-6-14 Video link Press Conference 10-6-14 announcing the Bill and attended by Gov. Corbett, and Philadephia DA Seth Williams. Press Conference PA House HR2533 & SB 508 This legislation was created to silence political prisoners like Mumia Abu Jamal, Kerry Shakaboona Marshall, Bryant Arroyo and Russell Shoatz whose can be heard around the world, in spite of their physical captivity. Consider how much their voices have contributed to our intellectual heritage and collective growth. Consider all that we have learned about prison conditions and prisoner rights violations from those imprisoned. Take action TUESDAY OCTOBER 14 by calling Pennsylvania lawmakers to tell them that prisoners should not be denied the right to speak. Senate Majority Whip Pat Browne (717) 787-1349 Senate Minority Whip Anthony Williams (717) 787-5970 Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (717) 787-4712 Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (717) 787-7683 Please call your legislators and demand that they vote NO on HB2533 and SB508. You can look up contact information at legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/. Suggested script: My name is ______________ and I am calling to ask you to stop HB2533 and SB508 from going forward. These punitive measures represent a dangerous attempt to silence not only Mumia Abu-Jamal but all prisoners speaking on their cases and those speaking on their behalf and against mass incarceration. These bills are a clear violation of the First Amendment. The state has no right to silence the speech of those it disagrees with or to restrict the right of the public to hear them. Please vote no on these bills. GET ON THE BUS Wed Oct. 15th This repressive legislation could set far-reaching precedents severely limiting freedom of speech and our collective ability to take on the state. We need supporters go to Harrisburg to show physical support and accompany members of the MOVE family as they meet with legislators. If you can attend and/ or volunteer as a driver, please respond to this email or call 267-259-1740. With enough support, we will rent vans from Philadelphia and NY .Tentative Philadelphia departture 7:30am. Pennsylvania legislators are trying to stop prisoners from speaking about their ideas and experiences. Last week, PA Representative Mike Vereb introduced a bill (HB2533) & SB508 called the “Revictimization Relief Act,” which would allow victims, District Attorneys, and the Attorney General to sue people who have been convicted of “personal injury” crimes for speaking out publicly if it causes the victim of the crime “mental anguish.” The bill was written in response to political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal’s commencement speech at Goddard College, and is a clear attempt to silence Mumia and other prisoners and formerly incarcerated people. We believe that this legislation is not actually an attempt to help victims, but a cynical move by legislators to stop people in prison from speaking out against an unjust system. While to us this seems like a clear violation of the first amendment, unfortunately the PA General Assembly doesn’t appear to agree, and they have fast-tracked the bill for approval and amended another bill (SB508) to include the same language. The legislation could be voted on as early as Wednesday. If this bill passes, it will be a huge blow to the movement against mass incarceration. People inside prisons play a leading role in these struggles, and their perspectives, analysis, and strategies are essential to our work. Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people who write books, contribute to newspapers, or even write for our Voices from the Inside section would run the risk of legal consequences just for sharing their ideas. video clip “Mumia Abu-Jamal, Long Distance Revolutionary” mumia-themovie a feature length documentary, contains comments about Abu-Jamals important place in education, including Alice Walker, Ramsey Clark, and Mark Lewis Taylor see [video clip] here Noelle Hanrahan producer of Mumia’s radio essays notes in response The mainstream media would do well to listen to Mumia Abu-Jamals always illuminating and insightful commentaries. His ability to speak truth to power represents a clear challenge to American hegemony. So much so that the U.S. Senate, President Obama and the mainstream media continue to make the fact of his voice and his survival a touchstone. She notes that John Edgar Wideman, professor at Brown University has said, If Mumia Abu-Jamal has nothing important to say, why are so many powerful people trying to kill him and shut him up?. Also see John Edgar Wideman’s essay Why Mumia Matters to the Nation and the World Unconstitutional State Legislation Targets Mumias ability to Speak! Vote to happen this week! ICFFMAJ/Prison Radio/Campaign to Bring Mumia Home/HRC/ and Decarcerate PA are seeking your support. The Pennsylvania Senate will vote this week on House bill HB2533 and Senate bill SB508. The Governor has pledged to sign it.. This bill will make it illegal for prisoners to speak publicly AND allow the AG or DA to sue prisoners and the folks that assist them. This legislation was fast tracked in direct response to the positive support Mumia received for his Goddard College commencement speech. Audio Judiciary Committee PA House hearing Fast Track Hearing PA State Judiciary Hearing 10-6-14 Video link Press Conference 10-6-14 announcing the Bill and attended by Gov. Corbett, and Philadephia DA Seth Williams. Press Conference PA House HR2533 & SB 508 This legislation was created to silence political prisoners like Mumia Abu Jamal, Kerry Shakaboona Marshall, Bryant Arroyo and Russell Shoatz whose can be heard around the world, in spite of their physical captivity. Consider how much their voices have contributed to our intellectual heritage and collective growth. Consider all that we have learned about prison conditions and prisoner rights violations from those imprisoned. Take action TUESDAY OCTOBER 14 by calling Pennsylvania lawmakers to tell them that prisoners should not be denied the right to speak. Senate Majority Whip Pat Browne (717) 787-1349 Senate Minority Whip Anthony Williams (717) 787-5970 Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (717) 787-4712 Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (717) 787-7683 Please call your legislators and demand that they vote NO on HB2533 and SB508. You can look up contact information at legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/. Suggested script: My name is ______________ and I am calling to ask you to stop HB2533 and SB508 from going forward. These punitive measures represent a dangerous attempt to silence not only Mumia Abu-Jamal but all prisoners speaking on their cases and those speaking on their behalf and against mass incarceration. These bills are a clear violation of the First Amendment. The state has no right to silence the speech of those it disagrees with or to restrict the right of the public to hear them. Please vote no on these bills. GET ON THE BUS Wed Oct. 15th This repressive legislation could set far-reaching precedents severely limiting freedom of speech and our collective ability to take on the state. We need supporters go to Harrisburg to show physical support and accompany members of the MOVE family as they meet with legislators. If you can attend and/ or volunteer as a driver, please respond to this email or call 267-259-1740. With enough support, we will rent vans from Philadelphia and NY .Tentative Philadelphia departture 7:30am. Pennsylvania legislators are trying to stop prisoners from speaking about their ideas and experiences. Last week, PA Representative Mike Vereb introduced a bill (HB2533) & SB508 called the “Revictimization Relief Act,” which would allow victims, District Attorneys, and the Attorney General to sue people who have been convicted of “personal injury” crimes for speaking out publicly if it causes the victim of the crime “mental anguish.” The bill was written in response to political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal’s commencement speech at Goddard College, and is a clear attempt to silence Mumia and other prisoners and formerly incarcerated people. We believe that this legislation is not actually an attempt to help victims, but a cynical move by legislators to stop people in prison from speaking out against an unjust system. While to us this seems like a clear violation of the first amendment, unfortunately the PA General Assembly doesn’t appear to agree, and they have fast-tracked the bill for approval and amended another bill (SB508) to include the same language. The legislation could be voted on as early as Wednesday. If this bill passes, it will be a huge blow to the movement against mass incarceration. People inside prisons play a leading role in these struggles, and their perspectives, analysis, and strategies are essential to our work. Incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people who write books, contribute to newspapers, or even write for our Voices from the Inside section would run the risk of legal consequences just for sharing their ideas. video clip “Mumia Abu-Jamal, Long Distance Revolutionary” mumia-themovie a feature length documentary, contains comments about Abu-Jamals important place in education, including Alice Walker, Ramsey Clark, and Mark Lewis Taylor see [video clip] here Noelle Hanrahan producer of Mumia’s radio essays notes in response The mainstream media would do well to listen to Mumia Abu-Jamals always illuminating and insightful commentaries. His ability to speak truth to power represents a clear challenge to American hegemony. So much so that the U.S. Senate, President Obama and the mainstream media continue to make the fact of his voice and his survival a touchstone. She notes that John Edgar Wideman, professor at Brown University has said, If Mumia Abu-Jamal has nothing important to say, why are so many powerful people trying to kill him and shut him up?. Also see John Edgar Wideman’s essay Why Mumia Matters to the Nation and the World
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 16:13:53 +0000
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