Vienna, 5.3.02

Dear brother Mumia!

Maybe you did hear already anything about our solidarity-committee “Freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal” in Vienna / Austria / Europe. Our committee consists of radical left, CP- and union-forces. 1998 and 2000 we organised demonstrations to the US-embassy in Vienna. But we were most successful in 1999 as the journalist-section of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions (ÖGB) appointed you to a honorary member of the leading committee; secondly we convinced the president of ÖGB and of the European Federation of Trade Unions to write a letter to US-president Clinton, demanding a new and fair process for you and a cancellation of the death penalty (copies added).

As you know on December 5t 2001 the Paris community respected you as honorary citizen. Following this progress we want to start a campaign that also Vienna recognizes you - to strengthen furthermore the international pressure on the US-adminstration and courts for a new and fair trial.

Maybe you now a little about the situation in Austria and Vienna. Since 2000 we got in Austria the new rassist coalition-government of the old bourgeois “Peoples Party, ÖVP, and the right populist “Freedom Party”, FPÖ of Jörg Haider. They continued in a stronger way the EU-politics of social cuts and rassism of the former socialdemocratic and ÖVP-governments. In Vienna, under a socialdemocratic mayor, the repression against black people is especially hard. Two years ago after the killing of the black deportation prisoner Marcus Omofuma by Austrian policemen on the flight to Sofia a big cry caught the democratic public. But the politic and police in Vienna answered with a huge attack against the black community and arrested more than hundred people as “drug-dealers”. Charles Ofoedu, a well known Nigerian writer in Austria, was accused as “drug-boss” because he was one of the organizers of the demonstration in solidarity with Marcus Omofuma. Black people in Austrian live still under fear by police and daily rassism…

However, socialdemocracy in Austria is now in “opposition” and as we know in such times they play a little more progressive role. Just the socialdemocratic representatives of the parliament stand against death penalty and in the 90ies some of them sent letters to Washington against death penalty and in solidarity with you. Secondly, also the Greens got seats in the Viennese city-council and so we are a little hopeful to convince this majority within the city-council in Vienna to follow their colleagues in Paris - to respect you as honorary citizen of Vienna.

Dear Mumia, for this campaign it would be very helpful for us to offer the Viennese politicians also a letter from you in which you explain your situation. What do you thing about this?

In solidarity, Karl Fischbacher, Vienna