Michael Moore opens fire on the defense of Mumia

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Frankly, I didn't think Michael Moore's more-or-less endorsement of
Wesley Clark for president was any big deal.  It really didn't
surprise me that he was for "Anybody But Bush," which really means
someone potentially electable like Clark, who has some real backing in
the ruling class.

But this strikes me as much more serious and more deeply reactionary.
It is a direct attack on Mumia and the defense campaign, even though
with provisos about opposing the death penalty and being for fair
trials.  (How can there be a fair trial if all good citizens are
supposed to agree from the start that he "probably killed that cop."
Is this based on a careful review of all the evidence, or just on the
fact that Mumia was in the area when the killing of Faulkner occurred?
What about the confession of Arnold Beverley, which has been rejected
by the courts but not discredited in any way?  What about all the
other factual contradictions and police lies?

Aside from our duty to unconditionally defend this fighter who has
never lied to us, I am convinced that the presumption of innocence is
the only objective and scientific basis from which to make a
determination of what happened in downtown Philadelphia that night.
Every other posture, including Moore's, starts from prejudice and
preconception.

Moore lending his prestige to the frame-up of Mumia is treacherous,
and his rejection of the presumption of innocence in this case is a
blow the rights of everybody.
Fred Feldman



From: leslie jones <leslie@ youth4mumia.org>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2003 13:26:38 -0600

From: AWOL Magazine

  Excerpt from Michael Moore's new book "Dude, Where's My Country?"·
"Mumia [the campaigning Pennsylvania journalist who was sentenced for
the shooting of a police officer and has been on death row since 1982]
probably killed that guy. There, I said it. That does not mean he
should
be denied a fair trial or that he should be put to death. But because
we
don't want to see him or anyone executed, the efforts to defend him
may
have overlooked the fact that he did indeed kill that cop. This takes
nothing away from the eloquence of his writings or commentary, or the
important place he now holds on the international political stage. But
he probably did kill that guy."


~~~~~~~
PLEASE clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.