“Know this: throughout it all. I have never felt alone. To the eye, I was alone in solitary confinement, on death row, but the eye cannot really see all that is, for behind brick and steel, I felt our love, sometimes like a wave, sometimes like a whisper, but always there, ever present.” — Mumia Abu-Jamal , Prison Radio
On April 24, 2025, the International Mobilization for Mumia organized events in various cities worldwide to honor Long Distance Revolutionary Mumia Abu-Jamal on his 71st birthday.
Mobilizing for Mumia held an online seminar entitled “Laws, Mumia, Universities, and Palestine.”
Mumia joined the panel of student activists and community organizers on the online seminar over the phone from prison. He spoke about the “waves of repression” in the world today. He referenced the brave and courageous students who stood against the slaughter in Palestine. Authorities arrested thousands of students and activists for political protests. Mumia experienced a temporary interruption due to technical difficulties while discussing laws that adhere to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
When he returned, he spoke with a strong, enthusiastic voice:
The only thing that can meet that kind of force is a counter force… ‘waves of resistance’… Any people who can ignore the Constitution for over one hundred years when it comes to Africans are capable of anything… Where there is repression, there must be resistance. (Listen to the online seminar on YouTube, Twisted Laws: Mumia, Universities & Palestine.)
Mumia was referring to the thousands of students at more than 130 colleges and universities across the U.S. rallying in opposition to the war in Gaza with protests and encampments. More than 2,000 students were held in custody.
Who is Mumia Abu-Jamal?
Internationally known U.S. political prisoner Abu-Jamal is an award-winning journalist and author of 12 books and thousands of written essays, as well as audio commentaries from prison. His writings are detailed, factual examinations of racism and political bias in the U.S. judicial system.
His pursuit of justice and resolve has remained steadfast, even after decades of incarceration. He is one of our most courageous revolutionary intellectuals, who says what is on his mind without fear of consequences. The book “Live from Death Row,” authored by him, has been translated into seven languages.
It is clear to the movement that he remains in prison for telling the truth about capitalism, imperialism, the prison-industrial complex, and the entire U.S. criminal justice system.
Mumia Abu-Jamal, sentenced to death in 1982, was on Pennsylvania’s death row for 30 years. The state signed his death warrant twice. He came dangerously close to execution on Aug. 17, 1995, and again on Dec. 2, 1999. It was the mobilization of a mass international movement that saved his life.
In 2011, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Mumia long had a target on his back. At 15 years old, he became a member of the Black Panther Party. The FBI started a file on the revolutionary teenager. Super racist Mayor Frank Rizzo threatened him at a news conference.
The U.S. government claims there are no political prisoners in the United States. When, in fact, political prisoners make up the majority of the over 2 million people locked up in prisons, jails and ICE detention centers throughout the U.S., because prisons are concentration camps for the poor.
Noel Hanrahan, a lawyer who works on Mumia’s medical cases and visits three to four times a month, gave an update on April 25, 2025:
Mumia has exhausted his direct appeals before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court… We all need to understand that he has been in prison now four decades and has never received a fair trial. It’s up to us, those around the world, those in the United States, those in Philadelphia, to create the context, to create the power, to build the grass roots momentum that will force our courts to address his long standing issues, including evidence of innocence, including evidence of police and prosecutorial misconduct. It is those actions that we take that will build the context.
Noel Hanrahan’s full statement is transcribed on Prison Radio (Noelle Hanrahan, Esq. Statement for Mexico City Event—Prison Radio).
Mumia is a victim of racist police, judicial, and prosecutorial misconduct. The International & National Mobilization for Mumia and All Political Prisoners is demanding Justice.
Release Mumia! Free all political prisoners!
Send revolutionary greetings to Mumia
Smart Communications / PA DOC Abu-Jamal, Mumia #AM 8335 SCI-Mahanoy, P.O. Box 33028 St. Petersburg, FL 33733 United States
Mumia is jailed in Pennsylvania, and his mail is digitized in Florida. The prison prints the scanned image and delivers it to Mumia.