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An Injury to One Is an Injury to All!
The 9 class-war prisoners described below
receive monthly stipends from the PDC.
[Up to date as of 5 February 2025]
Mumia Abu-Jamal is a former
Black Panther Party spokesman, a well-known
supporter of the MOVE organization and an
award-winning journalist known as "the voice of
the voiceless." Framed up for the 1981 killing
of a Philadelphia police officer, Mumia was
sentenced to death explicitly for his political
views. Federal and state courts have repeatedly
refused to consider evidence proving Mumia's
innocence, including the sworn confession of
Arnold Beverly that he, not Mumia, shot and
killed the policeman. In 2011, the Philadelphia
district attorney's office dropped its
longstanding effort to legally lynch Mumia,
condemning him to life in prison with no chance
of parole. Ever since, the state, including Philly's "progressive" D.A. Larry Krasner, has fought tooth and nail to keep Mumia buried in prison for life. Mumia's appeals continue to be denied even after the D.A.'s office discovered six boxes of new exculpatory evidence in 2018. Mumia's health has deteriorated in the past few years, primarily due to medical neglect and poor prison diet, added to his aging.
Georges Ibrahim Abdallah is a
fighter for Palestinian rights and determined
opponent of imperialism. Held in French prison
since 1984, Abdallah has spent more time behind
bars than any other class-war prisoner in France
and most likely all Europe. A leading member of
the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Factions, he
was convicted on trumped-up charges of
complicity in two murders of a CIA agent and a
Mossad agent, as well as the attempted murder of
an American consul. Abdallah has always denied any involvement in these killings and should have never spent a day in prison. From 2004 to 2020, nine parole applications have been denied under direct pressure from the U.S. State Department. In November 2024, a judge ordered Abdallah's release on condition that he leave France. He remains in custody while the French government appeals. The U.S. government is also pressing that Abdallah be kept behind bars. A ruling is reportedly scheduled for February 20, 2025.
Caleb Freestone was one of four Florida abortion rights activists who spray painted pro-life anti-abortion "crisis pregnancy centers" in 2022 in protest of the Dobbs decision overturning women's right to abortion. The CPC's are fake health services that aim to manipulate pregnant women into not getting abortions. The federal prosecutors charged "conspiracy" and violation of the Free Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which was supposedly enacted to protect abortion providers against the "right to life" bigots! Two other defendants were sentenced to 30 days in custody. But Caleb was hit with a one year and one day sentence based on a prior arrest for wheat-pasting flyers (even though those charges were dropped).
The Merrimack 4 are pro-Palestine activists—Paige Belanger, Sophie Ross, Bridget Shergalis, and Calla Walsh. They were witchhunted for participating in a November 2023 Palestine Action US protest aiming to disrupt production by Israeli arms maker Elbit in Merrimack, New Hampshire. The four were hit with serious felony charges and possibly decades in prison, as well as a "no contact" order preventing them from communicating with each other. They defeated the felony charges, but were sentenced to 60 days jail in Manchester, NH, starting November 14, 2024. All four have now been released from jail. The PDC will continue to send them monthly stipends for three months while they readjust.
Leonard Peltier is an
internationally renowned class-war prisoner.
Peltier's incarceration for his activism in the
American Indian Movement has come to symbolize
this country's racist repression of its Native
peoples, the survivors of centuries of genocidal
oppression. Peltier was framed up for the 1975
deaths of two FBI agents marauding in what had
become a war zone on the South Dakota Pine Ridge
Reservation. The lead government attorney has
admitted, "We can't prove who shot those
agents," and the courts have repeatedly denied
Peltier's appeals while acknowledging blatant
prosecutorial misconduct. Peltier, who suffers from multiple serious medical conditions, has repeatedly been denied parole. On January 20, 2025, his life sentences were commuted to home confinement, remaining in the clutch of the capitalist state, to take effect on February 18.
Alvaro Luna Hernandez (Xinachtli)
is a Mexican American initially framed up in the
1970s for a murder he did not commit. He was
politicized in prison where he helped lead a
movement for prison reform and became an
effective jailhouse lawyer. Xinachtli spent
nearly a decade in solitary confinement. After
the frame-up was exposed by the
Houston Post, Xinachtli was freed in
1991, but the state continued to target him for
his activism on behalf of Mexican Americans. He
founded the National Movement of La Raza and led
a successful campaign to free Ricardo Aldape
Guerra, a Mexican national framed for killing a
Houston cop, from Texas' death row. In 1996, the
Brewster County Sheriff attempted to arrest him.
When Xinachtli challenged the legality of the
warrantless arrest, the sheriff pulled a gun
compelling him to disarm the sheriff in
self-defense. Xinachtli was railroaded for
"aggravated assault" and outrageously sentenced
to 50 years. He has now been
continually confined in solitary for more than
19 years in Texas dungeons.
Contribute now! This is
not charity but an elementary act of
solidarity with those imprisoned for their
opposition to racist capitalism and
imperialist depredation. Send your
contributions to: PDC, P.O. Box 99, Canal
Street Station, New York, NY 10013; (212)
406-4252.
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