youth4mumia Support MOVE

Attention MOVE Supporters!

PRESS RELEASE FROM THE MOVE ORGANIZATION AND THE INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS OF MOVE NETWORK
August 9, 2002

On Saturday, August 10, 2002, starting at 11:30 am there will be a "visual demonstration" held at the corner of Broad and Walnut Streets in the heart of Philadelphia. This demonstration has been called for by the MOVE Organization and The International Friends of MOVE Network to call attention to the fact that eight members of the MOVE Organization have been imprisoned unjustly for 24 years, a ninth member died on March 13, 1998 in jail Merle Africa.

This past August 8th marks the 24th anniversary of the Philadelphia Police department's "shoot-in" at MOVE's Powelton Village headquarters. The police raid was the culmination of years of official harassment, racist persecution, police brutality, and even the murder of a 3 week old MOVE infant. During the police assault, an officer by the name of James Ramp was apparently killed, in all likelihood a victim of "friendly fire."

Rather than expose themselves for the treachery of the attack on MOVE and the tragedy of killing one of their own officers, Mayor Rizzo and DA Ed Rendell pinned the blame on MOVE, despite the fact that there was no evidence that MOVE did anything besides hold their children and themselves above the rising water that had filled the basement where they were holed up. Water that had been pumped into it via the powerful hoses of the fire department.

The trial of the 9 MOVE Members was a farcical display of police and prosecutorial misconduct. When Philadelphia's most expensive and longest case in history was over, the judge who presided over it and found MOVE guilty admitted that he "hadn't the faintest idea" who shot the officer in a live interview on the radio. In essence, nine people were condemned to life in prison for the murder of one cop with one bullet from one gun.

It is MOVE and the International Friends of MOVE Network's position, as well as countless other individuals and organizations, contention that these MOVE people still languishing in Pennsylvania prisons are, in fact, political prisoners and their continued imprisonment is an affront to justice and to the rule of law from which this country was purportedly founded.

The demonstration on Saturday will be a lesson of Philadelpia's dark history. There will be visuals of the August 8th, 1978 confrontation, along with a diagram of the crime scene. Demonstrators will call on the conscience of all Philadelphians to demand officials, after so many years, do what is right and release the "MOVE 9" and ultimately bring those to justice who are responsible for the death of James Ramp and the continued imprisonment of MOVE political prisoners.

Ona MOVE,
Long Live JOHN AFRICA
International Friends of MOVE

Press Contact: uprising1978@aol.com or 610-499-0979

January 8th, 2002

Ona MOVE,

This August 8th, 2002, will mark the passing of the twenty-fourth year of the imprisonment of the MOVE 9. This is injustice is doubly insidious due to the fact that the evidence proving MOVE's innocence has been presented to various heads of state around the world, as thousands of everyday people. The brutal fact remains, however, that there simply has not been enough emphasis on bringing MOVE people home. This is outrageous given the powerful gifts of truth, strength, health, and revolution that MOVE people have selflessly given to anyone willing to do the work to be right. MOVE people have set the example of revolution for people to follow both on the streets and in prisons throughout Pennsylvania. They have not done this for monetary gain or out of some kind of twisted ego trip. They have done this because it is right!

People who know MOVE know that they will continue this revolution, even if that means that they will never be released from prison. It is more than an outrage for them to have to suffer further through the state sponsored terror of prison. They are a family who, like any other in their situation, feel the pains of separation from their husbands, wives, sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters. They have endured all of the torturous brutality that the guards both physically and mentally could impose, but have never been broken away from their belief, from their family, or from what is right. It is past time for MOVE to come home.

It falls upon the shoulders of MOVE supporters to ratchet up the pressure on this system to free the MOVE 9. Reality demands that there must be fund-raisers, informational forums, and continued direct support of MOVE prisoners. This can be done. The examples have been set through the fight to free Mumia. We as MOVE supporters, who have gained so much through MOVE, through the teachings of JOHN AFRICA, owe it to MOVE, and ourselves, to fight harder to free our innocent brothers and sisters.

Please contact myself at uprising1978@aol.com or Ramona Africa at onamovellja@aol.com with your ideas, updates, actions, questions, or concerns about what needs to be done to FREE MOVE NOW!

To send donations, make checks payable to "The MOVE Organization" and send to:

MOVE Organization
P.O. Box 19709
Philadelphia, Pa 19143

Ona MOVE
Tony Allen
Philadelphia Friends of MOVE