Fifteen Minutes To Fame

(Source: stfufauxminists, via scooterpiebanana)

socialismartnature:

THE STATE of Georgia is planning the murder of an innocent man at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, September 21.

For nearly two decades, Troy Anthony Davis has been trying to prove that he was the victim of a terrible injustice—convicted and sent to death row for a crime he did not commit.

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world have heard his voice and showed their support for him. Even figures at the center of the U.S. political and criminal justice establishment, such as former FBI Director William Sessions, have said that Troy should not be executed.

But within the system of so-called justice in this country, he has been betrayed time and time again. On Tuesday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles announced that it, too, would turn its back on Troy’s plea for clemency, and prison officials began preparing in earnest for a state-sponsored killing.

If Troy Davis is put to death as planned tonight, it will expose the truth, and not for the first time, about the American injustice system and the whole state apparatus that supports it—its obscene use of violence, its racism and discrimination, its lack of democracy and contempt for human rights.

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This is the ugly truth about the justice system in this country—it isn’t about justice at all. It is a tool of social and political repression, used almost entirely against the working class and the poor. Yet the most terrible crimes in society—from imperialist wars launched on the basis of lies to the looting of the economy by the bankers—aren’t even illegal.

Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed today to satisfy police and prosecutors who were determined to find a Black man to accuse, regardless of the evidence of his innocence. By the same token, the hundreds of thousands of men and women—overwhelmingly Black or Latino—who languish in prison for nonviolent drug offenses are there to bolster the law-and-order credentials of politicians and to serve as scapegoats to deflect attention from pressing social problems.

Such injustices are ever more glaring in U.S. society and the source of increasing discontent—expressed both in determined shows of support for victims of the system like Troy, and also in displays of anger bursting out with atrocities like the one the state of Georgia is planning today.

That anger is entirely justified. And it must be turned into action—into a struggle that challenges racism and discrimination against the poor, that abolishes the barbaric capital punishment system, and that confronts a prison system filled to the bursting point with the poor and working class, especially minorities.

At the heart of that anger lie deeper questions, too: What kind of system would carry out the murder of a man whose conviction had everything to do with the color of his skin? What kind of system would resist his every attempt to show he was innocent? What kind of system would ignore masses of people in the U.S. and around the world who want Troy Davis to be saved from death?

It is a system that must be changed.

Those who take a stand for Troy Davis today need to be a part of making that wider change—and establishing a different kind of society that never again tolerates the injustices that Troy has suffered, nor the racism and bigotry that drives the execution machine.

Our calls to save Troy Davis’ life today must become part of a wider movement to create a society built on justice, solidarity and freedom.

numol:

a similar petition from the NAACP.  please sign and pass it around if you can:

We’ve received terrible news: Troy Davis’s clemency was denied by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, and he is set to be executed on Wednesday, September 21st at 7 PM.

But now is not the time to give up hope. Chatham County District Attorney Larry Chisolm is the man who requested the death warrant against Troy Davis, and he is in a unique position to petition the judge to withdraw the death warrant against Troy.

[READ MORE AND SIGN PETITION]

socialismartnature:

Friday, September 16 · 5:00pm - 7:30pm

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DUDLEY SQUARE bus depot, ROXBURY

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The State of Georgia is attempting to execute an innocent man—again.

The case against Troy Davis is built on sand. Troy’s case has long stood as one of the worst examples of the bias and flaws inherent in the death penalty system. He was convicted of murdering off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail in 1989, but there has long been compelling evidence of his innocence. Even so, Georgia officials are pushing to kill Troy—and have scheduled his execution for 7 p.m. on September 21. He was convicted largely based on the testimony of eyewitnesses, but seven of the nine witnesses who testified against Troy at his original trial have since recanted, with several saying they were coerced by police into falsely identifying Troy as the man who shot MacPhail.

RALLY and SPEAK OUT to stop the execution of Troy Davis! Join an international day of action!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 5PM

DUDLEY SQUARE bus depot, ROXBURY

Call 617-902-0476 for more information or to co-sponsor the rally!

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RSVP on Facebook

Click here for more info on what you can do to help save Troy Davis