MOVE: A Year In Disrepute

(MOVE Co-Founder Donald Glassey)


This has not been a good year for the MOVE cult. The group continues it’s slow decline into oblivion and irrelevance, yet plenty of work still remains for those of us who know the truth about the group. So let us keep up the good fight and keep exposing this group for the violent entity that it is.



It has also not been the greatest year for Mumia Abu-Jamal, but in the interest of time and space I will focus at this time only upon the key issues of with regards to the year. Perhaps, at a later date I will go into the "Year in Mumia", but for know I will focus only on MOVE. What follows a brief encapsulation of the kind of poor year that MOVE has had. I have tried to keep what follows in chronological order, but there may be some errors in this regard. If I missed anything than by all means shoot me an email or leave a comment.



-February 2006, MOVE caught lying about Lynne Abraham



"As a judge she signed warrants to initiate both police attacks on the MOVE Organization."The above statement from MOVE, like so many others is just not true.What is true is that Lynne Abraham, back in 1985 was a Common Pleas Court Judge and did sign search and arrest warrants that had been given to her by the District Attorneys Office on May 12th of 1985. At that time the District Attorney in Philadelphia Ed Rendell, who would eventually rise to the office of Governor.But before everyone heaps a mountain of scorn upon Abraham for her role in the catastrophe, we should remind ourselves that it was a minor one and that given the evidence presented before her, she had little choice but to sign the warrants as they were presented to her.We should keep in mind that at this point, MOVE had threatened to kill the mayor, blow up the neighborhood, kill police officers as well as themselves, and had fortified the house that they inhabited, the owner of which had been kicked out by MOVE. In essence, when Abraham signed the warrants, MOVE had already effectively taken their neighborhood hostage as well as the children that were in their care. Moreover they were refusing to negotiate in any meaningful or rational way. MOVE members had committed themselves to death and no piece of paper signed by Abraham could have affected what MOVE had decided would be a blood drenched outcome.But while Abraham did have a minor role in the events of May 13th 1985, as best as I can tell she had none in 1978 as alleged by the latest MOVE statement.



-February 2006, $20,000 reward for information about the death of John Gilbride is offered.

"I am very certain that the members and supporters of the MOVE Organization are now aware of the fact that there is a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the murder of John Gilbride.It is something that they cannot be happy about.MOVE has, since John’s death, worked fervently on a number of fronts to ensure that the world forgets about John, what happened to him, and especially the fact that the man’s son is still caught up in the death grip of MOVE’s madness.They have also attempted to demonize and threaten those who would raise uncomfortable and inconvenient questions as to the group’s possible role in John’s murder."



-March 2006, Comments from MOVE’s co-founder Donald Glassey



Glassey was not surprised back in 1985 when John Africa ended his life and dragged 10 of his followers with him, the conclusion of Africa’s "suicide by cop" confrontation with authorities. Again, according to Glassey, who had observed MOVE’s metamorphosis from a sect purportedly dedicated to protection of life to a terroristic cult:"They're insane. They're out of touch with their senses," he said. "The strongest instinct is survival, and they were even out of touch with that."



-March 2006, ABC News covers the murder of John Gilbride

"CrimeFighters: Murder of John Gilbride March 5, 2006 - It was September 27th 2002 when 34-year-old John Gilbride was ambushed outside his Maple Shade, New Jersey apartment.He was shot to death inside his car, the doors wide open, the car still running. He had just finished his shift as a baggage handler at Philadelphia International Airport.Gilbride was locked in a very bitter custody battle with his ex-wife, Alberta Africa, a member of the radical group MOVE. And he had just won court ordered time with his son. Burlington County prosecutor Robert Bernardi says there is no evidence linking the custody fight or the MOVE organization to the murder. Nor is Gilbride's job or the gambling trips he took connected. Bernardi also rejects the conspiracy theory. Right now authorities have no murder weapon, no eyewitness and very little in the way of forensics. That's why they are hoping a 20-thousand dollar reward will rejuvenate this cold case murder. Copyright Action News, 2006. All Rights Reserved"



-April 2006 Ramona Announces End to the "MOVE 9's" legal efforts



"One fact that does deserve a few moments of celebratory attention is the fact that, the latest batch of appeals on behalf of the MOVE 9 have been again turned down. According to "journalist" Hans Bennet:"Ramona Africa, Minister of Information for the MOVE organization, updated the crowd on the case of the MOVE 9 She explained that their most recent appeal had just been turned down in March, and therefore the MOVE 9 prisoners have decided to abandon their extensive legal arguments for freedom because they feel that it is only a waste of time and energy to work within the system like that. Instead, they will now be referring to MOVE founder John Africa’s famous "Judge’s Letter" speech that he made during his own trial in the early 1980s."



-April 2006 Another former MOVE supporter/member speaks out



"For those folks familiar with the writings of Tony Allen, it is important to realize that Tony is NOT the first or last person to have changed their minds about the Move Organization. Countless others who have been in close proximity to the organization, either as members or supporters, have come and gone. Considering Move has been around in some form or another for over thirty years, it seems only logical that there must be some substantial reasons that there are only some 20-30 adults who would consider themselves "disciples" of John Africa today. Surely, over the past three decades there has been many times that number who once considered themselves close to Move. So the question begs to be asked… what is it about Move that prompts so many to turn there back on the organization?"



-April 2006 MOVE is listed as a cult by the International Cultic Studies Association



"The International Cultic Studies Association has added MOVE to it's list of groups and has provided links to this blog as well as my other website about MOVE."



-May 2006 MOVE compares a journalist to Hitler



From the MOVE response to an article written by columnist Stu Bykofsky:



"One thing is for sure, however, that is you don’t know nothing about Mumia Abu Jamal, but you do know a lot about being unfair, even though you are Jewish and you and your people are always crying about The Holocaust, expecting people to be sympathetic with you over Adolf Hitler and nazis but here you are being the Adolf Hitler, the nazi trying to kill off Mumia, a Black man, just like Hitler tried to kill off Jews, your people."



-May 2006 T.V. Station WCAU Posts Much of their footage from May 13th 1985 online for anyone to see. The footage is riveting and captures the MOVE inspired catastrophe as it unfolded.



-June 2006 Ramona Africa inadvertently admits child abuse within the cult



"The following is an excerpt from an email sent from MOVE Organization, Minister of Communications, Ramona Africa to a person whom she thought was a supporter of the cult" Women in MOVE do marry and have babies at what this american society might now consider to be a young age but we follow the coordination of Mother Nature who coordinates it such that she determines when a woman is ready for marriage and babies, which is when a woman has her monthly period, then she is ready to have babies and be married. It's just that simple."The recipient of the above email was not, however a supporter of MOVE, instead it was Tony Allen, the founder of the MOVE Watch website
http://themoveorganization.com





-July 2006 MOVE Raises the dead to write letters to the editor



"I won’t quote the whole MOVE article verbatim here, but will mention that it is signed by a "Nick Africa". An interesting fact considering that "Nick Africa" was the nickname of Frank Africa, the nephew of John Africa who died on May 13th 1985. MOVE is simply at it’s old tricks of using names of deceased MOVE members in order to confuse people as the amount of members the group has. A macabre tactic indeed, but when has MOVE shown any respect for the dead (or the living for that matter)



-August 2006 MOVE member Mario Africa is discovered to have left the group



"It seems that little Mario has grown up and become a big boy and has decided to leave the "MOVE house" that he has lived in for the last couple of decades.Good for him I guess. But one could also assume that he has also left his MOVE wife and children. Not the first time he has abandoned a family, but it is sad to think that his two beautiful kids will be left to be raised by MOVE and indoctrinated into the sects warped and abusive system"



-September 2006 John Gilbride’s father speaks out



According to the article in the Philadelphia Inquirer Jack Gilbride is quoted as saying
"The investigators know where the responsibility for John's murder lies," Jack Gilbride asserts. They just don't know with whom it lies."



-October 2006 the website for the MOVE Film goes blank.



This was a website advertising a garbage "documentary" about MOVE. It had previously had a message board that was shut down after I began posting on it. In October it went blank.



-November 2006 MOVE offers fallacious propaganda regarding the possible 2008 parole of the "MOVE" 9



-November 2006 The possible role in the murder of John Gilbride by Gary Wonderlin is spelled out.



"What is beyond argument is that this marriage was quite a step up for Wonderlin to say the least. He had been a MOVE supporter for over twenty years, yet his mannerisms were strange and eccentric and there were even muted whisperings about his sexuality (not a good thing at all in the notoriously homophobic MOVE). Gary was a freak amidst a collection of freaks, but his loyalty to MOVE and especially to MOVE leader, Alberta Africa was never something that was in question. It was known around the Organization that if some sly, dirty work needed to be done, that Gary would be the one to do it. Whether handing out libelous fliers about MOVE's opponents, or calling reporters with cryptic threats, no task was to underhanded for Wonderlin to take on. Especially if it was at the behest of Alberta or her shrill and Nazi-esque, clone Sue Africa."



-December 2006 Does MOVE really want parole for their imprisoned MOVE comrades



"Take for instance the following facts:

-The legal struggle for the freedom of the "MOVE 9" was abandoned completely earlier this year, but in reality the legal fight for the MOVE prisoners was put on a back-burner as Mumia’s case began to take center stage.

-While Mumia was provided with the best legal resources available, the "MOVE 9" were given a second rate attorney. One attorney for all nine MOVE members (eight after the 1998 death of Merle Africa.)

-Legal appeals languished in limbo, not because of the "system", but because MOVE had issues with paying their legal bills, this while Jamal was given the full attention, time, and devotion of MOVE’s leadership and devotees of the group."