The Audible Demise Of The Mumia "Movement"

Listen to pro-Jamal author Dave Lindorff fall apart

http://www.whyy.org/91FM/radiotimes.html

I have frequently wrote of the disintegration of the "Free Mumia" cause and have cited numerous examples of why I believe this to be true. There is first of all the ever declining numbers of Mumia supporters, the ever-smaller rallies, the fact that International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia does not even have it’s own website, etc...ad nauseam.

Today, I was witness to another example of it’s decline, this time audibly.

On WHYY Radio, which interestingly enough had employed Jamal, was a "debate" about the fairness of Jamal’s trial between authors Dave Lindorff and John Hayden.

Lindorff is author of the decidedly pro-Jamal tract, "A Killing Time", while Hayden is the author of "Mumia Abu-Jamal: The Patron Saint of American Cop Killers", which as you might have guessed takes the opposing view. Hayden has also written articles specifically for this website.

Having heard Lindorff speak before about the case and having had written responses to a number of his articles, I know that Lindorff is perhaps one of the most capable spin doctors in the Mumia camp. And my thought was that anyone who would take him on in a debate would have a time in doing so, not because the facts are on his side, but because of his talent for taking things out of context, setting up straw man arguments, and penchant for making statements that are unprovable either one way or another.

On the other hand, I had not heard John Hayden before speak about Jamal’s case. I have obviously read his thoroughly researched book and was impressed by his arguments, but having not heard him in action before, was curious to see how he would do against a veteran of the pro-Mumia cause.

To say that I was pleasantly surprised is somewhat of an understatement.

While Lindorff spun off wild conspiracy theories and repeatedly went to the gutter to find his "arguments", Hayden on the other hand not only was able to articulate his points with facts, dates, and with great specificity, but was also able to politely tear apart Lindorff’s wild proclamations.

Not even the aid of Suzanne Ross of the New York Free Mumia Coalition and Pam Africa who called into the show, could Lindorff salvage his presentation as Hayden cooly deconstructed the pro-Mumia mythology.

At one point, a discombobulated Lindorff was sent scrambling through his own book to find the name of a judge he was talking about. And by the end of the debate he was not even making any sense, although I will give him credit for admitting that I was the one to discover the Polakoff photos, something his fellow Jamal supporters are very reluctant to do.

I strongly encourage everyone to listen to this nearly hour long discussion and hear for yourself the decline of a movement.