RSVP online:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=176464591094
For more information visit: marchforabolition.org
EXONERATED PRISONERS AND FAMILY MEMBERS OF INNOCENTS ON TEXAS DEATH ROW TO LEAD 10TH ANNUAL MARCH TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY
On October 24th, the Iranian-American community of Austin will march in solidarity with the people of Texas to call for an end to this barbaric tradition around the world. We will hold signs calling for an end to stoning, execution of children, and political prisoners in Iran (you are welcome to bring your own signs and posters). CNN and several European TV channels are going to cover this march. This will be a great opportunity to raise awareness about the human rights conditions in Iran and also in our own state of Texas.
Saturday, October 24th 2pm: (AUSTIN) Family members of Reginald Blanton, Jeff Wood, Luis Castro Perez and Rodney Reed, Texas Death Row cases with strong innocence claims, will lead the “10th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty” in Austin October 24th. Speakers at the annual march include Shujaa Graham and Curtis McCarty, who served more than 20 years combined on death row before being fully exonerated and released. Eugenia Willingham, mother of Cameron Todd Willingham, will be among the special guests at this year’s march. In three independent reviews over the last five years, seven of the nation’s foremost arson experts have found that the forensic analysis that led to Todd Willingham’s conviction and execution in 2004 was completely wrong — that there was no scientific basis to find that the fire was anything more than a tragic accident. All of the non-scientific evidence against Willingham has also been discredited.
Speakers and other confirmed attendees at the march also include Jeff Blackburn (Chief Counsel of the Innocence Project of Texas), Jeanette Popp (a mother whose daughter was murdered but who asked the DA not to seek the death penalty), Elizabeth Gilbert (the pen pal of Todd Willingham who first pushed his innocence and helped his family find a fire expert to investigate), Walter Reaves (the last attorney for Todd Willingham, who fought for him through the execution and continues to fight to exonerate him), Terri Been whose brother Jeff Wood is on death row convicted under the Law of Parties even though he did not kill anyone, and Anna Terrell the mother of Reginald Blanton who is scheduled for execution in Texas on Oct 27 three days after the march.
The march starts at 2 PM on October 24 at the Texas Capitol. Supporters will gather at the Texas Capitol at the gates leading into the Capitol on the sidewalk at 11th Street, march down Congress Avenue to 6th street, then back to the South Steps of the Capitol for a rally to abolish the death penalty.
The Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty has been held each October since 2000 in cooperation with several Texas and national anti-death penalty organizations. It is a coming together of activists, family members of those on death row, community leaders, exonerated prisoners and all those calling for abolition.
Each October since 2000, people from all walks of life and all parts of Texas, the U.S. and other countries have taken a day out of their year and gathered in Austin to raise their voices together and loudly express their opposition to the death penalty. The march started in Austin in 2000. In 2007 and 2008, the march was held in Houston. This year, it is coming back to Austin.
The annual march is organized by several Texas anti-death penalty organizations, including the Austin chapter of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Texas Moratorium Network, the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty and Kids Against the Death Penalty and sponsored by over 50 various organizations.
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مجازات اعدام را لغو کنید
مجازات اعدام، مجازاتی غیر انسانی است و به دور باطل خشونت و انتقام در جامعه دامن میزند. مجازات اعدام در هیچ کشوری تاکنون باعث کاهش میزان جرم و جنایت نشده و به خصوص در کشورهای دیکتاتوری حربه ای قانونی و وسیله سرکوب و قتل مخالفان و دگراندیشان است. از سویی عوارض روانی مجازات اعدام در کوتاه و دراز مدت هم بر بازماندگان قربانیان و هم آنها که مجازات را اجرا می کنند مخرب است و از سویی دیگر از جامعه نسبت به خشونت و رفتار خشن حساسیت زدایی می کند. برای بنیاد جامعه مدنی، دموکراسی و نهادینه کردن حقوق بشر، احترام و امنیت برای دگراندیشان و تبلیغ فرهنگی خشونت پرهیز، لغو مجازات اعدام در ایران یکی از گام های اولین و پایه ای است.
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Sponsors of the 10th Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty
Campaign to End the Death Penalty – Austin Chapter, Texas Moratorium Network, Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Texas Students Against the Death Penalty, Kids Against the Death Penalty, Texas Death Penalty Education and Resource Center, Students Against the Death Penalty, Sister Helen Prejean, Jeff Blackburn, Award-winning trial lawyer best known for overturning the wrongful convictions of 38 residents of Tulia, Texas. He currently serves as Chief Counsel for the Innocence Project of Texas and as a member of the IPOT’s Executive Committee. Organization given for identification purposes only., Community Involvement Committee, 1st Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston, International Socialist Organization, Dallas Peace Center, Human Rights Coalition, College Station, Rice University chapter of Amnesty International, Journey of Hope…from Violence to Healing, South Carolinians Abolishing the Death Penalty (SCADP), Reprieve, Ensemble Contre la Peine de Mort (Together Against the Death Penalty), France, Lee Camp (comedian/writer/activist), Jill Sobule (singer/songwriter), Abolition U.K., ALIVE-Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty-Germany, Capital of Texas Democrats For Life (CTDFL), Democrats For Life of Texas (DFLT), NOKOA – The Observer, Iranians for Peace and Justice, Texas Civil Rights Project, S.H.A.P.E. Community Center in Houston, inkblot creative (Shannon Dudley), Loving a Convict, Ray Hill’s Prison Show on Houston’s Pacifica radio station KPFT 90.1 FM, UT Prison Caucus (University of Texas at Austin), Social Justice Action Coalition (University of Texas at Austin), DP Coordination Team of Amnesty International Canada Francophone, D.R.I.V.E. Movement, Joanne Gavin, a founding member of Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement, Anti-Racist Action (ARA), Diana Claitor, The Texas Jail Project, Iran Human Rights, Mary Ellen Kersch, Georgetown Texas, Todd Moye, Fort Worth, Sylvi, Calvet, France, Frances Morey, Austin, Judith Palfy, London, Art Browning, Cypress Texas, Mary Hunter, Chatanooga TN, Cynthia Brewer, Victoria Texas, Mimi Attleson, Albuquerque New Mexico, Emmanuelle PELOIS, Paris France, Tony and Rachael Ford, MonkeyWrench Books, Marj Loehlin, Austin TX, Bill Pelke, Alaska, Thomas Long, Greenville, NC, Tim Duda, San Antonio TX, Eric Schwing, Richmond, Allen Ansevin, Houston TX, Shelly Henderson, Los Angeles CA , Verneeda Alvarez, Baltimore, MD, Anna Shockley, Jamestown SC, -Capital-”X” aka 305375, Carmen Sert, Barcelona Spain
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Tuesday, October 13, 2009 – 7:30 PM 
Ferdowsi’s Shâhnâmeh and Popular Culture, a Video Presentation by Hooman Hedayati. This is a condensed and revised version of Hooman’s presentation at the 2009 Ferdowsi Teach-In at the University of Texas at Austin (ferdows1000.com).