Dear friends and comrades at PSL:
I am overjoyed and proud to accept this
award as a Fighter for Justice, especially to be amongst such stellar comrades
in the struggle as Mumia Abu Jamal, Leonard Peltier, the Cuban Five and the
Angola 3. This is not to mention my joy that my brother Ramsey Clark will be
present. There is no greater honor than to be recognized by those with whom you
have marched shoulder to shoulder for great causes.
My entire adult life and legal career
have been about prisons. Criticizing them, fighting to keep people out of them,
defending those who are caught in the cruel mesh and recognizing those who have
spent their lives there for political acts in defense of community. As a
lawyer, it was often difficult to frame an argument on the basis of justice
when I knew that it was not part of the equation for those making the
decisions. And yet, the battle was to be fought with zeal. As Emiliano Zapata
said, we must come to authority not with hat in hand but with rifle in fist:
the ultimate symbol of people’s power.
We have a responsible mission. If you
are to be a fighter for freedom you organize, organize, organize. You resist
the outrages of authoritarian government. You speak up and fight back.
Love and struggle,
Lynne Stewart
