When saints collide

international | arts and media | opinion/analysis

Friday October 17, 2003 23:39

by Phuq Hedd

Michael Moore attacks Mumia Abu-Jamal

Michael Moore is often cited as the accessible face of the left -- someone that's in touch with the people, someone that doesn't retreat into the ghetto of arcane politics. For many he's also a shallow populist that misses the boat on many important issues, oversimplifies complex arguments and fails to provide solutions. In his new book he's gone much further: he condemns a man on death row inspite of the absence of a fair trial.

Michael Moore started out as a gutsy documentarian of the effects of "downsizing" upon his hometown and his neighbours with the films "Roger and Me" and "Pets or Meat: The Return to Flint", and later "Downsize This!". All of these dealt well with the subject matter. Moore's last film "Bowling for Columbine" moved into a wider arena, both in terms of distribution and subject matter. It is in this movie that he displays his weakness for rhetoric above argument, painting a rosy picture of Canada as a land of open doors and the USA as a land of fear.

Even while sympathising with the thrust and intent of Moore's work something stank about it -- on the one hand Moore is redressing the absence of biased left-wing coverage and that can be enjoyable, but on the other he is legitimising the tools of deception and slanted presentation.

However, these are all minor quibbles compared with the statement in his latest book "Dude, Where's My Country?" in which he claims that journalist, political activist and cause celebre Mumia Abu-Jamal is "probably" guilty. A strong case is made in this counterpunch article that Moore is talking through his hat:
http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff10172003.html

Moore's increasing prominence leads to him being the subject of all sorts of attacks (some of which are demonstrably unfair):
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/wackoattacko/

But the wealth of evidence suggests that Mumia Abu Jamal is an innocent man:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/reports/mumia/

that Moore has made a mistake and that it seems like a retraction or clarification would be in order.