In the next 24 hours, the State of Georgia plans to execute Troy Anthony Davis, a man who may quite possibly be innocent - significant material changes have affected his case, but no retrial has been forthcoming. I urge you to go to Amnesty International's page on Troy Davis where you can send a fax to the board who can intervene in the execution. The prospects look pretty bad at this stage, but that's all the more reason to send a message to those in Georgia that the death penalty is not acceptable, and is completely reprehensible in this case. 
Here's a chunk of the message I sent: As a non-U.S. citizen, you may wonder why I take an interest in what you may consider to be a local affair - why should anyone outside the state of Georgia take an interest? Because justice is universal, and the death penalty is barbaric wherever it happens, especially if it is happening to a man whose guilt has a strong and reasonable level of doubt. I ask you to reconsider, as both citizens and as public servants, the worth of the death penalty. Here in my country, the United Kingdom, we abolished the death penalty in 1969 - the last use being in 1964. We cemented our abolition of the death penalty in 1998 by signing the thirteenth protocol of the European Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. We do not miss it, nor do those in the great states of Michigan or Maine or New Jersey or Iowa or Wisconsin, and neither will you if you just have the courage to step away from judicial murder. Please give Troy Davis a day in court, so justice can be served.
The abolition of the death penalty is one of the major challenges still facing the United States. You know what would make me ecstatic? On January the 21st, 2009, Obama gets into office and puts a constitutional amendment on the table to ban the death penalty across the whole United States. Of course, he probably won't, but it's a nice dream. Seriously, Americans, come to Britain. We really don't miss the death penalty, and neither will you when it's gone. Of course, you may need to get rid of your religion first: it's keeping you in a rather stone age and primitive stage of morality.
Anyway, whatever you are doing now - stop it, and go and support Troy Davis' campaign now. And if you are an American, please do something about the death penalty - every time someone in the United States is put on death row, every time they come up for clemency or board hearings, every time they are executed or every time the death penalty becomes an issue, write to your political representatives - from the President down to the mayor of your dull, suburban hamlet - and to every media outlet you can think of. Get involved with NCADP and state anti-death-penalty groups.
