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Making Abolitionist Worlds: Proposals for a World on Fire
What does an abolitionist world look like? Insights from today’s international abolitionist movement reveal a world to win.
Making Abolitionist Worlds gathers key insights and interventions from today’s international abolitionist movement to pose the question: what does an abolitionist world look like? The Abolition Collective investigates the core challenges to social justice and the liberatory potential of social movements today from a range of personal, political, and analytical points of view, underscoring the urgency of an abolitionist politics that places prisons at the center of its critique and actions.
In addition to centering and amplifying the continual struggles of incarcerated people who are actively working to transform prisons from the inside, Making Abolitionist Worlds animates the idea of abolitionist democracy and demands a radical re-imagining of the meaning and practice of democracy. Abolition Collective brings us to an Israeli prison for a Palestinian feminist reflection on incarceration within settler colonialism; to protest movements in Hong Kong and elsewhere, who use “abolition democracy” to advocate for the abolition of the police; to the growing culture in the United States of “aggrieved whiteness,” which trucks in fear, anger, victimhood, and a need for vengeance to maintain white supremacy; to the punitive landscapes that extend from the incarceration of political prisoners to the mass deportations and detentions along the U.S. southern border.
Making Abolitionist Worlds shows us that the paths forged today for a world in formation are rooted in antiracism, decolonization, anticapitalism, abolitionist feminism, and queer liberation.
Making Abolitionist Worlds gathers key insights and interventions from today’s international abolitionist movement to pose the question: what does an abolitionist world look like? The Abolition Collective investigates the core challenges to social justice and the liberatory potential of social movements today from a range of personal, political, and analytical points of view, underscoring the urgency of an abolitionist politics that places prisons at the center of its critique and actions.
In addition to centering and amplifying the continual struggles of incarcerated people who are actively working to transform prisons from the inside, Making Abolitionist Worlds animates the idea of abolitionist democracy and demands a radical re-imagining of the meaning and practice of democracy. Abolition Collective brings us to an Israeli prison for a Palestinian feminist reflection on incarceration within settler colonialism; to protest movements in Hong Kong and elsewhere, who use “abolition democracy” to advocate for the abolition of the police; to the growing culture in the United States of “aggrieved whiteness,” which trucks in fear, anger, victimhood, and a need for vengeance to maintain white supremacy; to the punitive landscapes that extend from the incarceration of political prisoners to the mass deportations and detentions along the U.S. southern border.
Making Abolitionist Worlds shows us that the paths forged today for a world in formation are rooted in antiracism, decolonization, anticapitalism, abolitionist feminism, and queer liberation.
272 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 17, 2024
"abolition time isn't linear, with the world one builds towards awaiting to be grasped. Rather abolition is a practice that's lived and experienced in the day to day. It's to live in the world yet made."
An amazing collection of essays covering hugely different topics. Really interesting to learn about the different views on, and experiences in tandem to abolition and what it could look like. The essays on hunger strikes and Çilem Doga I found to be the most shocking/memorable:
"Over the next three weeks, at least 6,600 prisoners across California participated in the strike in solidarity with Pelican Bay...On July 20, 2011 some of the strike demands were met: prisoners could take one picture of themselves a year to send to their families; they could have coloured pencils, wall calenders and warm caps for outdoor exercise during winter..."
Cried after reading that ngl. Pictures for families and coloured pencils are what you withhold from people? Never mind the sensory deprivation and punitive use of SHU for upwards of 20 years...
"Çilem Dogan sought institutional help several times. During her closing statement at the trial she declared, "I never wanted this to happen, but I had no other option".
Would absolutely recommend this book to anyone interested, the different mediums of art, essays, interviews, photography was absolutely amazing.
An amazing collection of essays covering hugely different topics. Really interesting to learn about the different views on, and experiences in tandem to abolition and what it could look like. The essays on hunger strikes and Çilem Doga I found to be the most shocking/memorable:
"Over the next three weeks, at least 6,600 prisoners across California participated in the strike in solidarity with Pelican Bay...On July 20, 2011 some of the strike demands were met: prisoners could take one picture of themselves a year to send to their families; they could have coloured pencils, wall calenders and warm caps for outdoor exercise during winter..."
Cried after reading that ngl. Pictures for families and coloured pencils are what you withhold from people? Never mind the sensory deprivation and punitive use of SHU for upwards of 20 years...
"Çilem Dogan sought institutional help several times. During her closing statement at the trial she declared, "I never wanted this to happen, but I had no other option".
Would absolutely recommend this book to anyone interested, the different mediums of art, essays, interviews, photography was absolutely amazing.
June 18, 2022
4.5 collection of many different theoretical interventions, academic articles, and works of art all based in abolitionist analysis. great for folks who already have a foundation in abolitionist theory who are looking for more complex/advanced interventions. i learned a lot from this one!
May 8, 2021
More academic than I anticipated
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews