In this 25th year of Critical Resistance (CR), we bolstered the international movement to abolish the prison industrial complex (PIC) through our campaigns and projects, the resources we created and distributed, and the movement building work we did alongside our allies and community members. Throughout the year, and in moments of heightened crisis such as this, CR has worked to uplift the connections between all our global fights for liberation - as organizations, community members, and comrades in struggle. We know PIC abolition is essential and that it is long-haul work, which requires organized efforts and concrete strategies to dismantle oppressive systems, change living conditions, and build life-affirming resources we all need and deserve.
With your support in 2023, CR was able to advance strategies for abolition in many ways. We ask that you continue showing up for PIC abolitionist organizing to keep this work going in the year to come - volunteer with us, attend an upcoming event or workshop and bring your folks, share our organizing tools, and donate to keep Critical Resistance strong, vibrant and rigorous for years to come!
Want to learn more about what CR has been up to this year?
You can read more about all of CR’s 2023 work in our year-end recap letter here. If you missed previous e-newsletters from us reviewing our 2023 achievements, view them and other regular updates from CR on our website here.
Take a look at this video snapshot of CR’s campaign and project organizing, resources, prisoner correspondence, and movement building work throughout the year. Featuring several CR members across our chapters and national organization!
We put out the call for you to support CR’s campaign and project organizing — and you’ve shown us the value of our organizing through words, images, actions, and by helping us raise over $20,000 this fall! Your resources and contributions are essential to keeping abolition in action through our campaigns, projects, political education, and movement partnerships. This month our goal is to raise $35,000 from over 5,000 people for CR. That's just under $10/person! Your generous support is crucial to us reaching our goal in the next week.
There are many ways you can still support CR in the final days of 2023. You can:
1.) Donate generously - whether it’s $20, $200, $2,000, or $20,000 - no amount is too small or too large! Every penny helps us chip away at the PIC. Please support us by giving online or sending a check to our national office in Oakland (address below!).
2.) Become a monthly sustaineronline or by check (some workplaces have giving programs!) to keep CR strong.
3.) Subscribe or donate to The Abolitionist, our bilingual cross-wall newspaper that we send to imprisoned people for free twice per year.
4.) Spread the word to family and friends by sharing our website, posting on social media, and encouraging people to support CR.
- Mohamed Shehk, Shirley Leslie, and Woods Ervin, CR National Co-Directors
Nick DeRenzi, Development Assistant, and CR National Fundraisers
Mailing Address for Checks:
Critical Resistance
Attn: Development
PO Box 22780
Oakland CA 94609
MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Another Success for CR's Annual Prisoner Solidarity Mailing: THANK YOU!
This past month, CR chapters each hosted mailing parties for CR members, volunteers and community to come together and write messages of solidarity to thousands of imprisoned comrades and loved ones. Each event was truly beautiful! If you attended, or signed up to receive postcards and contacts to host your own mailing party - THANK YOU!
Hot off the Press: Issue 40 of The Abolitionist Newspaper, on Control Units! Issue 40 has printed and is en route to about 4,800 imprisoned subscribers and a couple hundred outside paid subscribers. With an additional 1,000 copies for outside circulation, CR has also mailed out all bulk orders for institutional / organizational subscriptions (movement partners who distribute bundles of the paper inside and outside of cages can expect their packages soon!).
Featuring articles on control units, Issue 40 is a timely and hard-hitting must-read for all abolitionists. Check out what's inside the issue, read the sneak peek, and subscribe today! Know people who are locked up who want The Abolitionist? Sign them up for a free subscription here.
Our 2024 issues (41 & 42) will examine intersections between abolition and environmental justice, and then anti-war organizing. Subscribe before January to receive 2024's issues, and we'll send you a complimentary Issue 40 print copy in the new year!
Calling all Californians: Take Digital Action to #CloseCAPrisons TODAY! Call and email Governor Newsom urging him to commit to naming at least five more state prisons for closure between now and the January proposed 2024-25 California state budget. As our state faces a staggering $68 billion budget deficit, the closure of additional prisons not only makes fiscal sense but also aligns with a transformative approach to California's problems.
Announcing five forthcoming closures will demonstrate Governor Newsom's dedication to a responsible budget and substantive shift away from an over-reliance on incarceration. Let's close out the year strong! Prison closure is a key step towards building a healthier, safer, and greener California for us all! Use this toolkit here.
Critical Resistance is majority grassroots-funded. Donate today!
#SustainCR with monthly donations or a one-time gift here.
Mural by Leslie “Dime” Lopez at 4400 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA, 2019.
