Dearest Comrades & Community, 

The wake of the 2024 US election shows a harrowing horizon for the world, as Trump and his autocratic cabinet will once again take the helm of the US war machine in January 2025, this time with more unchecked power and more preparation. As a grassroots political organization committed to abolishing the prison industrial complex (PIC), Critical Resistance (CR) is taking this moment to ready and ground in the connections between our political vision of PIC abolition and anti-fascism. 

While the far-right's reach of Congress has yet to be fully revealed with the pending results of the House of Representatives and what this means for the expediency at which Trump will be able to pass devastating legislation is all still looming, many of the grave consequences of this election can still be weighed now. The unfortunate passage of Prop 36 in California, for instance, will no doubt have a definitive negative impact on gains made in prison population reduction, tightening fascism’s hold by undoing past anti-prison victories and hindering prison closure victory, and posing a serious obstacle for CR's campaign work in the state. Immigrant communities, already scapegoated by the capitalist class for the results of austerity, increasingly threatened by rampant expansion and increased militarization of ICE, face Trump's immediate plans for mass deportations to begin in January. How this election's results will affect our movements ability to stop Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza is also troubling. Amidst these dangers, we've already been tracking the ramping up of police infrastructure in the form of highly militarized Cop Cities emerging nationally, as over 80 projects range from announcement to completion.

PIC abolition must be central to the construction of anti-fascist analysis and organizing to be best positioned to make necessary advances. The electeds will not save us. As the Democratic Party continues to yield to their corporate billionaire-class funders at the expense of the working class, many party actors courted conservative support during the 2024 election by doubling down on policing and imprisonment.

And the lessons abolitionists have gleaned from putting together and coordinating mutual aid networks are going to be invaluable as we work to support our communities in the times ahead.

The next four years will be difficult but where there is repression, there must be resistance. And we know that the fight for PIC abolition is key to getting us through the rocky terrain ahead. CR aims to meet the moment in intentional and strategic ways, and we hope that you remain in this struggle with us. Collectivity and growing and fortifying broad coalitions are essential no matter the threat, but especially in surviving and resisting authoritarianism. Whether you are a community organizer, movement partner, volunteer who sustains us with your time and effort, a general supporter of CR and PIC abolition or newly abolition curious, please continue to be in relationship with us and other radical organizers and organizations wherever you may be.

A world without walls and cages is still possible. Together, let’s fight like hell to bring it into being.

Onward,

-Critical Resistance

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