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Resilience, Strategy & Infrastructure:
Fund Abolition for Queer Liberation

Dear Comrades,
This Pride Month, queer and trans people are under siege—erased from platforms, surveilled at protests, targeted by policing and prison retaliation, and written out of public life by state violence. From book bans to anti-trans laws, to Google quietly removing “Pride” from its calendar, it’s clear: the state wants queer and gender-expansive people to disappear. But we know better. Our survival has never come from being seen—it’s come from organizing.

“Trans people are surviving these systems because we’re strategizing. We’re building relationships. We’re resisting. But survival shouldn’t be the goal—our movements have to resource gender liberation like our lives depend on it. Because they do.”

— Anastasia Franco, CR’s Prisoner Correspondence Coordinator, Issue 43 of The Abolitionist
At Critical Resistance (CR), we’re building the strategy and infrastructure not only to survive repression, but to fight for a future where queer and trans people thrive beyond cages, beyond punishment, and beyond policing.

This June, we’re raising $21,100 to fund that future.
✨ Donate now — one-time or monthly. ([link removed])
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Our Movements Need More Than Reaction—They Need Infrastructure & Strategy

As Pride month closes, the latest issue of CR’s cross-wall newspaper The Abolitionist ([link removed]) is headed to over 4,800 imprisoned people across the US and some internationally—each copy sponsored by one of over 400 outside supporters and movement partners. Issue 43: “Seeds Through Concrete” breaks down state repression and censorship with sharp analysis, surrealist art, frontline histories, and abolitionist strategy from both sides of the wall.

Inside, readers will find reflections on organizing against Bukele’s regime in El Salvador, abolitionist surrealism from kai lumumba barrow, Emily Hobson’s historic look at prisoner-led HIV/AIDS activism, and powerful reprints from Mariame Kaba, Orisanmi Burton, and Garrett Felber. As digital surveillance and mail bans escalate, this issue leans into symbolism, code-switching, and subversion—tactics to outmaneuver repression and land abolitionist tools where they’re needed most.

It’s no coincidence that gender liberation and queer resistance are an undercurrent of this issue. Censorship and queer erasure aren’t separate crises—they’re core tactics of authoritarian control. Fascist strategies have always targeted gender liberation and queer survival. Fighting repression is central to queer freedom. And queer freedom demands abolition.

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“Prison officials and politicians responded to the AIDS crisis with fear, neglect, and punishment. In contrast, imprisoned people responded with care, education, and mutual aid. They showed that collective survival—built from inside the harshest conditions—is abolition in action.”
— Emily Hobson, Issue 43 of The Abolitionist

Pride has always meant organizing for survival—and fighting back when the state tries to disappear us.

What Your Gift Builds
✨ Queer & Trans Prisoner Solidarity: CR’s mail programs and phone lines support thousands inside—especially queer and trans people facing retaliation. Donations spread tools for survival, connection, and resistance.

✨ The Abolitionist – Issue 43: “Seeds Through Concrete”: Your gift prints, mails, transcribes and translates two issues per year—bringing abolitionist strategy across walls and cages.

✨ Cross-Wall Strategy Retreat (August 2025)
We're convening imprisoned and outside organizers to strategize against repression and censorship. Your gift funds access, planning, and materials for this historic gathering.

✨ And more resistance infrastructure & strategy through grassroots coalitions & campaigns to shrink the PIC:
* CR Portland just won a $2M police budget cut and is launching a new anti-policing campaign.

* CR Los Angeles is organizing with the Community Self-Defense Coalition to stop ICE raids and Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) to close prisons in California with CR Oakland


* CR New York City is fighting immigrant detention statewide.

* And our newest chapter CR Central Appalachia is working to stop federal prison and jail expansion.

We don’t just need more reaction.
We need queer strategy.
We need abolitionist infrastructure.

Help Us Raise $21,100 This June! Whether it’s $25, $250, or $2,500—your gift builds the infrastructure queer, trans, and collective liberation need, especially across walls.

✨ Donate now ([link removed]) to support abolitionist strategy.
✨ Become a monthly sustainer. ([link removed])

With deep appreciation and resolve,
-Critical Resistance


** More Announcements
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This whole month: Sustain abolitionist organizing & help CR raise $21,100 by the end of June!

We aim to raise:
* $6,000 for the organization at-large
* $1,500 for CR's Oakland chapter ([link removed])
* $1,000 for CR's Los Angeles chapter ([link removed])
* $600 for CR's New York City chapter ([link removed])

* $500 for CR's Portland chapter ([link removed])
* $500 for The Zachary Project ([link removed])
* $1,000 forThe Abolitionist newspaper ([link removed]) (Each paid subscription sponsors free subscriptions for multiple people inside prisons, jails, and detention centers)
* $10,000 for CR's Cross-Wall Strategy & Power Building Retreat ([link removed])

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#TakeTheMic: Why do you give?

One CR donor recently shared: “CR's sharp analysis and expertise provides vital support and structure to the movement, equipping organizers and campaigns with critical frameworks like "non-reformist reforms" that guide principled work toward collective liberation.”

This month, we’re collecting messages from our donor community: Why do you fund abolition?

#TakeTheMic toshare your testimonial on this form here. ([link removed]) We’ll lift up your words throughout June and beyond.
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Ways to Support CR This Month: New ways to give!

💫 Donate via Donor-Advised Funds: In addition to accepting DAF donations via check, we now accept DAF donations electronically through every.org ([link removed]) !

🗓️ Donate monthly! Help sustain CR for the long-haul by giving a monthly gift ([link removed]) to fuel our work.
💹 Donate Stock: We now accept stock donations via Every.org ([link removed]) !
🪩 Throw a House Party: Host a fundraiser with friends or community (in person or online). CR can provide you with lots of tools to help you plan!
🛍 Shop CR Gear: Every shirt, tote, and print ([link removed]) supports our organizing.
☕️ Book a Coffee Chat: Want to hear more about CR's work and how you can support? Let’s talk. Sign up for a call with our Development Team here! ([link removed])
🛠 Sponsor CR’s Cross-wall Retreat this Black August to build cross-wall power with our loved ones and comrades inside cages!
Check out more ways to give here. ([link removed])
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Fund Cross-wall Strategy: Sponsor CR's Black August Cross-wall Retreat

We’re raising $10,000 by July 5 for the Cross-Wall Strategy & Power Building Retreat—covering travel, food, materials, and mutual aid that fuel our collective resistance. While the retreat is invite-only for select movement partners, anyone can support or sponsor this critical convening. Donate today ([link removed]) and help us spread the word throughout June! Bit.ly/CrosswallFund ([link removed])

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Hot off the Press: Issue 43 of The Abolitionist on Censorship & Repression is out now!

Check out what's inside the issue and read the Letter from the Editors and sneak-peek early-release articles here ([link removed]) . Printed copies are limited edition, soSUBSCRIBE TODAY ([link removed]) while we still have some copies in store!

All paid subscriptions make this project possible
— sponsoring free subscriptions to imprisoned people across the US and some internationally.

Critical Resistance is majority grassroots-funded. Donate today!
#SustainCR with monthly donations or a one-time gift. ([link removed])
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Mural by Leslie “Dime” Lopez at 4400 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA, 2019.
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