Issue 33 is out! Subscribe today and support free subscriptions to thousands of prisoners. 

Announcing Issue 33 of The Abolitionist!
View this email in your browser ([link removed])
[link removed]
Hot off the Press:
Issue #33 of The Abolitionist is here!

We are pleased to announce that our latest Issue of The Abolitionist (#33) is finally being mailed out to our readers right now!

Help us send it free to thousands of imprisoned people across the country: Sign up an imprisoned loved one ([link removed]) , subscribe yourself today ([link removed]) or contact us for an organizational subscription ([link removed]) !
Issue 33 rolls out The Abolitionist’s new paper structure, which includes a feature section, this time focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, and a columns section, with new columns for readers to look forward to every issue. Examining the relationship between the pandemic, the prison industrial complex (PIC) and the struggle for abolition, Issue 33’s features offer critical analysis on the COVID-19 pandemic as a portal for the world we want and are fighting for, along with reflection and resources for organizing and survival. As stated in the "Letter from the Editors" and CR’s COVID Platform ([link removed]) :


** “Through the pandemic, we see that abolition is the only way forward. […] As a severe and widespread public health crisis, the pandemic necessitates abolitionist demands and practices to ensure health and safety efforts that directly support people’s ability to live. This is immediately present in the massive movements to share resources, look out for each other, and build networks for care across prison and border walls, cities and towns, as well as neighborhoods and virtual communities.”
------------------------------------------------------------
Analysis by Sarah T. Hamid on the methods used to monitor the spread of COVID-19 explores the origins of contact tracing in disease control and the dire implications of using a policing and surveillance strategy in public health. CR’s and The Abolitionist’s Susana Draper interviews Yunuén Torres, a P’urhépecha woman and member of the first youth council created after the 2011 Cherán uprising for self-determination. The uprising unfolded when a group of local, indigenous women in the state of Michoacán, Mexico rose up to defend their forest and land from armed loggers controlled by cartels, kicking out police and politicians while simultaneously resisting cartel violence. Cherán remains an autonomous community today and gives a glimpse of how essential self-determination is to public health.

For more lessons to apply to the COVID pandemic, the editorial collective’s Rory Elliott interviews three formerly imprisoned freedom fighters and HIV/AIDS advocates Kathy Boudin, Linda Evans and Krystal Mason with Emily Hobson on their work with peer prisoner support during the HIV/AIDS crisis. Our features’ resource section includes a holistic care guide for imprisoned people to defend themselves against COVID, CR’s Toward Healthy Communities COVID Platform to guide our organizing through the pandemic and beyond, and a Prisoner Speak Out, which centers the critical insights of imprisoned people, revealing their resilience, as well as the complexities and grave urgency of addressing COVID inside the belly of the PIC with abolition.

Finally, we are excited to kick off our new columns: the Inside-Outside Fishing Line; the Abby Throwback; 9971 with imprisoned author, educator and abolitionist Stephen Wilson; and CR Updates and Movement Highlights. This issue also includes a continuation of our column on political prisoner updates—Until All Are Free—and letters, or “kites”, to the editors from prisoners.

As a sneak preview to the issue ([link removed]) , we’re sharing this reflective piece on disability justice and abolition by Katie Tastrom, which discusses the disproportionate and devastating impact COVID-19 has had on communities deemed most disposable by capitalism and the PIC. Tastrom argues “disabled folks – including/especially those who are or have been locked up – have a unique insight into how we fight the state and win, or at least how we try to survive.” This piece is an important call that disability justice is necessary for PIC abolition. Click the link to read the full article ([link removed]) and subscribe today ([link removed]) to continue making The Abolitionist possible!

In struggle,

Critical Resistance & The Abolitionist Editorial Collective
Thinking of fresh, radical and impactful holiday gifts
to give your loved ones?
Support prisoner resistance & abolition!
Give the gift of a subscription to The Abolitionist!
The end-of-year holidays can be an exceptionally hard time for imprisoned people. With your own subscription or gifting one to someone else, you can sponsor imprisoned readers with free subscriptions to the paper and also sign up a loved one who might be imprisoned in jail, detention or prison (for free!).
* Sign up an imprisoned loved one for a free subscription here ([link removed])
* Sponsor one or multiple prisoners with free subscription, by signing yourself up for a paid subscription ([link removed]) or giving one to a loved one outside prison walls ([link removed]) .

Save the Date!
Pandemic as Portal: The Abolitionist #33 Launch Event
December 15^th, 2pm PST / 5pm EST. On Zoom.
Come hear from some of our authors of Issue 33 and subscribers from inside and outside of prison walls discuss the project and its importance in building an international movement to abolish the PIC. Mark your calendars andRSVP here ([link removed]) !

Critical Resistance is majority grassroots-funded. Donate today!

#SustainCR with monthly donations or a one-time gift here. ([link removed])
Mural by Leslie “Dime” Lopez at 4400 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA, 2019.
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed] Forward this Email ([link removed])
Donate Today ([link removed])

============================================================
Copyright © 2020 Critical Resistance, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you have provided your contact info to Critical Resistance.

Our mailing address is:
Critical Resistance
1904 Franklin St.
Suite 504
Oakland, CA 94612
USA
** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
** update subscription preferences ([link removed])