A Winning Start to Defund Campaign
Moves Forward in Oakland Defund Oakland Police Department (OPD) Coalition successfully moves community recommendations through Reimagine Public Safety task force
to Oakland City Council.
Like many grassroots organizations, in 2021 we are channeling the heat from anti-policing fury and bolstering local defund policing efforts to make some material gains against the prison industrial complex (PIC). By sharing an update from our Oakland chapter, we hope to inspire more local defund resistance across our communities from city to city and state to state.
On Wednesday, March 17, the Defund OPD coalition mobilized to Oakland City Council's Reimagine Public Safety task force meeting in order to demand that the task force follow through on its mandate - to make recommendations to defund the Oakland city police department by at least 50%. After hours of debate and strong testimony from the public that went well into the night, our priorities were included in the final recommendations.
Now that the reimagine public safety task force has voted to move our 33 recommendations to City Council, Defund OPD will now need to push City Council to approve our recommendations for this year's budget cycle.
This recent victory is just one in a wave of local victories across the US in the past year to shift power and resources away from policing and toward community self-determination. And this gain is just the beginning for Defund OPD Coalition.
Hot off the Press!Issue 34 of our newspaper The Abolitionist has been mailed to thousands of our imprisoned and paid subscribers. Issue 34 covers features on fascism and neoliberalism. Check out what is in the issue on our website here, and read a "sneak peek" - the central analysis of the issue - here. Receive a full copy of the issue by subscribing to the paper, and sign up an imprisoned loved one up for a free subscription here.
