CR assesses the current landscape of policing in 2023 and offers recommendations for moving the struggle for abolition forward.
Analysis on landscape of policing from CR + recommendations for organizing ([link removed])
& resources!
View this email in your browser ([link removed])
[link removed]
Dear Comrades & Friends of Critical Resistance,
After the largest protests in US history, we see the death and destruction of policing on the rise with police having killed roughly three people daily since 2020 ([link removed]) , while in 2022 alone, a record number of people were killed by policing, according to Mapping Police Violence, with 1,183 slain in total, 25% of whom were Black ([link removed]) . At Critical Resistance (CR), we ask how can that be after an estimated 16-24 million stood together to resist policing after the death of George Floyd, proclaiming bold demands such as “defund the police” and “abolition now”?
[link removed]
Fearmongering with a false narrative of rising crime, Republicans continue to push hard “law and order” agendas in defense of “democracy,” while the Biden administration and Democrats pledge to fund policing, issuing classic reformist reforms we know will never end the violence of policing. Right now, we can’t help but see the parallels between Memphis 2022 and Minneapolis 2020, both cities of resistance with similar efforts to policing reformism and professionalization.
[link removed]
And we can’t help but connect the intersection between the now-two-year struggle in Atlanta to stop Cop City ([link removed]) , a $90 million, over 85-acre training fortress that escalated when cops killed an Indigenous Venezuelan, queer and non-binary protestor and forest protector, Tortuguita, earlier last month, to the increased training proposed across the country.
The rising death rates and uptick in resistance to policing are no surprise given that the Biden administrated tripled down on policing in December 2022 alone ([link removed]) , subsidizing hundred of millions to local policing departments, hundreds of millions to hire 1,800 more cops across the US.
After over a month of loss after devastating loss, as more of us are once again moving into the streets to resist policing, we must once again soberly ask ourselves: what will it take to concretely move the needle toward a world without police? CR turns to a couple of our past anti-policing campaigns for recommendations & possibilities forward. We examine the current landscape of policing right now and reflect on our past anti-policing campaigns, ending the use of gang injunctions in Oakland through Stop the Injunctions Coalition ([link removed]) (2010-2015), successfully defunding Urban Shield ([link removed]) (2013-2018), and passing an initiative for Care Not Cops ([link removed]) (2017-2020) and disbanding Portland’s gang policing unit in 2020. We see opportunities in this moment to propel abolition forward through:
1. Concerted campaign organizing
2. Bold, "Shrink-and-starve" strategy and actionable abolitionist demands
3. Multi-pronged strategy
4. Coalition and movement building
Read full analysis & reflections here ([link removed])
We hope you read and share widely our full analysis of the landscape and recommendations on our website. We hope these stoke the fire of all our comrades to stay the course in this protracted struggle for PIC abolition with CR, to defend demands to defund policing when under implicit and explicit scrutiny and attack, to harness our rage and collective grief into piercing long-term strategy and to seize this moment to its full potential to propel our struggle forward.
Onward for a world without policing,
-Critical Resistance
** Resources for Resisting Policing
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
Policing & Militarism on Campuses: New Chart for the Fight!
CR's Abolitionist Educators Workgroup ([link removed]) released this version of the organization's reformist reforms vs abolitionist reforms to policing chart, this time for anti-policing organizing on school campuses. Check it out, grab a free download from our website ([link removed]) and share widely. More resources from CR's Abolitionist Educators workgroup here ([link removed]) .
[link removed]
Train with Critical Resistance: Work with CR to develop your own anti-policing campaign!
In 2020, CR released a new organizers' toolkit for developing winning campaigns to abolish policing. Check out the toolkit on our website here ([link removed]) , and if you and your organization would like CR's support developing your own campaign to against policing, request CR’s Toolkit Training to Develop Campaigns to Abolish Policing here ([link removed]) .
[link removed]
Study "Defund Policing" with The Abolitionist: Check out Issue 35 of CR's The Abolitionist Newspaper!
Our Summer 2021 issue ([link removed]) of our bilingual inside-outside newspaper ([link removed]) covered organizing around defunding policing.
From an analysis of where demands for defunding come from by Andrea Ritchie, to fighting cops off campuses in Oakland and Philadelphia, and much more - this issue is PACKED with useful analysis, reflections, organizing examples, strategy and resources to further the movement against policing in this moment in 2023 and beyond. Check it out on our website here and share widely! ([link removed])
View CR's entire catalogue of anti-policing resources 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 © 2023 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
PO Box 22780
Oakland, CA 94609
USA
** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
** update subscription preferences ([link removed])
