Last week the Black and Indigenous Liberation Movement (BILM) organized a coalition congress between Black and Indigenous communities throughout Abya Yala, which includes the regions of North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean. BILM held the congress in Quito, Ecuador which has been the center of nationwide strikes throughout this year. This strike led by Indigenous and Black community leaders, against rising food and fuel costs, awakened a decades long issue of the Ecuadorian government excluding Indigenous and Black Ecuadorians politically, socially, and economically. The strikes brought together Black, Indigenous, student, and women groups, to bring the country to . . .
Abolition
Abolitionist Efforts to Trangress the Prison Walls
Incarcerated radical intellectuals elucidate the nature of political struggle and its various arenas. Alongside these writers are solidarity groups that propagate their writings and intellectual products. Through a close reading of Black Communist trans prisoner Alyssa V. Hope’s legal efforts and writings, this article unearths how a pen-pal relationship transformed into a comprehensive abolitionist community. This case study provides an ex-ample of how abolitionists are grappling with the need to support the material needs of marginalised communities while still building otherwise possible worlds separate from a failing welfare state. Mutual aid projects, like the one formed by Hope’s supporters, showcase that otherwise possible worlds are not only possible, but they are being created right now be-fore us. . . .
Everyday Abolition
Abolition is a verb, a practice. The act of abolition generates an abundance of new opportunities. It is alive with possibility! Abolition is presence. It requires our attention and care. It forces us to think wide and imagine. What does a just world look like? What does mass peace feel like? . . .
Black August, Letter Writing and the ‘Harm Reduction’ Administration
There are four major components in the yearly commemorations of Black August: study, fast, train, and fight. People are encouraged to study the works and words of former and current political and politicized prisoners. People are encouraged to fast from sunrise to sunset. People are encouraged to train and become more physically active. People are encouraged to fight against the system. However, one of the lesser centered but equally important aspects of Black August is letter writing. Nearly a half-century ago, Gresham Sykes wrote in The Society of Captives: A Study of a Maximum Security Prison that, “life in the . . .
Fireworks at 2am
Who puts trust in a system that legalized enslavement? Desecrating Native land for ugly ass pavement. Babies locked in cages under “In God We Trust.” . . .
On Police Abolition: Decolonization Is The Only Way
If Black masses are semi-colonized, the solution is decolonization. If slavery was merely reformed, slavery must be abolished in all its iterations. The U.S. police are the representation and manifestation of modern-day slave patrols. For these reasons and others, the police must be abolished in their entirety and other carceral institutions as well. . . .
The Class Collaboration of “Justice”
There’s no intent on clarifying that this is a concession won by the mobilizing of millions of working people around the country who marched, fought in the streets and burned down precincts. Instead, the Black petty-bourgeoisie media is attempting to convince the masses of working-class Black people that this is a sign that the system can work for us. . . .
City Planners and Revolution
What is the role of the planner in the revolution for Black liberation? Do regional and city planners even have a role? Community building will be necessary to life post revolution. Cities that are centered around love and meeting the needs of the people are vital. . . .