What is abolition?

“So those who feel deep in their gut deep anxiety that abolition means knock it all down, scorch the earth and start something new, let that go. Abolition is building the future from the present, in all of the ways we can.”
— Ruth Wilson Gilmore

ABOLITION IS: CHOOSING RELIANCE ON EACH OTHER OVER RELIANCE ON THE PRISON SYSTEM

“…prison is not a building ‘over there’ but a set of relationships that undermine rather than stabilize everyday lives everywhere.” - Gilmore

ABOLITION ASKS US:

How can we build relationships and systems to nourish rather than punish each other? How are YOU and YOUR COMMUNITIES actively building? <3

  • Our world is built on violent systems that value property, capital, and complicit labor over people and care.

  • Abolition is not just about the destruction/dismantling of our current systems, but also about REIMAGINATION. It is not about abandoning people but investing in a new definition of safety

  • Abolition is not a far-away end goal, but rather an ongoing process that communities are CURRENTLY contributing to (which is what this exhibit is all about!)

  • We are not starting from scratch!

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THIS IS A WORKING/LIVING DOCUMENT <3

This exhibit hopes to capture bits and pieces of the many ways that people in New Haven and beyond have been creating freedom. While it highlights many moments, it is not exhaustive at all, especially considering how some forms of resistance are often more dismissed from the historical and contemporary memory. It feels impossible to capture all of the ways that people are imagining and practicing a better world ---but help us in trying. Use the google forms to add more fragments of beautiful history!

Citations

Canva Version