Launched in the spring of 2005 by the Oakland Chapter, The Abolitionist is a bilingual (English/Spanish) publication and organizing tool for prisoners, dedicated to the strategy and practice of prison industrial complex abolition. Paid subscriptions from people outside of prison allow us to distribute the paper three times per year absolutely free of charge to over 5,500 people in prisons, jails, and detention centers throughout the US and internationally, who in turn share the paper with many more of their fellow prisoners. The Abolitionist Editorial Collective is now a national workgroup of Critical Resistance, with members across the US. As George Jackson said: “The point is…in the face of what we confront, to fight and win. That’s the real objective: not just to make statements, no matter how noble, but to destroy the system that oppresses us. By any means available to us. And to do this, we must be connected, in contact and communication with those in the struggle on the outside.”
Three times per year, Critical Resistance prints different issues of The Abolitionist, exploring a range of topics related to the strategy and struggle of PIC abolition. From analyses of racial capitalism and imperialism, to housing, education, land struggles, mental health, confronting gender violence, fights to build life-affirming infrastructure for community self-determination and more, each issue is packed with fresh analytical articles, reflections, poetry, visual art, and organizing resources and tools for resistance inside and outside of prisons.
Learn more about the project here.
We are proud to announce issue 20 of the Abolitionist Newspaper! Throughout this issue, we highlight the variety of ways in which communities and organizations are refusing to be divided…
Theme: Surveillance Download in English / Descargar en Español “As we know, surveillance is an integral component of the prison industrial complex. Equally as important is our ability to confront surveillance…
Download in English / Descargar en Español “Surviving within capitalism, U.S. imperialism, the PIC, and other systems of oppression takes a creativity, spirit, and will that can be found in…
Download in English / Descargar en Español “Within our society, most of us have been conditioned to expect punishment as a solution to many issues. A school with sub-par test scores?…
Download in English / Descargar en Español “We know that the danger of trying to ‘fix’ the system allows the PIC to say that it is responding to our concerns…
Download in English / Descargar en Español Welcome to Issue 14 of The Abolitionist! For Critical Resistance, this fall was marked by the loss of Marilyn Buck, our recently released…
Download in English / Descargar en Español While the PIC continues to expand, as abolitionists we position ourselves to stand against further repression and to build the supports we need…
Download in English / Descargar en Español “The moment we live in gives us the opportunity to highlight the starkness of the oppressive systems that affect every part of our…
Download in English / Descargar en Español “In all our work, we organize to build power and to stop the devastation that the reliance on prisons and policing has brought…
Download in English / Descargar en Español “As we mark five years and counting at war in Iraq and consider the manipulation of the poor and of communities of color…