Today is the annual celebration of the life and legacy of Dr Martin Luther King, his commitment to rejecting racism, economic inequality, militarism and imperialism. This recognition and reclamation of Dr King’s politics is necessary fuel as political terrain shifts with the inauguration of the 47th US President into office. Right wing power is consolidating further toward fascism in the US and internationally – unevenly but persistently. Violence has and will continue to escalate, targeting immigrants, targeting reproductive freedom and queer and trans liberation – and all liberation struggles – as scapegoats for economic instability, capitalist wealth hoarding and austerity politics.

This fascist pull to the right has escalated the use and capacity of the prison industrial complex (PIC) – deploying police, surveillance, jails and prisons as a response to the challenges to the status quo in this period. The return of tough on “crime” posturing led by PIC advocates via the mainstream media has shifted public opinion. In cities and states across the country we’ve already seen increases in police budgets, legislation that criminalizes poverty and drug use, censorship of imprisoned people’s access to inside-outside media that supports abolitionist organizing and the proliferation of cop cities.
There are some guiding glimmers of hope, however. The official beginning of a six week ceasefire in Palestine comes as a much needed reprieve after 15 months of continuous resistance to genocidal Israeli attacks. Today’s release of Palestinian prisoners to return to their loved ones is a victory to savor amidst the unfathomable brutality of US backed imperialism. Leonard Peltier’s clemency announcement is a huge victory for the Indigenous liberation, anti-colonial movements, and political prisoner and prisoner solidarity struggles. There are masses of leftists descending on Washington DC today, inspired by Dr King’s politics and intending to demonstrate resistance – even as mainstream Democrats abandon some progressive commitments. Abolitionists and anti-policing organizers are also engaging in fighting cop cities across the country as part of a week of action. The inspiring show of people power in DC, in Reclaim MLK day marches and No Cop Nation actions across the country can ground us as the fight continues.
At CR, we are also grounding in the advances that were still able to make under Trump’s former presidency – ending Urban Shield and stopping the expansion of the SF jail, closing the LA county Men’s jail, the elimination of PDX’s gang enforcement team and reduction of the police budget by half. This was before the tidal wave of events in 2020 -where we saw mass resistance to imprisonment and policing – all still under a Trump presidency and fueled by people power. We at CR understand that even though the broader terrain has become more at the state and local level to become more conservative than in 2020, there are still opportunities to advance PIC abolition. We are already working hard to close prisons in CA, end immigrant detention in NY state, stop a federal prison in Kentucky, and figure out ways to effectively challenge censorship of solidarity media with imprisoned people and fight off the repression of prisoner-led resistance.
There will be many difficult days ahead. We will need to lean deeply into the radical legacy of Dr King and others and into the mutual aid and solidarity it will take to deepen our ties and struggle forward. This fight against the turn to the right will require our most rigorous and generous practice of abolition and revolutionary praxis. We look forward to being in the struggle alongside you.
Onward,
-Critical Resistance