Dear Bay Area Friends,
THANK YOU to everyone who attended our annual Prisoner Solidarity Mailing Party! It was such a sweet turnout on December 8 with so many new faces.
In a time of political upheaval and increased repression of our movements, Critical Resistance Oakland (CROak) has grown in size and might, and we hope to continue to get even stronger so that we can be in our best fighting form for the years ahead. This past year, as we’ve continued to partner with our Los Angeles-based sibling chapter to anchor Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB)’s Close California Prisons campaign, we’ve shut four prisons down and compelled a $750 million cut to California’s corrections budget (the first reduction in years).
In addition to our main prison closure campaign, CROak participated in, and hosted, many events and workshops. In 2024, we:
Participated as a contingent in the return of Sin Fronteras’ annual May Day march;
- Hosted an in-person book launch for “How To Abolish Prisons” by CR co-founder Rachel Herzing and Justin Piche. Rachel Herzing spoke on a panel with CR campaigners and longtime movement partner California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) about how organizations and communities have been building and winning in the struggle to organize across prison walls and fight against systems of imprisonment for decades, and how we can one day abolish prisons altogether.
- Organized a film screening at the New Parkway Theater with long-time collaborator and abolitionist filmmaker, Ashley Hunt, showing “And Water Brings Tomorrow,” a film that looks at closed prisons around the US, what they’ve turned into, the community efforts behind their closure, and the forms of loss and reckoning of their closure. After the film, we shared updates and engaged community members in conversation about the CA prison closure campaign.
- Facilitated workshops with San Francisco-based organizers in the Turk x Taylor Initiative and campaign development for the Healthcare Workers for Abolition coalition (formerly DPH Must Divest), who are working to remove the sheriff department from hospital and the medical system in the City.
In 2024, we also continued to participate in international solidarity struggles. We organized support for local mobilizations to stop the ongoing genocide in Palestine, and some of our members even put their bodies on the line for civil disobedience efforts. Since November 2023, our chapter and broader national organization have also persistently provided court and arrestee support to protestors arrested in several different repressive crackdowns on Palestine solidarity. And, we partnered with Dignidad Rebelde to contribute to the Sumud Mural project. Our contribution, entitled “Joy of Escape”, features the smiling faces of political prisoners from both Turtle Island and Palestine who resisted against imperialist oppression by heroically escaping their captivity.
All the while, the Oakland chapter has continued to anchor our prisoner correspondence projects– our mail program and solidarity phone lines. Our members and Bay Area volunteers correspond with thousands of imprisoned people across the US, sharing resources, information, and engaging in political dialogue. Interested in joining us for a hybrid in person/online mail night? We meet every second and fourth Tuesday of the month (online or in-person at our office), with the second Tuesday of each month being the training portion needed for new volunteers to join. RSVP here!
The 2024 election hit California hard, as much of the progress anti-prison organizers have made over the years to chip away at the state’s monstrous prison system are threatened with being undone. Even though Prop 36 shamefully passed, we remain steadfast in our commitment to close at least 10 prisons across the state, if not more. From the dungeons of California’s department of corrections, George Jackson told us over 50 years ago “fascism is already here,” and we know that in order to beat back the tight grip of the rising far-right, we must dismantle imprisonment wall to wall. Critical Resistance is needed to do so in the days to come.
This month, we ask you to donate to our year-end fundraising drive. CROak is aiming to raise at least $3,500 before January 1 to make our 2025 plans go.
Your contributions help us continue our work on the ground, providing resources to those in prison, and engaging California’s diverse communities about the importance of prison closure and the broader fight for abolition. We are grateful for your past support and ask that you consider making a donation to help us continue this important work.
Will you contribute to CR Oakland this December to keep our work going strong in the new year?
To donate to CR Oakland, go to: bit.ly/CR2024yearend, and click “Apply My Donation To – Oakland”. You can also choose to become a monthly sustainer and regularly support CR Oakland in the new year and beyond.
Thank you for your continued support of our work, and we hope to see you at an upcoming mobilization or mail night!
In struggle,
CROak