Abolition is the Practice, Abolition is the Objective

We just launched our newest product, the abolition tote, and wanted to spend some time talking about the message.

Abolition is a political framework that seeks to dismantle institutions that commit harm. Following a political tradition that traces back to the abolition of slavery, contemporary abolition work focuses on police, prison, and military complexes as primary sites of violence to our communities. An important part of this conception is an understanding that harm is created and perpetrated by institutions themselves, rather than by single “bad actors” misbehaving within them. 

Abolition is a fundamentally generative movement, one that requires us to be forward-looking, imaginative, and idealistic. There is no type of reform that will make militarization, incarceration, caging, and other forms of violence work for us. Thus, abolition provokes us to reimagine our society––to envision a future where safety is accessible to everyone, one where our methods of managing harm do not themselves perpetrate violence. This also requires rethinking how we conceptualize of violence. Currently, “harm” and “violence” are generally only considered on interpersonal, but not structural, grounds. Our criminal justice system identifies individual actions like destruction of property or crossing the border without documentation as harm. Meanwhile, stripping citizens of voting rights, barring disabled people from qualifying for Medicaid, or extrajudicial executions by our police force––i.e., harm wrought by institutions––are not generally recognized, or qualified, as harm. By looking expansively and critically at “harm,” abolition works to center well-being, healing, and thriving for our communities.

Abolition is not a single event; instead, it is a method of transforming our social relations and demands of our institutions. Abolitionist politics can be applied to our everyday lives and interactions. We all have different intersections with institutions of power, and thus have a myriad of ways to practice abolition, ranging from the overtly political to mundane interpersonal interactions. We practice abolition, for example, in refusing to call 911, when protesting to close a prison, when practicing mutual aid, or engaging in harm reduction. Moving from institutionalized response to harm to community responses realizes that institutions cause more harm than they prevent, and allows for more specialized and effective solutions -- this approach is applicable to all levels of conflict resolution and harm reduction.  

Though we can always be in the practice of abolition, and achieving abolitionist goals, abolition itself is by nature always something to be worked toward rather than “achieved.” It is not a destination so much as it is an ideal that guides our actions and politics. While a carceral state and militarization forms our consciousnesses and lived experiences, we aren’t yet able to fully articulate or even imagine a future abolition might allow. That is to say, as we continue practicing abolition, we become more aware of what kind of world we can build in its wake. Today, abolition is a daily practice, a theoretical framework, an approach to conflict, and a commitment to a future that we can’t yet see.

If you are interested in learning more about abolition, we recommend referencing our recommended reading list addressing types of reform, reading this toolkit created by Critical Resistance (an influential abolitionist collective), working through this study group guide, and taking this free course on abolition that visiting professor Nikkita Oliver taught at Seattle University this fall. (listed in order of time commitment).