this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2024
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Abolition of police and prisons

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Abolish is to flourish! Against the prison industrial complex and for transformative justice.

See Critical Resistance's definitions below:

The Prison Industrial Complex

The prison industrial complex (PIC) is a term we use to describe the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social and political problems.

Through its reach and impact, the PIC helps and maintains the authority of people who get their power through racial, economic and other privileges. There are many ways this power is collected and maintained through the PIC, including creating mass media images that keep alive stereotypes of people of color, poor people, queer people, immigrants, youth, and other oppressed communities as criminal, delinquent, or deviant. This power is also maintained by earning huge profits for private companies that deal with prisons and police forces; helping earn political gains for "tough on crime" politicians; increasing the influence of prison guard and police unions; and eliminating social and political dissent by oppressed communities that make demands for self-determination and reorganization of power in the US.

Abolition

PIC abolition is a political vision with the goal of eliminating imprisonment, policing, and surveillance and creating lasting alternatives to punishment and imprisonment.

From where we are now, sometimes we can't really imagine what abolition is going to look like. Abolition isn't just about getting rid of buildings full of cages. It's also about undoing the society we live in because the PIC both feeds on and maintains oppression and inequalities through punishment, violence, and controls millions of people. Because the PIC is not an isolated system, abolition is a broad strategy. An abolitionist vision means that we must build models today that can represent how we want to live in the future. It means developing practical strategies for taking small steps that move us toward making our dreams real and that lead us all to believe that things really could be different. It means living this vision in our daily lives.

Abolition is both a practical organizing tool and a long-term goal.

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[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

You know the cops hella murdered someone when capitalist propaganda uses exculpatory copspeak like "chaotic".

[–] Kwakigra@beehaw.org 11 points 5 months ago

Especially since there was nothing chaotic about the video. The officer got annoyed at something the victim said from the other room, announced to his victim that he would murder her, and then murdered her as she was trying to diffuse the situation with an apology. It was cold blooded. No quick movements, no panic, just an officer stating they would commit murder and then committing murder in cold blood on camera.

[–] DeadPand@midwest.social 15 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Cops are sub human trash. Jesus fucking Christ

[–] j_roby 16 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I'm really not a fan of that type of dehumanizing language. But I understand the sentiment. This is one of the worst cases in recent memory of law enforcement's complete lack of regard for human life... This was a really difficult video to watch...

[–] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

This is one of the worst cases in recent memory

As someone with an ok memory and awareness of the news, it's one of the worst cases caught on camera today.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 months ago

OTOH being a cop is literally dehumanizing. Not even being rhetorical, the effects on a person's psychology are profound.

[–] MTK@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago

"What are we suppose to do?"

Jeez, maybe not commit murder over what was not even a threat?

They could have stepped out, easily. They could have thrown a flashlight at her. They could have used a pillow to stop any water IF she actually thrown some. They could have even shot her not in "her fucking face"

Like, there were so many options before immediately going for murder.

And the fact that he said "I can shoot you in your fucking face" a second before, shows that he had time to consider his action and decided that he wanted to murder her.

Nothing stopped him from shooting her in any other body part (which would also be horrific, but maybe not murder)

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

The police exist to serve the state against the interests of the citizens of that state. They are the only people who are empowered to do unwanted violence within the physical bounds of a state, and they do violence to protect the interests of the state, not to protect the citizens.

The difference between the state's interests and those of its citizens are not small. The police are not here to help us. That is incidental to their purpose, which is to hurt us. Sending the police to help someone in emotional distress is absolutely absurd.

[–] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 months ago

So I never really got into the Watchmen show that aired for a season on Amazon. Bear with me; I'm going somewhere with this...

If anyone remembers that show, there are two scenes that always stuck with me. One was of course the Tulsa massacre. I had never heard of it and it was just chilling to me. That's a whole other discussion, but it's not the scene that directly applies here.

The other scene is (IIRC) literally the first scene of the show, where the cop is at a traffic stop, he gets the persons information and goes back to his car to run it. It comes out that there's something sketchy about the guy (I don't remember what), and he has to call in to a civilian observer explaining the situation and asking them to unlock his gun if they decide that it's warranted...

Anyway, that idea (regardless of how feasible it may or may not be in reality) has been literally burned into my brain from two minutes of a show that I remember literally nothing else about.

[–] Doom@ttrpg.network 2 points 5 months ago

This why ACAB his partner should've shot his ass right there. Cause he's a cop he can't be a villain? You know what you saw

[–] swordgeek@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 months ago

God DAMN it, nobody except a jury and jusges should be able to watch that video.