this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2025
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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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Mike German, an ex-FBI agent, said immigration agents hiding their identities ‘highlights the illegitimacy of actions’

Some wear balaclavas. Some wear neck gators, sunglasses and hats. Some wear masks and casual clothes.

Across the country, armed federal immigration officers have increasingly hidden their identities while carrying out immigration raids, arresting protesters and roughing up prominent Democratic critics.

It’s a trend that has sparked alarm among civil rights and law enforcement experts alike.

Mike German, a former FBI agent, said officers’ widespread use of masks was unprecedented in US law enforcement and a sign of a rapidly eroding democracy. “Masking symbolizes the drift of law enforcement away from democratic controls,” he said.

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[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Fuck me. The local cops are doing this on my street. Not a uniform, squad car, badge, nothing in sight.

What do think would have happened if I walked down there with my AR-15 and said, "Who the fuck are you people and what the fuck are you doing?!"

[–] krashmo@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think you should find out. I think every person in America should do exactly that until these SS wannabe shitbags stop doing this kind of thing.

[–] f314@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I mean, this is exactly the type of shit the second amendment allegedly is there for…

[–] Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 9 points 2 days ago

Problem is no one understands the full meaning in this country thanks to decades of hyper-individualist propaganda.

It says a well regulated militia for a damn reason. That means organizing with your community to create a local fighting force. Unfortunately, the propaganda around owning firearms has framed it as being your own one-man-army that will defend your little "castle" from raiders until "order" is restored instead of owning them as an aspect of being organized with your community to defend it together against the government if its authority becomes unjust and fails to represent the will of the people.

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