brian bean in conversation with Melissa Gonzalez Hernandez
Chicago-based socialist activist, writer, and speaker brian bean discusses his new book and analyzes the connections between policing and capitalism, centering global lessons of revolt and resistance. Where do cops come from and what do they do? How did “modern policing” as we know it today come to be? What about the capitalist state necessitates policing? In his clear and comprehensive account of why and how the police—the linchpin of capitalism—function and exist, brian bean presents a clear case for the abolition of policing and capitalism.
Eric King, Nicole Kissane, and Josh Davidson
An honest and vulnerable discussion about the realities of prison resistance. Oftentimes we romanticize prison. The reality is that resisting inside has very serious consequences, including the lasting trauma when you leave. This talk is about all the things that often get left out when we talk about life inside. Not just how bad it can get for us, but for our families and our free world selves, but also what is needed to help those reconnecting with the free world or still stuck inside.
Wilder Zeiser, Amari Owens, Delphine Brody, Dan Kabella
This panel will spotlight the campaign to remove the private prison operator GEO Group from 111 Taylor Street in San Francisco’s Tenderloin, site of the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, and to transform it into a community-owned space. Organizers from the Compton’s x Coalition will share how they’re confronting authoritarianism through zoning appeals, direct action, and just transition organizing rooted in trans, abolitionist, and decolonial frameworks. The conversation will explore how land use, privatized incarceration, and state violence intersect, and how targeted communities are building power to steward urban space for collective liberation.
Steve Martinot
The rise of police brutality signals a national process toward developing a militant and military corps of repressive force in this country. It is important to understand what drives the police as well as what drives their political leadership and use.
Amelia Kirby, Jack Norton, Rachel Herzing
Drawing from their essay by the same name (https://hammerandhope.org/article/fascism-abolition), members of the Yarrow Institute for Organizing and Analysis (formerly Institute for Abolitionist Accompaniment) will engage participants in a discussion about why it is essential to understand how the punishment systems maintains and accelerates rising fascism and will offer lessons to be learned from organizers fighting for the abolition of the prison industrial complex.
Leroy F. Moore Jr. introduces a documentary on police murder of disabled people.
Garrett Felber, Molly Porzig, Bryant Arroyo,April Harris and Corey Devon Arthur
Discussing the necessity of cross-wall organizing to revolutionary struggle. This panel will use the life and legacy of anarchist political prisoner and jailhouse lawyer Martin Sostre, to discuss the ongoing challenges faced by incarcerated organizers and their comrades outside, as well as tools, tactics, and strategies for abolitionists today.
