Email sent, over ConnectNetwork, the first week of February, from outside supporter:
Hey Stevie,
Here’s some Questions i’ve been reflecting on, in response to the situation in the abolition movements in recent years. More conversations are needed about what ‘accountability’ means on both sides of the wall in this movement, and the specificity of it for ppl on the outs. How do we further think about the ‘inside-outside’ relation as ‘one struggle at base’ (to paraphrase George Jackson), while recognizing the different demands or responsibilities that ppl in the so-called free world bear? What are those historical responsibilities and how are ppl on the outside falling short? What are the material and structural circumstances that condition ppl’s behavior and actions on the outside? What enables unaccountability or on the flip side what incentivizes commitment? Does any of this have to do with the fact that a lot of ppl who come into this support work do not have relationships with those inside prior to entering the work? If so, doesn’t that mean we must be providing further resources to ppl who already have loved ones inside? — ppl who, in fact, have a stake (beyond their paycheck or a CV line) in an imprisoned person’s survival?
I’m interested asking these questions about relationships across the wall considering the fact that much of the movement to abolish the PIC is *not* predominantly centered in oppressed communities still. And the dominant models of organization cater to recruiting college students and people who formalize their identity as activist specialists. It goes beyond academic abolitionism & extends to the entire non-profit industrial complex and its catering to middle class & professionalized activism.
I also want to question the influence of liberalism on how people conceive of ally politics which i understand to be a bankrupt approach to relationships. We need to be *co-strugglers* w/ eachother. That means people on the outside need to sacrifice some things. But also the extant paradigms leave too much room for paternalism to thrive.
-anonymous outside supporter
ConnectNetwork email correspondence, excerpts beginning on 2/17/2024:
Mulling your questions in the first email. They provoke deep thought. And they need to be answered, wrestled with, by all of us.
Always,
Stevie
02/21/2024 04:12 PM
I haven’t been able to fully articulate what I feel is wrong/off about certain groups. But I believe what you are saying/gesturing toward is close. And the core of it is a detachment from on the frontlines. By that, I mean people inside and people from incarceration-impacted families and communities. When we look at the existing orgs, do we seem these folx in position that determine agendas, concerns priorities and budgets?
Always,
Stevie
02/21/2024 04:12 PM
Subject: response to reading article on “social capitalism”
I do want to tell you that I look at many of our abolitionist collectives and organizations differently now, after the past year especially. I see exactly what you are talking about, in the questions earlier in the month. What happened this past year woke me up.
I plan to return to Philly…. My idea of organizing seems old-fashioned to some people. I am about getting on the ground with the people, my people…. listening to them, and building power collectively.
Always,
Stevie
02/26/2024 04:35 PM
RE: Tasting Abolition article
Thanks for sharing the “Flavors of Abolition” article, this is a good piece. I want to sit with it and think about these categories/flavors. Your other email with the twitter thread questions about state violence and interpersonal violence has me thinking about “violence” and how we define it. I think interrogating the definitions that have been foisted upon us, especially imprisoned people, is a good place to start. Another point is how little discussion there is behind the walls how state and interpersonal violence are linked. We tend to focus on them exclusively. Some people never address the interpersonal violence that is cause my state violence. And that is a major hole in analyses coming from behind the walls.
Always,
Stevie
02/27/2024 12:16 PM
Subject: thanks for updates
Thank you for the updates on SCI Rockview. This is what we need more of, sharing updates on what is happening at other facilities, for the movement. Even in the same state, we don’t know what is happening to each other. We must find a way to keep each other informed. So much of what is happening in one place is happening in another. We need to share news, tactics, strategies and outcomes.
Always,
Stevie
02/28/2024 08:38 AM
I have been thinking about these issues a lot. I am preparing a response to the latest report on incarcerated labor by people in the #endtheexception crowd. I am thinking about how wrong they are and why. First, their method smacks of paternalism, saviorism and epistemic injustice. As you mention, who determines the content and form of struggle? With them, imprisoned people have no part in determining either. They know better than us. Moreover, the continue to turn to the state for “knowledge” about what is happening behind the walls. They have no spoken to imprisoned people nor do they center their voices. Moreover, their demands, always about conditions of confinement, are minimum demands.
These are the same people who waged a campaign to end the exception in the fall of 2022 in Alabama. During this time, FAM was waging a war for freedom. The demands of FAM clearly center on pathways to freedom, not higher wages. Instead of supporting this prisoner-led movement for freedom, the exceptioners ignored them. In the end, the measure passed. But there has been change in the material circumstances of anyone, anywhere the exception has been removed. This is a fact the exceptioners refuse to acknowledge.
Always,
Stevie
03/09/2024 12:08 PM
What does a demand that helps imprisoned and criminalized people survive under conditions of genocide, but doesn’t further entrench, expand or legitimize the PIC look like? Where are discussions about these possible demands occurring? Where are we experimenting with these demands?
Always,
Stevie
Dreaming Freedom, Practicing Abolition 