Possibly one of the topics I get the most questions about: what does contemporary police and prison abolition look like, and is it truly feasible or just an ideal? Well, let's read.

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What a deeply important topic to close out the year with. This #BecauseWeveRead unit on police, prisons, and abolition builds on our past units on race, anti-Blackness, and capitalism and explores the relationship of these themes as they are connected to global policing and mass incarceration that is deeply interwoven into the political and economic system of the United States. The prison-police industry is so vast and interconnected with, and dependent upon, anti-Blackness, anti-Muslim racism, classism, white supremacy, capitalism, and the maintenance of global empire and control. Police are truly a shared violence globally, from Israel to India to London to the United States, police around the world share tips, weapons, violence, and a mutual root in upholding an oppressive status quo. While most of these texts focus on the United States, many policing tactics are shared widely--and therefore so is the opportunity for global resistance and solidarity.

We're reading the intro to the incredibly fundamental The New Jim Crow, a collection of essays and interviews on global policing, and of course a few chapters from Angela Davis' profound Are Prisons Obsolete? that focus on gender and imagining alternatives. In this unit, we're not just talking about systems and problems, but also encouraging a discussion about solutions. We're understanding and exploring the root of police and prisons to ask, and propose answers for, the questions: What are the relationships between the prison system, capitalism, race, and class? Can reforms fix this? What does justice look like? What does a world look like without police or prisons?

Be sure to take a look through the additional resources, as there is quite a list of amazing podcasts, videos, visualizations, and articles that really take the readings to the next level and provide incredible depth to the topics and questions at hand!

As mentioned on Instagram, due to popular demand, we are also moving to releasing a new book every two months (as opposed to every month) to give more time to everyone to read in time for the instagram live discussion and stay on-track (and for our international members to have their books delivered to them before the end of the month, hah)!


NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018
BOOKS OF THE MONTH:


POLICING THE PLANET
THE NEW JIM CROW, &
ARE PRISONS OBSOLETE? 



BOOK

Policing the Planet (2016), Jordan T. Camp & Christina Heatherton, editors - Full PDF available here
The PDF is graciously provided by the incredibly wonderful and wonderfully radical Verso Books, the largest independent, radical publishing house in the English-speaking world!

Verso Books is also providing #BecauseWeveRead members 50% off Policing the Planet! Grab this amazing discount here!


+ Introduction, The New Jim Crow (2010), Michelle Alexander - Introduction available here

+ Chapter 4 "How Gender Structures the Prison System" and Chapter 6 "Abolitionist Alternatives",
Are Prisons Obsolete, Angela Davis (2003) - Full PDF available here


(As always, please email us at editor@joojooazad.com if you are not financially (or politically) able to purchase a book and cannot read the PDF linked above, and we can mail you a free copy while supplies last!) 


ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

+ Ear Hustle (podcast), brings you the stories of life inside prison, shared and produced by those living it.
+ Missing Daddy (2018), a children's book written by Mariame Kaba and illustrated by bria royal helping children cope with incarcerated parents
+ A World Without Police study guide
+ Verso five book plan on Political Policing
+ A collection of infographs, maps, and data visualization on prisons 
+ The writing of abolitionist Mariame Kaba (@prisonculture on twitter)
+ "You are Already an Abolitionist", essay on RadFag
+ "No Abolition Without Demilitarization: Black and Muslim Solidarity For Ending Policing Worldwide", essay on RadFag
+ The New Jim Crow study guide
+ Invisible Institute, a journalism and research-based company on the South Side of Chicago conducting research, developing databases, and managing projects related to policing in Chicago. Check out their databases, projects, and reports!
+ How to End the Police State (video) conversation hosted by Verso Books


SOCIAL MEDIA 

+ Instagram, @BecauseWeveRead
+ Twitter, @BecauseWeveRead
Subscribe to our email updates!
(We're giving away copies of Policing the Planet on Instagram, so be sure to follow us for a chance to win! Also, we love our reader posts! Use the hashtag #BecauseWeveRead and tag us to join the conversation on social media, and we might just repost you!)


CHAPTERS / DISCUSSION GROUPS

Our beautiful, fabulous #BecauseWeveRead official chapter leads are listed below, along with their email addresses and social media to get in touch! They will be releasing the date for their meetup and additional information as the month progresses, so be sure to follow them on social media, email them letting them know you're interested in joining, and/or keep this page bookmarked as we continue to update as information arises! 



NORTH AMERICA

Ann Arbor/Detroit, Michigan: Samantha Rahmani / email

Boston, Massachusetts: Reza Mirsajadi & Joubin Khazaie / email

Brooklyn, NYC: Sana Altaf / email

Cincinnati, Ohio: Sara Zandvakili  / email

Chicago, Illinois: Samantha Rose / email

Houston, Texas: Laila Khalili / email

Los Angeles, California: Alexis Wong & Ashley May / email

Minneapolis, Minnesota: Binta Kanteh / email

Montreal, Canada: Mona Ghassemi / email,  twitter

San Francisco Bay/Oakland, California: Allison Chan / emailinstagram

Seattle, Washington: Anisa Jackson / emailinstagramtwitter
Seattle Facebook Group

Toronto, Canada: Yeldah Yousfi / email intsagramtwitter

Ottawa, Canada: Zaynab / email

San Diego, California: Noor / email

Washington D.C., USA: Hana Manadath & Jada Olsen / email


AFRICA

Cairo, Egypt: Hana Ehab Hassanein & Shahd Sherief / email

Cape Town, South Africa: Surekha Bhugeloo / email

Lagos, Nigeria: Hulaimah Kolawole / emailinstagram

Nairobi, Kenya: Suhayl Omar & Powell Arimi / email

Mauritius, Mauritius: Soufia Bham / email


ASIA

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: Anisa Alkunshalie / email

Bombay/Mumbai, India: Smriti Sant & Anadita Bhalerao / email

Delhi, India: Yusra Hasan / email

Istanbul, Turkey: Zineb Sadok & Hiba Abdennabi  / emailinstagram

Jakarta, Indonesia: Annissa Rosyidah & Nana Rosyidah & Intan Khasanah / email

Lahore, Pakistan: Madiha Tallat / emailinstagram

Tehran, Iran: Maryam Rashidi / email

Singapore, Singapore: Muneerah Razak / email


EUROPE

Leeds, England: Halima Nawaz / email

London, England: Alliyah Riaz & Maryam Abdullah / email


OCEANIA

Auckland, New Zealand: Zainab Baba / email




LIVE, MONTHLY DISCUSSION: TBA

Check back soon as we finalize details for our youtube live discussion at the end of December! 


Happy reading!
Can't wait to read all of your thoughts as you're reading -- be sure to tag us & hashtag #BecauseWeveRead to join the club & conversation!

Want to sponsor this project? Help get books into more hands of communities in-need internationally? Donate to us via venmo (@hoda-katebi) or paypal -- be sure to write #BecauseWeveRead in the memo so we can be sure to allocate toward this project!