Abolitionist Digest vol. 4: Defund the Police in the UK?
In this Abolitionist Digest, we highlight actions and writing that centres on defunding the police in the UK
Memorial Billboards for those who have died from UK state & racist violence
Black Lives Matter UK, in collaboration with the United Friends and Families Campaign and others campaigning for state accountability, put up a billboard in memory of the 3000+ people who have died in police custody, prisons, immigration detention centres and racist attacks.
2. Abolition not Reformation
Sara Chitseko and 4Front reject Body Camera, Community Policing and Training as ways to deal with the police violence.
Body cameras increase surveillance and police budgets to buy more technology, thus increasing the scale of policing overall.
3. What does Defund the Police mean for the UK?
Koshka Duff and Tom Kemp float 8 possible abolitionist demands that the movement could unify around and highlight a range of existing abolitionist projects that the UK movement can build upon.
A key task of the current moment is for people to come together, agree upon our priorities and mobilise our movement around them.
4. What would happen if we defund the police in the UK?
Adam Eliot Cooper and Adam Pugh speak to Vice about what the future would look like if the UK defunded the police.
5. Mariame Kaba - We Mean Literally Abolish the Police
Back in the US, police abolition campaigner, Mariame Kaba, explains to the New York Times why Defunding the Police cannot be watered down into a conventional call for reform.
Enough. We can’t reform the police. The only way to diminish police violence is to reduce contact between the public and the police.
UK Solidarity Action:
Marking the 3-year anniversary of Grenfell, please sign this petition demanding that the government remove all ACM and non ACM flammable cladding systems
