Study for Struggle #6
For our second reading group session of the year, we will look to the massively complex topics of police, prison and crime. This is a controversial subject and one which has a lot of different opinions from a lot of different people and is one of the most common subjects that is brought up when discussing a world without the State and it’s enforcers. We understand we won’t be able to get really into the nitty gritty of this subject in the given time but we think can begin a fruitful discussion on the reality of policing and prisons and their relations to capitalism, crime and community.
Our next session will be at 7pm on Thursday 26th March 2020, at The Britannia Inn, Darlington.
Our next session will be 7:30pm on Thursday 25th June 2020, online on Jitsi. If you would like to attend please contact NEAG on Twitter, Facebook or via e-mail and we will add you to our mailing list that will e-mail the conference link too.
Check out the texts below and we hope to see you there!
Some questions to consider:-
What is the purpose of the police?
What is the relation between capitalism, the police and the prison system?
How and why does policing disproportionately effect people of colour?
How and why does policing disproportionately effect poor people?
How are international borders related to policing and prison?
Do prisons really work in ‘rehabilitating’ people and making communities safer?
What potential alternatives can you see to dealing with crime under anarchist communism?
Check out the texts below and we hope to see you there!
Mandatory
What is the prison industrial complex? By Empty Cages Collective
http://www.prisonabolition.org/what-is-the-prison-industrial-complex/
Origins of the police by David Whitehouse
https://libcom.org/history/origins-police-david-whitehouse
Are Prisons Obsolete? Chapter 5 – Prison Industrial Complex By Angela Y. Davis
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/angela-y-davis-are-prisons-obsolete#toc5
NEAG Note: The company mentioned in the above text, Wackenhut, is now what we know as G4S, a British security company that is Europes largest private employer.
Anarchy Works, Chapter 5 – Crime by Peter Gelderloos
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-anarchy-works#toc41
From Minneapolis to London: who polices the police?
https://freedomnews.org.uk/from-minneapolis-to-london-who-polices-the-police/
Additional
Prison Island by Corporate Watch
Detailing recent prison expansion in the UK, also touching on transformative justice and prison labour.
https://corporatewatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Prison-Island-by-Corporate-Watch-Low-Res.pdf
Study for Struggle is the North East Anarchist Group’s reading group, where we get together and discuss texts relating to radical politics and the emancipatory struggle for freedom
We hope to see some of you there and if you decide to participate further, you can help shape the content of future reading group sessions! So please get involved!
None of us are experts! So come along and join the discussion!
https://www.facebook.com/events/866162813818802/
