London ABC is a prison abolition group; we don’t want to live with prisons and policing. We prioritise supporting explicitly political prisoners because resources and energy are limited, but we think all prisoners are political and we don’t think anyone should be inside, no matter what their crime is.
We know that the police are there to perpetrate violence, not prevent it and the courts have nothing to do with ‘justice’. And people still do fucked up things to each other. So we need to think about alternatives to the prison industrial complex (PIC) and criminal justice system.
How do we respond to incidents of violence and oppression if we don’t want to – or can’t – call the police? How can we prevent violence and oppressive behaviour in our communities? How can we create a culture where survivors of abuse are supported instead of silenced and blamed?
We don’t have the answers and we don’t think there is one fixed solution; but as prison abolitionists we think it is important to explore these questions. There is a lot of writing on this subject out there, and we’ve linked to some of it below.
WARNING: some of the material below might be difficult to read, or triggering for people who have had an experience with sexual assault. Remember to take care of yourself and choose the environment you read this in.
London Anarcha Feminist Kollektiv: Anarchist responses to sexual violence
Taking the First Steps: suggestions for people called out for abusive
behaviour
Organising for Community Accountability
INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence: Community Accountability
Principles / Concerns / Strategies / Models, Working Document, March 2003
Toward Transformative Justice, Generation 5
Communities Engaged in Resisting Violence
UBUNTU : women of color & survivor led project, in response to a rape in Durham, NC in 2006
Dealing with our shit: six years of men’s group and accountability work
What Do We Do When? Issue 2 and Issue 3
Survivors in Solidarity with Prison Abolition
Resisting Gender Violence Without Cops or Prisons: An Interview with Victoria Law
Raping Little Girls, Restorative Justice and Community Accountability
Conquest: Sexual Violence and the American Indian Genocide South End Press, 2005 by Andrea Smith, especially Chapter 7 “Anticolonial Responses to Gender Violence”
