CR Politics
Describe CR's "dismantle, change, build" framework / theory of change
Dismantle oppressive systems/practices/tools
Change power, conditions, and common sense around what really keeps us safe
Build solutions to harm, systems of care, and resources for strong communities
Name the 3 PE sessions/workshops required for all potential members
Orientation to CR (usually through a volunteer program but can be done 1 on 1)
Intro to the PIC
Intro to abolition
What year did CR become an organization?
CR transitioned from a conference organizing model to a chapter-based organization in 2001.
What CA-based coalition did CR help actualize that fights for prison closure?
CURB - Californians United for a Responsible Budget
Name & describe a few of CR’s political tendencies and lineages
any of the following responses:
What are the baseline expectations of being a CR member?
meetings - GMs, PEs, National Calls
being fully engaged in consensus, meeting discussions
participating in a chapter workgroup/work area/role and/or national workgroup
communication when capacity changes
regularly checking CR emails (local + national)
commitment to health and well being of CR, mission, vision
What chapter developed CR’s concentric circles activity used in Intro to the PIC workshop?
CRLA
Describe a CR campaign or coalition that focused on anti-imprisonment
e.g. No New Jails, Prison Closure, etc.
Rachel Maddow worked on what project with CR?
The Abolitionist Toolkit
Break down CR’s “shrink and starve” framework
Strategy of chipping away at life, scope, power & legitimacy of the PIC.
Reduce funding, challenge police, increase safety, reduce tool, tactics and tech for policing, reduce scale of policing
identifying the PIC's vulnerabilities and attacking strategically, in coalition w/ movement partners
Name all 10 active CR national Workgroups
Personnel, Membership, Fundraising, Communications, Abby, Archiving, Finance, Board, Abolitionist Educators, National Campaigns and Leadership WG
What was the first CR staff/ paid member role? Who was in it?
Rose Braz - 1998 Conference Organizer...eventually after conference became CR's Director
https://criticalresistance.box.com/s/vjpjt7a67xpqjuztm3nhytbdpwdlwigg
Describe a CR campaign or coalition that focused on anti-policing
e.g. Care Not Cops, Defund OPD, etc.
Name a CR chapter that is no longer active/that no longer exists... Name at least 1 project or campaign they took up or a highlight from the chapter.
Examples:
Gainesville
Baltimore
Atlanta
DC
Chicago
New Haven
Sacramento
Tampa St. Petes
Western Mass
Australia
New York
New Orleans
Why (or how) does CR engage in campaigns as an organizing strategy?
Why:
We believe power is materially shifted through building duel power through campaigns
Campaigns prevent and do away w/ arms/facets of the PIC
CR is a movement building org, and campaigns build movement through sustained organizing over time, versus doing one-off actions/activities
How?
By first assessing conditions, power mapping in the state and in movement
Using (creative, expansive) strategies and tactics that targets the state’s vulnerabilities
What is the relationship between CR chapters and the national organization?
Chapters are semi-autonomous, and are accountable to the principles and priorities of the organization as a whole. There are some basic organizational expectations for all CR chapters (e.g doing ongoing political organizing/campaign work; meeting basic membership expectations). However, chapters are empowered to self-determine internal practices and structures that would best support their campaigns and projects.
Name + talk about a project in CR that has prioritized former prisoners, prisoners, and or their direct family members.
Leadership, Education, Action and Dialogue (LEAD)
La Casita Project
Attica journals
Abolitionist Newspaper
Write them All
and more!
Describe a CR campaign or coalition that focused on anti-surveillance
e.g. Stop LAPD Spying Coalition
What was the Blue Mountain Retreat? What was a major decision that came out of the Blue Mountain retreat?
CR decided to become an organization with autonomous chapters that organized abolitionist campaigns locally, started to map out our organizational structure
Formed the first national body - national organizing body
Decided our organizational structure - volunteer-run, membership-led, non hierarchical organization
What is meant by principled struggle? Why is it important for us?
We engage in principled struggle to
deepen our collective understanding
To ground ourselves in our values as individuals and an organization
to build community and unity
to practice building a culture where we can move through conflict in a way that keeps us healthy and brings us closer to liberation
(Ntanya Lee, Leftroots) To practice principled struggle, we must each commit to:
❏Be honest and direct -while holding compassion.
❏Take responsibility for your own feelings and actions.
❏Seek deeper understanding (ask, read first).
❏Consider that this may/may not be the container to hold what you need to bring.
❏Side conversations should help us get better understanding, not check out. (Test: Could I bring the essence back to the group?)
How does CR relate to base-building as an organizing strategy?
We are not a traditional base-building organization that seeks to build a mass number of people as the base of the organization. However, we do use base building as a strategy in our campaigns and coalitions.
What was CR’s first campaign?
Campaign to stop the construction of Delano 2 prison...
Name a campaign CR lost. What gains did we make despite our loss?
Example: NYC - Close Rikers without building new jails
We learned to be more strategic about how identity politics show up in coalition spaces
We learned to build politicized relationships in ways that really vet people and checks for alignment and doesn't just lean into assumptions based on people's experiences
We built people power in the process
Name all 6 layers of CR's concentric circles
1. “The PIC is a set of interests” means “Who benefits from the PIC?”
2. “Empowered by these forces” means “What systems of power create and are supported by imprisonment, policing and surveillance?”
3. “That uses these tools” means “How does the PIC keep itself going?”
4. “As a response to these problems” means both the real harms we face as well as the problems people who use the PIC say it addresses
5. “That affects/targets these people” means “Who gets caught up by the PIC?”
6. “And produces these results” means “What happens when we rely on imprisonment, policing, and surveillance as solutions to social, political, and economic problems?”