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A review by seeceeread
Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation by Ruth Wilson Gilmore
4.75
𝗔𝗕𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗧 𝗚𝗘𝗢𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗛𝗬 : 𝗘𝘀𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗟𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 x Ruth Wilson Gilmore (2022)
💭 "Abolition is a fleshly and material presence of social life lived differently. Abolition is figuring out how to work with people to make something, rather than to erase something."
Recently, Gilmore was mistakenly credited for coining "prison industrial complex." Perhaps because she uses the term often, and passionately explains each part, as well as connections to Eisenhower's "military industrial complex." Myriad ideas (some built on others' intellectual shoulders, which she notes) to associate with this stunning thinker:
• 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: "Crisis, then, is organized abandonment's condition of existence 𝘢𝘯𝘥 its inherent vice. To persist, systematic abandonment depends on the agile durability of organized violence."
• 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗶-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲: "The purpose and outcome of the anti-state state's crisis-fueled practice is to facilitate upward transfer of wealth, income, and political power from the relatively poor and powerless to the already rich and powerful."
• 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲: "Marx: By mixing our labor with the earth, we change the external world and thereby change our own nature. That's what drama is; that's what geography is: making history, making worlds."
• 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: "The broad normalization of the belief that the key to safety is aggression."
• 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗺: "Capitalism requires inequality and racism enshrines it. [...] Racism, specifically, is the state-sanctioned or extralegal production and exploitation of group-differentiated vulnerability to premature death."
• 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 need "stretch, resonance and resilience"
Gilmore asks fantastic questions! She often answers them, as well ... but her model of mature inquiry is valuable for itself. Footnotes and callouts clarify her intellectual peers and ... whew 🔥 The author bounces between colloquial and esoteric. I often changed my pace to better process and savor the specificity.
I might have enjoyed this 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 more had I engaged the text a small group of committed co-conspirators ... but as it is, I'm a lil enamored.
💭 "Abolition is a fleshly and material presence of social life lived differently. Abolition is figuring out how to work with people to make something, rather than to erase something."
Recently, Gilmore was mistakenly credited for coining "prison industrial complex." Perhaps because she uses the term often, and passionately explains each part, as well as connections to Eisenhower's "military industrial complex." Myriad ideas (some built on others' intellectual shoulders, which she notes) to associate with this stunning thinker:
• 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: "Crisis, then, is organized abandonment's condition of existence 𝘢𝘯𝘥 its inherent vice. To persist, systematic abandonment depends on the agile durability of organized violence."
• 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗶-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲: "The purpose and outcome of the anti-state state's crisis-fueled practice is to facilitate upward transfer of wealth, income, and political power from the relatively poor and powerless to the already rich and powerful."
• 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲: "Marx: By mixing our labor with the earth, we change the external world and thereby change our own nature. That's what drama is; that's what geography is: making history, making worlds."
• 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: "The broad normalization of the belief that the key to safety is aggression."
• 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗺: "Capitalism requires inequality and racism enshrines it. [...] Racism, specifically, is the state-sanctioned or extralegal production and exploitation of group-differentiated vulnerability to premature death."
• 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 need "stretch, resonance and resilience"
Gilmore asks fantastic questions! She often answers them, as well ... but her model of mature inquiry is valuable for itself. Footnotes and callouts clarify her intellectual peers and ... whew 🔥 The author bounces between colloquial and esoteric. I often changed my pace to better process and savor the specificity.
I might have enjoyed this 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 more had I engaged the text a small group of committed co-conspirators ... but as it is, I'm a lil enamored.