Covid-19, Decarceration, and Abolition (Part 1)

How can we achieve urgently needed decarceration for the millions of people caged in jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers?

Part 1: https://ift.tt/2Y2TqNh
Part 2: https://ift.tt/2Xyy6Qy
Part 3: https://ift.tt/370l6Xe

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How should abolitionists respond to the coronavirus pandemic?

How can we achieve urgently needed decarceration for the millions of people caged in jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers?

Abolitionism doesn’t just say no to police, prisons, border control, and the current punishment system. It requires persistent organizing for what we need, organizing that’s already present in the efforts people cobble together to achieve access to schools, health care and housing, art and meaningful work, and freedom from violence and want.

Ruth Wilson Gilmore is Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Director of the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at CUNY Graduate Center. A co-founder of California Prison Moratorium Project and Critical Resistance, she is author of the prize-winning book Golden Gulag: Prison, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California. Her forthcoming Haymarket Books title, Change Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition, is the inaugural book in the new Abolitionist Papers book series, edited by Naomi Murakawa.

Naomi Murakawa is an associate professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. She studies the reproduction of racial inequality in 20th and 21st century American politics, with specialization in crime policy and the carceral state. She is the author of The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America.

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ENDORSEMENT: Mark Jones for District Attorney

Full disclosure: I state the following in my own personal capacity.

This mail ballot was the first time in my life I have ever voted on paper, and I voted for Mark Jones for District Attorney.

However that I may have felt about his unorthodox campaign style for DA was obliterated by the developments of the last month. After seeing his dedication to his campaign and to those who he hopes to have as his constituents, as well as the attacks made against him by the law enforcement establishment in this region, I could not be more proud of voting for him.

I also could not be more proud of supporting his move into this campaign from the get-go. He reached out to me in late February after I made a post about the need for more primary contests in the upcoming qualifying week, and asked if there was room for him to run against Julia Slater for DA. He hesitated for a few weeks, and then I reached back to him and said that he – a lawyer, a resident of the circuit, a reform-minded person – is more than qualified to run as a Democrat, and that I wanted a good, clean primary contest to draw attention to this position and it’s role in corrections reform. The following week, he did not hesitate to jump in, drive to Atlanta to qualify, and loan himself money to buy signs and digital billboards, all before buying a website domain. He has been campaigning non-stop ever since, and being charged and staying for two nights at Muscogee County Jail has not stopped him one bit. Two of his supporters being arrested, charged and jailed has not stopped him fighting to get them released and their charges dropped.

I am angry at the behavior of the law enforcement establishment in this region against Mark, his supporters and BlackLivesMatter protesters in Columbus. I am angry that the jail is filled to such capacity as it is. I am angry that the police here are no better than the other police departments who should be defunded. I am angry at civil asset forfeiture, cannabis criminalization, cash bail and other stupidities committed by the laws and law enforcement establishment of this city and this state. Damn this authoritarian system, and damn this state and this city for perpetuating it.

Out of all of the votes I filled out on paper, I may have cast my first vote for Mark Jones for District Attorney.

WATCH LIVE: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announces removal of Robert E. Lee confederate statue

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Bach-Vivaldi/Concerto for 4 Pianos/MultiPiano Ensemble

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“MultiPiano” Ensemble: Tomer Lev, Berenika Glixman, Daniel Borovitzky, Raviv Leibzirer
Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble / Barak Tal – Conductor
Live / Israel Conservatory Hall, Tel Aviv / October 2013

ABOUT “MULTIPIANO”:

“MultiPiano” is a unique keyboard project, presenting four of Israel’s virtuoso pianists in a celebration of pianos in ever-changing combinations – from one to four pianos, from 4 to 8 hands, with or without orchestra. The ensemble’s repertoire ranges from fully-fledged original masterworks to dazzling virtuoso arrangements.

Now in its fourth year, the ensemble has already performed on four continents, from Beijing Concert Hall to Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon, from New-York’s Merkin Hall to London’s Henri Wood Hall, collaborating with such institutions as the English Chamber Orchestra, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Buenos Aires Mozarteum Argentino and Conciertos Grapa, the Philharmonic Society of Lima, the music festivals of Taipei, Huallien, Ottawa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, as well as on television and radio networks from Asia to South America.

The MultiPiano project was launched in the 2010-11 season under the umbrella of the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music – a joint institution of Tel Aviv University and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Featuring three of Israel`s most radiant young pianists and their mentor, Tomer Lev – one of the country’s most prominent musicians – the MultiPiano project attracted much international attention immediately upon its inauguration. In 2011 the group successfully toured the Far East, with performances in Beijing, Taipei, Kaohshiung and Tainan, including a Gala opening of the Kuandu Festival in Taiwan in cooperation with the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

In summer 2012 the group was presented throughout Latin America’s foremost concert halls in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Peru, including Teatro Colon and the Gran Rex (Buenos Aires), Teatro Del Sodre (Montevideo) and a live broadcast performance in Radio Nacional of Argentina, televised by PBS (TV Publica). Additional presentations included performances for the respected Mozarteum Argentino concert agency, The Philharmonic Society of Lima (opening concert of the Jubilee Festival), Sao Paulo Friends of Tel Aviv University, and concerts in Rosario and Cordoba.
Shortly thereafter the group performed for the second time in the Far East (Taipei and Hualien International Music Festival).

In spring of 2013 MultiPiano was presented at the Felicja Blumental Music Festival in Tel Aviv and the Israel Festival in Jerusalem, including solo performances with the Israel Chamber Orchestra (Bach-Vivaldi concerto for 4 pianos) and live broadcasts for Israel Radio (IBA). The Tel Aviv Soloists, Haifa Symphony and the Israel Netanya Kibbutz orchestras hosted MultiPiano for performances of Bach, Mozart, Poulenc and Levanon concerti for 2, 3 and 4 pianos. In addition, the ensemble had its third tour to the Far East (Beijing Concert Hall, Tienjin Grand Theatre, Chengdu Music Hall ).

In fall 2013 MultiPiano was presented in two North American tours, including performances at Merkin Hall in New York City, as well as in Montreal, Ottawa, and Chicago. The New York Times described their performance as “a celebration of Multi-hands and Multi-keyboards”.

In Spring 2014 the ensemble toured South America for the second time, as soloists with the Israel Netanya Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra, with concerts in Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Lima and Bogota.
In Fall 2014 MultiPiano collaborated with the English Chamber Orchestra in a recording of Mozart Concertos for two and three pianos, as well as in a world premiere recording of Mozart’s “Larghetto and Allegro” – a 1781 fragment left unfinished and completed and orchestrated by Tomer Lev for two pianos and orchestra.

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Biden addresses nationwide Floyd protests

Former vice president Joe Biden emphasized that the protests, coupled with the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on minority communities, highlight the need to address injustices. READ MORE: https://abcn.ws/371gdxa

Following a week of nationwide unrest and protests following the death of George Floyd, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and former vice president Joe Biden delivered an emotional speech Tuesday morning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, condemning President Donald Trump, and addressing what he describes as a “wake-up call” for a country upended by racial upheaval.

“‘I can’t breathe.’ ‘I can’t breathe.’ George Floyd’s last words. But they didn’t die with him. They’re still being heard. They’re echoing across this nation,” Biden said.

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Trumpist Hypocrisy

Trump supporters absolutely love to blame Obama for somehow “increasing division and racism”, or hanging his response to Trayvon and Ferguson and Alton Sterling and Eric Garner around his neck.

Does this presidential responsibility extend to Trump over the deaths of George Floyd? Oh no, that’s a blue state. How about Breonna Taylor in Kentucky? Oh no, they may have a Republican supermajority but they also have a Democratic governor. How about Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, with no Democrats in state power? Well, that was just Ahmaud’s fault, can’t blame a government for that.

But what can you expect in responsibility from the same rubes who believe that voting-by-mail and wearing a mask in public are unmanly and fraudulent?

What can you expect in good faith from those who believe that everyone is out to take their property and historical dominance away?

What can you expect from them except nonsense? Disinfo? Lies? Infections? Hatred? Authoritarianism? Gaslighting? Entitlement? Shibboleths? Anti-urbanism? Half-baked plots for civil war? Fully-baked plots to further disenfranchise Americans?

Same old shit, same old excuses, same as it ever was.

Talking Heads was right.