Resources

Decades of organizing to end the prison industrial complex has prepared Critical Resistance and movements for liberation to respond to the COVID-19 emergency with a focus on putting people’s immediate well-being first, tapping into communities’ knowledges about how to build structures for support and mutual aid, and moving forward with a vision for long-term building. This platform is an offering to our movements, and we hope that it will inspire communities to continue articulating and using abolition as a powerful strategy in a time of uncertainty, hope, and solidarity.

This article argues that, in the face of worsening conditions from climate change, enhanced border enforcement, a growing wealth gap, housing crises, and policing, social movements should focus on expanding mutual aid strategies. Mutual aid projects directly address survival needs, mobilize large numbers of people to participate in movements actively rather than solely participating online or through voting, and offer spaces to practice new social relations. The article looks at examples from efforts for migrant justice, police and prison abolition, disaster relief, and other contemporary struggles and discusses potential pitfalls of mutual aid strategies, such as supplementing and therefore stabilizing existing systems of maldistribution and adopting principles and practices from the charity frameworks that proliferate in capitalism.

A policy proposal letter co-signed by a variety of organizations that provides recommendations to Los Angeles county law enforcement on how to handle the COVID-19 crisis.

This interview with Bilphena Yahwon, abolitionist and restorative practices specialist, provides a primer on what police abolition means, as well as links to further resources to begin exploring alternatives to relying on police within your community.

Every community in the US will be affected by COVID-19 – but the impacts will not be the same in each. This index identifies which communities may need the most support as coronavirus takes hold. Mapped to US census tract, county, and state levels, the CCVI helps inform COVID-19 planning and mitigation at a granular level.

This is a database of population information for US jails and prisons, as well as reported cases of COVID-19 within them. All data is gathered automatically and updated daily, or as soon as it is updated, for reports that are released with less frequency.

A collection of resources around COVID-19, mutual aid, demands, food access, self-care, housing & rent support, and more.

This is a living document from the Freedom Community Clinic on mass resources in the Bay Area during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are community members who hope to bring love and health during this time.

COVID-19 has created new conditions for police violence against low-income communities of color that will impact those who are most vulnerable to criminalization and/or infection the most. That’s why JC is calling on NYers to CopWatch while practicing social distancing.