fulanigirlSep 29, 2025
#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #RuthWilsonGilmore #BarbaraRansby
A few weeks ago I posted a notice about a live conversation between Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Barbara Ransby at Haymarket Books. I was waiting for the video of the talk to post so I could link it, but it’s private and requires a login so I’ll just give some highlights in this short thread. Just about everyone in the audience were experienced abolitionists, which was a refreshing change for me, fewer basic facts. 1/8
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#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #RuthWilsonGilmore #BarbaraRansby Of course Ransby, a dynamite scholar in her own right, took Gilmore through the regular set of questions such as how did she get into abolitionist theory and why she writes about it. She also asked Wilson about her life long membership in the Communist Party, and how she distinguishes the benefits of communism versus socialism. This was a discussion of political theory, not on particular state actors. 2/8
Sep 29, 2025 at 6:14pmWeb
Show threadfulanigirlSep 29, 2025
#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #RuthWilsonGilmore #BarbaraRansby Gilmore did note that for a while people had stopped asking abolitionists what to do about the rapist/murderer hypo. But she has observed that the question is being resurrected recently, she wasn’t sure why. However, she did say you cannot build an abolitionist theory around the idea of “innocence.” Her position was that either the PIC was wrong or it wasn’t and innocence was not the yard stick to measure its value. 3/8
Show threadfulanigirlSep 29, 2025
#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #RuthWilsonGilmore #BarbaraRansby She stated that the innocence issue could be tricky when dealing with activists and gave the example of a hard conversation with a DACA activist, who claimed they were innocent. Gilmore said she had to explain why that wasn’t a good argument. It was more that everyone deserved dignity and a system that builds up rather than tears down, whether innocent or not. These were tough words to hear. 4/8
Show threadfulanigirlSep 29, 2025
#Abolition #BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #RuthWilsonGilmore #BarbaraRansby One of the other points I appreciated was Gilmore stated abolition activists have to have offer solutions that are practical. She said theory by itself cannot accomplish change. I particularly appreciated this comment because it aligns with what I’ve been saying about people who vote theoretically. She pointed to 1 Million Experiments and Interrupting Criminalization as examples offering concrete practical solutions. 5/8