Critical Resistance

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Critical Resistance is a national, member-based grassroots organization that works to build a mass movement to dismantle the '"prison-industrial complex"'. Critical Resistance has three offices (Oakland, New Orleans, and New York City), and nine chapters across the United States.

Critical Resistance was founded by Angela Davis, Rose Braz, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and many others. The organization is primarily volunteer member-based, with only five staff members: Rose Braz, Kai Lumumba Barrow, Robert "Kool Black" Horton, Ari Wohlfeiler, and Pilar Maschi, with three part-time staff members for the LA, Oakland and New Orleans chapters.

Critical Resistance popularized the idea of the prison industrial complex after their first conference in 1998, which drew thousands of former prisoners, family members, activists, academics and community members, and by many accounts re-invigorated anti-prison activism in the United States.

Excerpt from the Critical Resistance website [1]:

"Critical Resistance works to build an international movement to end the Prison Industrial Complex by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe."

1 Mission
2 Achievements
3 Slogans
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Mission

Critical Resistance's mission statement is:

"Critical Resistance seeks to build an international movement to end the Prison Industrial Complex by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe.

We believe that basic necessities such as food, shelter, and freedom are what really make our communities secure. As such, our work is part of global struggles against inequality and powerlessness. The success of the movement requires that it reflect communities most affected

by the PIC. Because we seek to abolish the PIC, we cannot support any work that extends its life or scope."

[edit] Achievements

1998 "Critical Resistance to the Prison Industrial Complex" conference in Berkeley, California
2001 Conference in New York City
2003 Southern Regional Conference in Treme, New Orleans
2005 Helped bring about the end of California's prison building boom; featured in Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, and others. Launched amnesty campaign for people accused of looting post-Katrina. Campaigns across country.