An Invitation: The Abolitionist Collective
Comrades and friends,
“We are like Olive trees deeply rooted”
Nabil El-Kurd
The Abolitionist Ramadhan collective came to being during the Ramadhan of 2021, in response to the denial of care and support of incarcerated muslims within the Kenyan prison industrial complex.
During this time we transcend the barriers of capitalism and ensure a hyper-focus on community, an important precedent for the life we want to achieve within our collective liberation.
Many of our brothers and sisters are being unjustly held in cages and have no access to any justice mechanisms at many times due to the chronic toll of islamophobia and the weaponization of bail, that discriminates those who cannot afford to pay these and are therefore subjected to the punitive and violent nature of carcerality.
Some of the most important principles of Islam- before the secularist modernization and sporadic propaganda that is fueled by the war on terror — are rooted in mutual aid and community liberation, the prophet (saw) taught us the most imperative roles as Muslims are to feed the hungry, visit the sick and set free the prisoners. In this regard, we are taking an abolitionist perspective to ensure we achieve these goals.
It is important to note, abolition and community liberation transcends any form of seclusionist representation and groupings, we aim to achieve a movement that is rooted in mutual love and intentional praxis not colonial groupings.
In this regard we want to honor those who have been denied humanity due to the constraints of colonial mechanisms, harmful carcerality and outright violence. In this regard we aim to further our theory and ideologies with a praxis of jail support and abolitionist actions.
During our initial start, we had a goal of ksh.30,000, but because of your overwhelming support we raised almost three times the amount of our intended goal. Please see below for a breakdown of how we spent the funds, our current balance and how we intend to spend the balance.
EXPENSES UPDATE as of July 1st 2021
During the Ramadhan period, the food — mainly dry foods (Flourand dates — was used by the inmates to prepare their Iftar (breaking fast) and Suhoor meals and Eid rations at Industrial Area Prisons and Nairobi West Prisons.
We will use the remaining funds to cater for the welfare needs of some of the incarcerated communities from the Langata Women’s Prison, Nairobi West Prison and Industrial Area Prison, we are actively engaging on how we can also expand our reach outside the capital. We are also engaging with incarcerated folks with outstanding fines, to work on their release. We also continue working with children living and raised in proximity to the carceral system to ensure they also receive the support they deserve.
As we proceed, we hope to continue organizing from an abolitionist praxis and mobilizing support for our incarcerated folk and kin all through. Our aim is to be as inclusive of all and for this reason, we will continue as the Abolitionist Collective.
“We will blast the iron bars behind which our children lie captive, We will convert Kamiti Prison into a people’s park, into our children’s playing field.”
—Dr. Micere Mugo
Our work is rooted in a praxis of care and wake-work focusing on communities living in proximity to state violence and repression, we focus on ending incarceration through:
Post release support
This program will assist the re-integration of formerly incarcerated persons to the community by providing social and if-possible economic support to allow for formerly incarcerated kin to adjust and be able to start over again.
Fines and Bail support
Due to the technicalities of the work surrounding bail, we will start off with focusing on only fines for petty crimes, this will allow us to understand and set up structures based on victim centered support with perspectives from transformative and restorative justice mechanisms.
Welfare of incarcerated folks
This will allow us through frequent visits and cordial relations with the prison facilitators, establish relationships with the incarcerated communities and understand what options we do have to support them. We will primarily focus on basic needs, medication and education material as of now.
Through this we also intend to commit to strengthened ties by initiating letter writing and political education sessions with our incarcerated communities and kin.
Other than working with incarcerated communities, we will also support and be in solidarity with the families and victims of state-sanctioned brutality, violence and killings. We will do this through court solidarity and support, communal sittings with the victims to understand how best we can assist and community strengthening partnerships such as economic opportunities and welfare support (if possible).
“What does it look like, entail and mean to attend to, care for, comfort and defend, those already dead, those dying and those living lives consigned to the possibility of always-imminent death, life lived in the presence of death; to live this imminence and immanence as and in the “wake”?”
— Christina Sharpe
We are immensely grateful for all the support and solidarity you have shown us over the past few months and we are committed to establishing strong communal ties and initiating the futures we want to see.
You can reach us via email AbolitionistCollective0@gmail.com or on instagram @abolitionistcollective
Yours in struggle and solidarity,
The Abolitionist Collective
