Reflections on the CR10 Conference

Article by Rachel Herzing

Bringing together former prisoners and detainees, survivors of police violence, survivors of family and interpersonal violence, families, neighbors, youth and elders, educators, and organizers from around the world, the CR10 conference was organized around the abolitionist themes: dismantle-change-build. Working from these themes, we asked participants to spend the weekend imagining and developing strategy for a world free of the prison industrial complex (PIC). 

The conference included over 170 sessions. Session topics included introductions to PIC and PIC abolition, solitary confinement and torture, innovative community-based responses to policing and interpersonal violence, organizing in post-Katrina New Orleans, the connections between the anti-PIC movement and immigrant rights movement, and political prisoners, just to name a few. Presenters reflected the breadth of our movement and included both prisoners and people living outside prisons, people new to the movement, as well as experienced organizers and people representing a wide range of communities.

The conference also featured a weekend-long film series, including discussions with filmmakers, comprehensive children’s programming, a health center and wellness series, an art show, a performance series, and dynamic opening and closing sessions that incorporated a range of voices from inside and outside prison walls. We also prepared free meals each day for all participants as well as people from the neighborhood. We provided free, accessible shuttles for people needing help getting around and an all-ages party with interactive art projects and live music.

“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.”

Putting the idea of PIC abolition at the center of the weekend-long event provided openings to look at connections between different sectors of the movement against the PIC: to debate about goals, strategies, and tactics; to imagine ways to represent ideas and communicate through a variety of art forms; and to consider the viability of an abolitionist approach during this historical period. Because of the wide range of sessions, participants were able to think about the dismantle-change-build themes across geography, sectors of the movement, and political approaches. Many people also participated in regional caucuses, during which they shared their work and made new connections to take home.

Taking our 10th anniversary as a moment to reflect on losses, victories, and the shifting nature of the PIC, Critical Resistance has also made organizational and movement assessment central to organizing the CR10 project. In addition to the wide range of sessions addressing important historical issues, during the conference weekend participants were also encouraged to view a large banner with a timeline featuring just some of many important moments in our movement during the last ten years. 

In the days before the conference began two important meetings were also held in collaboration with CR10: a national gathering of Incite!: Women of Color against Violence and an historic meeting of First Nations anti-PIC organizers from across the country. Since September, communities across the country, including Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, have already held report backs and community follow-up events to share information and ideas with people who could not physically attend the conference, as well as to push forward the momentum built during the weekend. Even more report backs are still being planned and held. Conference participants have also been sharing their experiences and staying in touch by writing pieces like this one, airing video and audio recordings, and using the CR10 blog to communicate via the internet. 

Because of the limitations of a conference format, the activities leading up to and out of this kind of event are really crucial. We’re excited to see a commitment to continuing this work rather than letting the conference be an end point.

While the success of the CR10 conference is a major achievement for its participants and planners, it marks a middle point for the larger CR10 project. The conference reflects nearly two years of organizing and planning to create an environment in which we can continue conversations about strategy and ideology begun in other venues, as well as spark new conversations to carry the work forward. The conference also marks the beginning of Critical Resistance’s 10th anniversary year and the opportunities to turn the ideas generated during the lead up to the conference and the conference itself into action and practice.

Thanks to the hundreds of people who helped make the CR10 conference an amazing experience for so many people. We leave the project energized, inspired, and ready to continue fighting.

If you’re interested in learning more about the conference or about getting some of the materials produced for the conference (copies of the conference program book, a report released by the Justice Policy Institute in conjunction with CR10, or Abolition Now! a book edited by the CR10 publications collective), please be in touch with us at the address below. If you have ideas about things for Critical Resistance to consider during this year of 10th anniversary celebrations, please send those along, too, to:

Critical Resistance
Attn: CR10
1904 Franklin St. Suite 504
Oakland, CA 94612

Rachel Herzing is an organizer for Critical Resistance and a lead organizer for CR10.

This article is reprinted with permission from The Abolitionist.

Editor’s Note - PSJ & CR10

PSJ was well represented at CR10. Prison Program Director Caylor Roling, Beyond Barriers Director Patty Katz, and former Crime Survivors for Community Safety Director Terrie Quinteros made presentations and participated in workshops. Caylor reconnected with many of the organizations from the Stopmax Conference and moderated Strategies for Confronting Solitary Confinement, a panel that included representatives from Tamms Year 10, California Prison Focus, Arizona AFSC and others. She also worked with Terrie on the presentation Next in the Movement: Building the Voice of Progressive Crime Survivors. Patty discussed PSJ’s Think Outside the Box campaign as part of a panel discussion with All of Us or None and the National Employment Law Project called Ban the Box in Your Community.

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2008 Edition of Justice Matters.