Public Panel
The Transmission Line:
Empire & Abolition

In the UK and globally, abolitionists struggle under the long shadow of empire. This panel will explore the role of the British Empire in the development of carceral state apparatus, and how this specific colonial history (and present) relates to abolition work today.

How do we understand calls to defund the police, abolish prisons, or end anti-migrant enforcement in the context of the British Empire? How do calls to reinvest public funding in Britain into generative, life-giving alternatives to policing sit alongside the violent extraction of that wealth historically? How is the legacy of Empire enforced today, and what strategies do we have available to resist this?

Speaking on this panel will be Nadine El-Enany, author of (B)ordering Britain: Law, Race and Empire; Kojo Koram, editor of The War on Drugs and the Global Colour Line; Becka Hudson, researcher exploring mental health diagnosis within the UK prison system; Gracie Mae Bradley, writer on critical human rights, state racism, surveillance and abolition; and Stella Dadzie, teacher, writer, artist and education activist, co-author of The Heart of the Race: Black Women’s lives in Britain and founding member of OWAAD (Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent).

We are offering 50% off Stella Dadzie’s new book A Kick in the Belly: Women, Slavery and Resistance to all guests. We’ll send you a link to activate the discount once you register.