There is no doubt merit in exploring what abolition might look like ‘in practice’. However, to focus solely on defending abolition on pragmatic grounds is to concede that political change must be ‘realistic’ to be compelling. In addition to arguing that abolition is pragmatic, it’s also important to not lose sight of its principles—and one way to do this may involve leaning into the power of utopian speculation to shape our sense of the possible.

Abolition has risen dramatically into public consciousness in recent years, mostly thanks to the Black Lives Matter movement. The leftist critique of police as racist, colonial enforcers of state violence and property is straightforward enough—but how do we put abolition into practice within left-wing organisations?

We are systematically broken down to a six-digit number. I know because I am #177057. I am one of this country’s disposable people. And every single week I struggle to survive a system designed to kill, dehumanise and eradicate my kind. And this is why abolition is the only common-sense option for me. This is why I argue that abolition might be the only thing that breathes life back into my communities and into the lungs of my people.