This recording documents an event that was hosted by Communities of Resistance (CoRe) on Wednesday 4 May 2011 in London, UK. It is a rich conversation between six representatives from six diverse activist organisations, all of which focus on resisting, challeng

ing, and ending the criminalisation of the communities they represent. The event aimed to highlight the groups’ common experiences of criminalisation in order to consider how new alliances might be made across seemingly disparate issues and agendas. For example, how might issues facing urban sex workers resonate (or not) with those experienced by detainees in immigration detention centres? The resulting conversation acutely demonstrates the similarities and differences between the groups’ organisational strategies, as well as what potential there is to build alliances against criminalisation. It is an excellent resource for anyone thinking about social movements, activist strategies, policing, prisons, cross-community organising, and alternative conceptions of justice.

Participants:

Sarah Walker, English Collective of Prostitutes

Cilius Victor, Newham Monitoring Project

Asim Qureshi, Cageprisoners

Sam Lamble, Bent Bars Project

Gloria Morrison, Joint Enterprise – Not Guilty by Association

Emma Gin, Medical Justice

Moderator:

Aviva Stahl, Communities of Resistance

About the event:

For many communities in the UK, surveillance, police brutality, and attacks on civil liberties are daily occurrences. We are overrepresented behind bars – criminalized on the basis of our immigration status, religion, occupation, race, and class. What common challenges do our communities face in the struggle for justice? How can we support each other in countering criminalisation?

About Communities of Resistance (CoRe):

Communities of Resistance (CoRe) is a grassroots initiative that aims to stop prison expansion in Britain. We oppose building new prisons, because prisons do not make our communities safe. Our long-term aim is to build a vibrant and broad-based movement to end the violence of incarceration. We support and believe in developing effective, community-based solutions to social problems that do not rely on models of imprisonment.

For more information visit our website at www.co-re.org.