Abolition Democracy: Beyond Empire, Prisons, and Torture

Angela Davis on Resistance, Law, and the U.S. Prison System

Revelations about U.S. policies and practices of torture and abuse have captured headlines ever since the breaking of the Abu Ghraib prison story in April 2004. Since then, a debate has raged regarding what is and what is not acceptable behavior for the world’s leading democracy. It is within this context that Angela Davis, one of America’s most remarkable political figures, gave a series of interviews to discuss resistance and law, institutional sexual coercion, politics, and prison.

Davis talks about her own incarceration, her experiences as an “enemy of the state,” and having been placed on the FBI’s “most wanted” list. She highlights the crucial role that international activism played in her case and in the cases of many other political prisoners.

Throughout these interviews, Davis critiques a democracy compromised by its racist origins and institutions. Discussing the most recent disclosures about the disavowed “chain of command” and formal reports by the Red Cross and Human Rights Watch denouncing U.S. violations of human rights and the laws of war in Guantánamo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, Davis focuses on the underpinnings of prison regimes in the United States.