#### : Beyond Prison, Torture and Empire `Author:`[[Angela Davis]] `Availability:` > [!info] > ![[IMG_Abolition Democracy.jpeg]] https://www.pagesofhackney.co.uk/webshop/product/abolition-[[democracy]]-open-media-series-beyond-empire-prisons-and-torture-angela-y-davis/ ## Key Takeaways ## Summary Building from the context of the Abu Ghraib scandal and the subsequent revelations about U.S. policies of torture and abuse, Angela Davis's Abolition [[Democracy]] uses these events as a critical lens to analyze the foundational cracks in American [[Society]]. Davis, speaking from her unique authority as a former FBI "most wanted" fugitive and someone who experienced incarceration firsthand, argues that the torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay is not an anomaly but a logical extension of the [[violence]] embedded within domestic institutions, particularly the [[Prison]]-industrial complex. She directly connects these international practices of state-sanctioned abuse to the institutional sexual coercion and [[Control]] inherent in the U.S. penal system. For Davis, this is all evidence of a compromised democracy, one still haunted by its racist origins in [[Slavery]]. She develops the concept of "abolition democracy" (a term borrowed from [[W.E.B. Du Bois]]), arguing that true resistance and justice require more than just dismantling oppressive systems like prisons or ending imperial torture. It necessitates the positive creation of new democratic institutions—such as robust education, healthcare, and housing—that address root causes of harm and finally overcome the historical legacy of a democracy built on exclusion. In essence, Davis uses the post-9/11 moment to reveal that the violence of [[Empires]] abroad and the violence of the carceral state at home are interconnected, both stemming from the same flawed and exclusionary political foundation. ## Quotes - ## Notes `Concepts:` `Knowledge Base:`