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A woman in protective clothing kneels down and searches for explosive ordnance

1 May 2022 4 minute read

Feel the fear and carry on

In Iraq a growing number of women are now doing the dangerous work of removing landmines – previously a male preserve....

Protesters march with a banner that reads: 'Disarm, defund, abolish' in red capital letters

28 Apr 2022 3 minute read

10 steps towards prison abolition

A world without incarceration and police may seem a long way off, but there are plenty of things we can change on the way....

Shut out – Too many children are young people are being discarded by England’s education system.IEVGEN CHABANOV/ALAMY

27 Apr 2022 8 minute read

Abandoned: Abolition in education

England’s schools funnel its most marginalized young people towards the criminal justice system, writes Zahra Bei...

26 Apr 2022 6 minute read

Feminists challenge inaction at UN summit

Conservative anti-rights groups, and the failure of rich nations to take responsibility for climate change, threatened to...

Jessie jokes with his dad. Jessie wrote to Briarpatch: ‘Growing up, my dad was in prison. When I got a life sentence, he changed his life and stayed out and has been my support. This picture is me mimicking my nieces, who pull on his beard – it’s something I never got to do as a kid...’ JESSIE MILO

25 Apr 2022 5 minute read

Healed people heal people

Writing from a Californian prison, Jessie Milo sets out his vision for a more caring society.

Through Abraço Campeão, Alan Duarte works with young people to see a future amid the pressure of constant violence and police raids. JOSIANE SANTANA

25 Apr 2022 7 minute read

So, what’s the alternative?

Community-based initiatives are helping keep people safe where the police fail. Lucilla Harrell and...

13 Apr 2022 6 minute read

Resisting the cop in our heads

Abolition can be an everyday practice. Sarah Lamble explores how.

Riot police hit protesters participating in a demonstration against lawmakers’ salary demands outside the parliament buildings in Nairobi in May 2013. THOMAS MUKOYA/REUTERS/ ALAMY

12 Apr 2022 6 minute read

Colonize and punish

Mass imprisonment and merciless policing were the preferred tools of control for European colonizers. Patrick...

Making friends at the Bomana Prison, in Port Moresby City, Papua New Guinea in December 2017.

5 Apr 2022 13 minute read

Beyond punishment

Amy Hall explores the movement calling time on prisons and the police while offering an alternative vision...

27 Mar 2022 7 minute read

A child’s right to be forgotten

Roxana Olivera tells a cautionary tale of her dogged attempts to get an abusive, intrusive photograph –...

Men stand with a banner that reads ' Save our seafarers' and union flags

25 Mar 2022 5 minute read

Scottish ship workers stand defiant

A recent wave of mass redundancies from P&O ferries has triggered outrage. Conrad Landin reports from...

Refugees from Ukraine arrive at the central station, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Berlin, Germany, March 14, 2022. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

21 Mar 2022 5 minute read

This article is more than one year old.

Must we ration compassion?

Europe’s response to accommodate people fleeing Ukraine illustrates how sanctuary for all refugees is possible. Jun...

28 Feb 2022 6 minute read

This article is more than one year old.

Trapped in the state-corporate nexus

Villagers in the Indian state of Odisha are fighting a major steel plant development, in the face of intense repression –...

14 Feb 2023 4 minute read

The interview: Muhanned Qafesha

Human rights activist Muhanned Qafesha talks about the life-and-death battle to defend Palestine from illegal demolitions and...

Women stand in a row holding hands in the air

28 Dec 2021 3 minute read

This article is more than one year old.

Taking on the torch-bearers of patriarchy

A growing number of women are going against the stream in India, writes Nilanjana Bhowmick.

Launched in May 2020, the worker-members of ChiFresh Kitchen have been busy throughout the Covid-19 pandemic cooking up healthy, culturally appropriate food for their Chicago community. As well as providing emergency food aid, the co-op – which employs formerly incarcerated people – is also contracted to provide food for schools and social centres and makes several hundred meals a day. Credit: KAI BROWN

13 Dec 2021 6 minute read

This article is more than one year old.

The democratic workplace

In co-operatives, employees can take control of the business. Amy Hall explores the possibilities and...

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