honeysgogh's review against another edition
4.5
a very insightful insight into the abolition of prison and the intersectionality of war, racism and capitalism. angela y. davis never disappoints and every book I read by her (whether it is in interviews or a complex discussion of such issues), I always come out of it learning something new.
raluca_p's review against another edition
5.0
"Democratic rights and liberties are defined in relation to what is denied to people in prison. So we might ask, what kind of democracy do we currently inhabit? The kind of democracy that can only invent and develop itself as the affirmative face of the horrors depicted in the Abu Ghraib photographs, the physical and mental agonies produced on a daily basis in prisons here and all over the world. This is a flawed conception of democracy.
I want to touch on an example that challenges conventional ideas about the separation of prison and society, one that resituates our shocked responses to the recent images of sexual coercion in Iraq. We acknowledge the fact that women in prisons all over the world are forced, on a regular basis, to undergo strip searches and cavity searches. That is to say their vaginas and rectums are searched. Any woman capable of imagining herself—not the other, but rather herself—searched in such a manner will inexorably experience it as sexual assault. But since it occurs in prison, society assumes that this kind of assault is a normal and routine aspect of women’s imprisonment and is self-justified by the mere fact of imprisonment. Society assumes that this is what happens when a woman goes to prison. That this is what happens to the citizen who is divested of her citizenship rights and that it is therefore right that the prisoner be subjected to sexual coercion.
I want to urge people to think more deeply about the very powerful and profound extent to which such practices inform the kind of democracy we inhabit today. I would like to urge people to think about different versions of democracy, future democracies, democracies grounded in socialism, democracies in which those social problems that have enabled the emergence of the prison-industrial-complex will be, if not completely solved, at least encountered and acknowledged."
I want to touch on an example that challenges conventional ideas about the separation of prison and society, one that resituates our shocked responses to the recent images of sexual coercion in Iraq. We acknowledge the fact that women in prisons all over the world are forced, on a regular basis, to undergo strip searches and cavity searches. That is to say their vaginas and rectums are searched. Any woman capable of imagining herself—not the other, but rather herself—searched in such a manner will inexorably experience it as sexual assault. But since it occurs in prison, society assumes that this kind of assault is a normal and routine aspect of women’s imprisonment and is self-justified by the mere fact of imprisonment. Society assumes that this is what happens when a woman goes to prison. That this is what happens to the citizen who is divested of her citizenship rights and that it is therefore right that the prisoner be subjected to sexual coercion.
I want to urge people to think more deeply about the very powerful and profound extent to which such practices inform the kind of democracy we inhabit today. I would like to urge people to think about different versions of democracy, future democracies, democracies grounded in socialism, democracies in which those social problems that have enabled the emergence of the prison-industrial-complex will be, if not completely solved, at least encountered and acknowledged."
rosieryel's review against another edition
informative
angela davis is so brilliant this is one of my favourites of hers she makes so many insightful points and analyses and connections really effectively and concisely and the interview format works well with the interviewer asking really intelligent points and actively responding and discussing her points
thexwalrus's review against another edition
5.0
there's not much i can add here, but i do want to note that there are perspectives on organizing, the prison-industrial complex, and fascism that i am taking away from this book. angela davis is brilliant.
dianacarmel's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Angela Davis is as brilliant a writer as she is an interviewee.
zosiablue's review against another edition
4.0
This is a series of very academic interviews with Angela Davis during the second Bush administration & a nice reminder for me that Trump didn’t invent being evil. I forgot how livid and terrified I was when Bush was elected. And I was right to be.
Anyway, this book won’t be new info for anyone familiar with Davis’s work, but it was nice to remember that:
-the systems are sick & we can’t work within them
-prisons = military = prisons and back again
-we need to think globally when we fight injustice
-mobilization is not the same as organization
-torture and police/military/prison brutality are an extension of what’s already legally acceptable in those systems
Small, irrelevant note - there were tons of typos in this, which is always weird to see! Didn’t detract, so it’s just the same out-of-time feeling you get in elementary school when a teacher accidentally curses.
Anyway, this book won’t be new info for anyone familiar with Davis’s work, but it was nice to remember that:
-the systems are sick & we can’t work within them
-prisons = military = prisons and back again
-we need to think globally when we fight injustice
-mobilization is not the same as organization
-torture and police/military/prison brutality are an extension of what’s already legally acceptable in those systems
Small, irrelevant note - there were tons of typos in this, which is always weird to see! Didn’t detract, so it’s just the same out-of-time feeling you get in elementary school when a teacher accidentally curses.
sheabutterfemme's review against another edition
5.0
Angela Davis is a goddamn genius and I do not use this word lightly.
moonyslibrarie's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced