Abolition Futures, presented by Infrastructural Inequalities

Media Futures Podcast

‘Abolition Futures’ is a standalone podcast episode made by Andrew Brooks, Liam Grealy, and Astrid Lorange, co-facilitators of the Infrastructural Inequalities research network. Infrastructural Inequalities examines the unjust distribution of resources, amenities, and opportunities that shape our society and asks how we might intervene in the reproduction of inequality. Together, we produce exhibitions, public programs, workshops, and edit the Infrastructural Inequalities journal. In 2021, the journal published a special issue called ‘Policing, Crisis, Abolition’, which sought to investigate how crisis, policing, and infrastructure are bound to one another: the essays and interviews collectively ask how an abolitionist approach to infrastructure might move us toward a world where the needs of all are met. Following the publication of the special issue, Infrastructural Inequalities presented a live, online public program – Resistant Media and Abolitionist Futures – co-hosted by the Media Futures Hub at UNSW in May 2021. This podcast draws from the program’s discussions, and features Tabitha Lean, Renee “Rocket” Bretherton, Debbie Kilroy, Dr Amanda Porter, and Alison Whittaker. It was edited and mixed by Andrew Brooks. Original music by Motion and Té. Writing and other resources on abolition, including by our guests, are available at Infrastructural Inequalities: https://infrastructuralinequalities.net. A transcript of the podcast can be accessed here: https://tinyurl.com/yckj8h3v Further Resources: Bird’s Eye View Podcast: https://www.birdseyeviewpodcast.net/about Rocket Bretherton, ‘If I Were You’, Australian Poetry Journal, 9:1: pp. 26–27: https://www.australianpoetry.org/australian-poetry-journal/ Tabitha Lean, ‘Why I Am An Abolitionist’, Overland, June 2021: https://overland.org.au/2021/06/why-i-am-an-abolitionist/ Tabitha Lean, ‘More Black Than Blue: A Confession’, Sydney Review of Books, June 2022: https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/review/gorrie-black-and-blue/ Debbie Kilroy, ‘Imaging Abolition: Thinking outside the prison bars’, Griffith Review 60, April 2018: https://www.griffithreview.com/articles/imagining-abolition-sisters-inside-debbie-kilroy/ Natalie Ironfield, Tabitha Lean, Alison Whittaker, Latoya Aroha Rule, Amanda Porter, ‘Abolition on Indigenous Land’, 2021 John Barry Memorial Lecture, Melbourne University, March 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peA6_WdIbtE&ab_channel=ArtsUnimelb Amanda Porter, ‘Not criminals or passive victims: media need to reframe their representation of Aboriginal deaths in custody’, The Conversation, April 2021: https://theconversation.com/not-criminals-or-passive-victims-media-need-to-reframe-their-representation-of-aboriginal-deaths-in-custody-158561 Paul Gregoire, ‘The Inherent Racism of Australian Police: An Interview With Policing Academic Amanda Porter’, Sydney Criminal Lawyers, June 2020: https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/the-inherent-racism-of-australian-police-an-interview-with-policing-academic-amanda-porter/ Alison Whittaker, ‘No news is no news: COVID-19 and the opacity of Australian prisons’, Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 33 (2021): pp. 111-119: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10345329.2020.1859964