Backpedaling on Defund Threatens Abolition Organizing

The piece argues that AOC, Mamdani, and Ossé publicly retreating from defund-era stances risks undermining abolitionist organizing, emphasizing that abolition is a long-term strategy to reduce carceral violence rather than a feeling-based label; it cites Ruth Wilson Gilmore on crime driving prison growth and highlights how organizers have adapted messaging (e.g., Raleigh) to educate communities and maintain momentum, warning that demonizing abolitionist demands jeopardizes activists and electoral efforts.