(Re)connecting anti-racisms: Islamophobia and the politics of police/prison abolition in contemporary Britain

Abstract

In recent years, questions of policing, prisons and the wider criminal justice system have increasingly taken centre stage in discussions and practices of anti-racism in Britain. More specifically, the Black Lives Matter movement, the Covid-19 pandemic and the introduction of the Conservative government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Act have all contributed to the emergence of a nascent movement for police and prison abolition. At the same time, ongoing resistance to state-sanctioned Islamophobia – the majority of which has been driven by Muslim-led organisations and communities – has focused on the securitisation of Muslims in Britain and beyond. Yet these two key strands of anti-racist work have tended to remain politically and analytically distinct. This article seeks to develop a dialogue between the theory and practice of police/prison abolition and the issue of Islamophobia in Britain, exploring the possibilities for solidarity-building in the current moment. I consider how (1) sociological theories of race, racism and racialisation, and (2) an engagement with British histories of radical anti-racism (specifically British Black Power) offer resources for revealing key connections between the policing and imprisonment of differently racialised populations and associated forms of resistance. I then explore how a more ‘joined up’ analysis might facilitate coalition-building on the ground in the current moment, before expanding the discussion beyond Britain to consider the Palestinian struggle as a model for developing international, abolitionist solidarity attuned to the relationality of race and racisms.