Abolition, Destruction, Decolonization

ABSTRACT: Abolition names more than a specific political demand or social movement discourse; it also names a distinctive orientation to politics. Abolition aims at an immediate and absolute end to domination; at the same time, it conjures new forms of life that are free from domination. In these ways, abolition often has theological resonances. This essay first explicates the discourse of contemporary abolitionists, locating it in a particular historical moment, the long 2010s. It theorizes abolition as committed to destruction, and it distinguishes destruction from its alternatives, such as transformation. The essay stages a dialogue between movements for abolition and movements for decolonization.