Building Your Abolitionist Toolbox — Abolitionist Bystander Intervention

A session facilitated by JJ Skolnik & Mariame Kaba

Bystander intervention and de-escalation can be an abolitionist practice for dealing with harm or potential harm in your community without involving the police. Have you ever been on the train when someone starts yelling and intimidating the other riders? Have you been at a party and observed someone trying to take advantage of someone who’s intoxicated? Have you seen cops harassing someone living on the street? These are just a few of the situations in which you might want to intervene to prevent further harm from being caused.

It may seem scary at first, but with a few different strategies in your pocket — which we’ll go over in this zine — you might feel more equipped to approach a variety of situations. The more you practice, the easier it will become.

Join JJ and Mariame as we introduce our new pocket zine for a mini-training that is good for any abolitionist and particularly geared towards youth.