Gayatri Spivak's Wrote Essay "Abolition/Annihilation for Abolition Democracy

June 09, 2021

There is no future for abolition if all sectors of society do not wish to abolish injustice.  How can this be brought about?  By way of a sustained humanities-style old-fashioned teaching program from kindergarten to the post-tertiary, so that this wish is internalized.  In other words, curricula and teacher training must be thoroughly changed worldwide.  This is the deep background of abolition.  Otherwise, abolition can mean working to have the laws changed to abolish inequality in income, in access to health, education, and welfare.  This is also an excellent goal.  But, even if the laws were entirely changed to our satisfaction, there is no certainty that having those rights of the underclasses restored means we produce a society where all classes want to bear responsibilities and demands that secure the rights of others.  This complex attitude, if it is to be taken as common sense, depends on education that begins with child-rearing.  Therefore, the first thing that we think about when we think about the future of abolition is not only the content of abolition, but also ask: how can abolition have a pretty good long-term indefinite future?  And that, to repeat, is to focus on both content and on sustaining a particular quality of education.

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