
The Anti-State State w/ Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Craig Gilmore (Unlocked)
Feb 20, 2026
Ruth Wilson Gilmore, professor and long-time abolition organizer, and Craig Gilmore, prison abolition organizer and researcher, explore the concept of the "anti-state state." They discuss how the state shifts from welfare to policing provision, carceral constituencies, Medicaid reorganization, land and care-based abolition, and examples of community-led alternatives. The conversation centers on strategy, municipalism, and durable models for collective provisioning.
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Entitlement Is A Positive Frame
- Anti-state rhetoric frames entitlements as waste while enabling new management rents to siphon public funds.
- Reclaiming 'entitlement' as positive reframes social programs as rightful public goods.
Racism As Produced Vulnerability
- Racism is state-sanctioned production of group-differentiated vulnerability to premature death.
- This reframes racism as embedded in policy choices, not an aftereffect.
Stopping Prisons Through Local Coalitions
- Organizers in California combined prison abolition with environmental justice to stop new prisons and win local support.
- Tactics included multilingual outreach and exposing faulty environmental impact statements.






