I’ll be giving presentations at two conferences this month, both in Portland.
The first is the Counter-Counterinsurgency Convergence at Reed College, April 8-10. I’ll be giving a presentation with Will Munger at 9am, Saturday the 9th. I’ll be discussing the adoption and development of counterinsurgency techniques by domestic police, and Will will present a case study based on his field work in Salinas, California. For details on the conference, visit: http://countercoin.wordpress.com/convergence-schedule/
The next weekend, April 15-17, I’ll be speaking at the Law and Disorder conference at Portland State University. I’ll give a talk called “Police Accountability and Police Abolition: Dilemmas, Paradoxes, Strategies.” In the first half of the session, I will consider the sometimes thorny relationship between the police accountability perspective and the police abolition perspective, outlining the fundamental differences in their assumptions and goals, and considering the possibility for cooperation on short-term campaigns. The second half of the session will be opened up for audience discussion, and I’ll ask the participants to reflect on their own experiences in pursuing demands for accountability or organizing toward abolition. The talk is presently scheduled at 10:30 am on Saturday April 16, but check the website for any updates: http://lawandisorder.wordpress.com/about/