About the Readers

Amelia S: I have spent many years vacillating between states of fury and states of futility when faced with the stories of injustice and abuse I encounter every day. At this point in my life I am beginning to acknowledge and focus on healing as a part of resisting domination.  I believe that storytelling is an integral part of this process as well as a powerful tool for overcoming oppression. I am excited about this project—these words of strength will resonate and rupture more eardrums than any kind of sound cannon! 

Fray: while participating in this project, i am glad to symbolically be called fray, because i want to be a part of this ongoing struggle against the state and its institutions! may we raze the prison industrial complex! i live in kingston and am part of an abolitionist group here, as well as other a few other anarchist projects. i'm a white, middle-class, hetero woman struggling with mental health. mainly i hope to contribute editing skills and support, while never taking a lead role. i'm excited for this anthology, the strength of words and sharing stories and ideas, and the moments of understanding and clarity.

Jerry Bomb: I’m a queer trans man, who’s still sometimes an old-school butch, sometimes a "starving artist", and sometimes just another perpetually broke, white, anarchopunk dude who failed high school after being kicked out of his parent’s place. As both a survivor of sexual assault and an anarchist, I think developing community capacity to handle our shit and take care of each other in ways that don’t rely on those who use people’s needs, and fears, as a way to gain and enforce power over them - and to justify violence committed in the name of "safety" or "order" - is an essential part of fighting for our freedom.  As such, I have been involved (both inside and outside of self-described anarchist-communities) in support work with fellow survivors, and accountability processes with perpetrators as the need arises, as well as campaigning for police and prison abolition for a number of years now.

Grace Richards: I don't have any qualifications.  And I've never championed of any of the causes.  I've never tried to be an educator, or even an important member of a community.  I'm just a regular Joe.  But I am very hopeful that there will be proper channels for the abused and the abusers.  My Stats?  Mid twenties, woman, 9-5'er, mixed heritage, and I live alone with a cat.

Kay Aitch: When I started dreaming about this project, it came from wanting a resource for myself as a survivor and abolitionist who felt erased, a self-education strategy for abolitionists in my life who would ask me “what about rape?”, and a gentle tool for other survivors in my life who supported the police and prisons. I enter this project having lived through child abuse, rape, police violence, and domestic violence. I am a genderqueer living in chronic pain, and raised on social assistance. I learned to cope by hiding in books and ended up with too much education. I have lived as a settler on stolen land, and my experiences of living as an immigrant are filtered through white/Anglophone privileges. Ever since I was pepper sprayed two years ago, my eyes still burn when I cry. This reminds me that my rage and hope are not at odds with each other.

Pestle: I'm a queer sexual assault survivor and former sex worker. I've spent the past 8 years traveling through the punk/squatter communities and doing a lot of poorly-organized anti-authoritarian activism. Much of this involved figuring out my community's shit without the aid of cops, even as our community members were being deported or locked in hospitals/jails. I'm currently studying to be a midwife. I spend my time trying to understand my history of (and inner tendencies towards) aggression, and trying to channel them into building a world of gender equality and bodily autonomy. Here's hoping.

Rose Þ: I am a female 56-year-old white bisexual survivor of childhood incest, rape, and partner-assault. I never laid charges or reported any of the sexual assaults. I have suffered from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism for most of my life. I never finished University and was considered unemployable due to my mental illness for decades. I have spent the last 20 years trying to make some sense of all this and to recover. I have been sober for 16 years and now am back in the workforce crawling out of years of poverty both in and out of the social welfare system in Canada. I still struggle with depression and with my dependence on psychotropic medications to keep me from falling into the pit. I do not date. I do not have sex. I have raised two children (mostly on my own) and love them fiercely.

Usman: I am the child of undocumented migrant laborers and the survivor of domestic abuse. Both of these facts have shaped much of my life. I've spent the past few years moving into "documentation" within the Canadian state slowly dealing with having lived as an undocumented migrant. However, my journey into dealing with what being a "survivor" of domestic abuse is very much in its starting state. I'm looking forward to reading and having conversations with fellow survivors.

Yochana: My interest in this project stems from the ways in which I have witnessed both sexual assault work and prison abolition work become particularly salient in my communities post G20. As a white queer femme who has more experience in sexual assault work, and in the often invisible support work in these movements, I’m eager to deepen my understanding about the ways in which these intersect with prison abolition work and how this can strengthen our collective resistance to trauma and oppression. I feel honored to be a part of this project and look forward to engaging in these dialogues.