To Build a Future Without Police and Prisons, We Have to Imagine It First
A strain of science fiction called visionary fiction empowers activists, artists, and organizers to seed a better future
Science fiction is still regarded as the province of space opera and high technologies run amok — but at its best, it shines a light on the problems and possibilities of our world as it is. Visionary fiction, a practice developed by Walidah Imarisha, author and editor of Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements, goes a step further, and actively asks practitioners to build better futures from the ground up. (We’re also publishing Octavia Butler’s Bloodchild, a prime example and inspiration for the form, in its entirety.) Given the rise of the police abolition movement and the fraught state of American democracy, it’s an opportune time to examine the importance — and techniques — of conceiving, constructing, and organizing better futures. At OneZero, we’re always interested in probing how such deep thinking about the future helps engender tangible change. This story by Imarisha explains why we need visionary thinking now more than ever.
I have been a prison abolitionist for almost 20 years. I have held firm to the belief that prisons, policing, and all parts of the…
