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This is a transcription of a live fundraiser event for Black liberation organised and hosted by Silver Press on 9 June 2020 ‘Revolution is not a one-time event’ will return as a month-long programme in August, organised by Che Gossett, Lola Olufemi and Sarah Shin     Akwugo Emejulu It’s incredibly exciting to be here, and it’s an honour to be chairing this panel with this amazing group of scholars and activists My name is Akwugo Emejulu, and I’m a professor of sociology at the University of Warwick Before I introduce the panel, I just want to give you a little bit of background as to why we’re here and what we’re hoping to achieve for this event As many of you know, this is the day of George Floyd’s funeral in Houston, Texas In fact, I think it’s actually happening right now So I would like to dedicate this session to George Floyd, to Breonna Taylor, to Atatiana Jefferson, to Sarah Reed, to Sheku Bayoh, to Adama Traore, and all the other countless victims of police violence I think it’s important that we start with that, and say their names    And so before I hand over to this amazing panel, I just want to say a couple of things about my hopes for this discussion I hope that we can be brave, that we can be courageous, that we allow ourselves to think expansively about this idea of abolition, and what freedom looks like, and what care and caretaking and care work looks like I hope that we allow ourselves to have our imaginations run wild, and that we really engage in this speculative dialogue about what a future would look like without police and prisons This is a really amazing opportunity to do this And abolition feminism gives us the framework, the tools and the opportunity for us to desire more and better for ourselves But I think what’s also important to understand — and that’s why we have this great range of both thinkers and activists here — is that while I hope that we are