We are sharing this statement in solidarity with Tottenham Copwatch. In it they present a change for good in the trajectory of Copwatch Network affiliated projects in that they’re drawing a line in the sand to separate themselves from Career Activists and the “Abolitionist” NGOs who work with the police. Alongside this post on instagram Tottenham Copwatch wrote:
“We are a community abolitionist group aiming to build local power and honour the history of abolitionist organising and resistance in Tottenham. We welcome all community members and there is no requirement to be an abolitionist, just a willingness to learn together.
However, we do not allow career ‘activists’ who want to further their own professional interests into our community spaces. We also do not collaborate with reformists who collaborate with the police. One example of this is the reformist non-profit @stopwatch_uk [https://linktr.ee/stopwatchuk] who aim to ‘hold the police to account’ by working with them.
As a network we should organise around community and collective safety, ensuring our spaces remain conscious and ones of resistance.
We keep each other safe.”
Tottenham Copwatch – Statement On Our Values And Organising Principles
Who – Who are we?
Tottenham has a long history of local resistance against police and state violence by Black, racialised, migrant and working class people. We are a group of community members who aim to contribute to this power building, and honor the abolitionist organising and resistance that has come before us.
People – What is our positionality?
We all have different experiences of police violence. Some of us are Black, brown, Gypsy/Roma/Traveller, LGBTQI+, working class, poor, part of religious communities, migrants, undocumented, houseless, refugees, trans, women, and/or disabled.
Beliefs – what are our core principles?
We know that the police cannot be reformed. We want to completely defund and abolish all forms of policing, systems of control, and punishment.
The British state and its tools of control – police, prisons, borders, etc. Come from a long history of colonisation, dehumanisation and violent resource stealing all over the world.
We believe in coming together to dismantle these structures and support each other here in the belly of the beast learning and standing in solidarity with global anti-colonial movements.
We believe in solidarity, not charity. Charity divides us into people who give help and people who receive help, which maintains systems of power and oppression. We are non-hierarchical and aim to build connections, because we know how important it is to co-create long-term networks, learn together, help each other meet our needs, and fight collectively.
We are not separate from our local community, and we do this so that we can all be free.
Origins – Who are we right now?
The copwatch network is formed of multiple autonomous local groups, many who see different iterations over time as members come and go. This Tottenham Copwatch formed after the brutal murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 at the hands of a police officer. The statement is written by our current members in 2025.
Legacy – Organising in Tottenham
1) The majority of our members are Black, brown, working class, mad/neurodivergent and disabled. We honor that we are organising in a place of historic resistance and community strength, and aim to put the material needs of the people in Tottenham first.
Our Members – Community resistance
2) We organise with people who (want to) engage in resistance, Although we are an abolitionist group there is no requirement to be an abolitionist or to know what abolition is to come to meetings or join. We welcome all community members who are willing to learn and believe that political education (discussing/sharing awareness of the colonial oppression we face, and our collective power) is an important part of movement building.
3) We do not allow career ‘activists’ from NGOs, academics, or politicians who want to work with us to further their own professional interests.
We believe these individuals have a professional or academic position of power and access to resources, as well as an interest in taking knowledge from the grassroots. This is how they differ from a local community member of someone who hasn’t yet discovered abolition.
4) We also do not collaborate with or allow professional reformists, who collaborate with the police, into our community spaces. Reformist organisations are those that believe that changing the police is possible and work to ‘improve’ it. One example of this is the non-profit StopWatch who aim to ‘hold the police to account’ by working with them. We know that the police can never be reformed, and this is incompatible with our values.
How? How do we organise?
5) We strongly believe in keeping each other as safe as possible, and we have structures in place to help us do this. We don’t make decisions or state our hard lines lightly.
Why? Why have we written this statement?
6) We have been transparent with our Copwatch groups and the Copwatch network about why we think allowing reformists who collaborate with the police completely goes against abolitionist values and undermines the revolutionary spirit of abolitionist organising.
We believe the network should organise around and focus on community and collective safety, ensuring our spaces remain conscious and ones of resistance.
We keep eachother safe.