Hybrid Lecture – Policing the Crisis, Carceral Racism, and Abolitionist Resistance in Europe

On 31st August 2026 by Mark Walters

Monday 7 December 2026, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm GMT, online and London, UK

 

Over the last decades, state violence has intensified across Europe. Police powers have expanded, repressive migration regimes have become increasingly entrenched, and recurring moral panics continue to focus on the perceived “criminality” of migrants and racialised youth. This talk examines how these developments are connected through what can be understood as the contemporary carceral condition.

Drawing on critical perspectives on racism, policing and state power, the talk introduces the concept of carceral racism to describe a form of racism shaped by the expansion of carceral institutions.

Meet our speaker and chair:

Vanessa E Thompson is an interdisciplinary social scientist whose research explores the relationships between state violence, racism and capitalism, and the struggles against policing, border violence and structural abandonment. Her work examines abolitionist politics, transnational social movements and reproductive justice. She collaborates closely with Black, anti-racist and abolitionist movements across Europe and beyond.

Sara Salem is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at LSE. Her research interests include postcolonial studies, Marxist theory, and global histories of anticolonialism.

 

Find more information and book your free place here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/events/racism-1

This event will be held online and at London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, UK.