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Whether you agree with it or not, the purpose is to remove funds from police, which many believe is a positive outcome. Look at police budgets, how that money i

Whether you agree with it or not, the purpose is to remove funds from police, which many believe is a positive outcome. Look at police budgets, how that money is spent, how it affects communities to have 60-80% of their tax money go to police. Again, you may disagree, but removing money from the police is the point of the slogan.

dash2 6y ago
I live round the corner from a UK housing estate with a drugs problem. I very often deeply wish that 60-80% of my local tax money would go to the police. I often also frankly wish that 10% of it would fund a Sharia-style hangman, but perhaps that is my inner misanthrope.
- ceejayoz 6y ago
  The US drug war is an abject failure, despite very generous and ever-increasing funding. Why would you think it'd work substantially better in the UK? The point of "defund the police" is that that funding would be better used in treating the underlying causes of said drugs problem.
twic 6y ago
The point is that "defund" means "remove all funding from", not "remove some funding from". The person carrying the sign in this photo doesn't want 20% fewer abortions, they want abortions to stop altogether: https://www.vox.com/2016/7/14/12189446/mike-pence-planned-parenthood https://www.vox.com/2016/7/14/12189446/mike-pence-planned-pa...
- seeseepeesuxx 6y ago
  I've seen plenty of protest signs that say abolish police and prisons. I spent all summer locked inside studying the rhetoric and symbology of BLM and defund means defund to a non insignificant portion of the activists. Saying it means something else is pure gaslighting
virgilp 6y ago
Here's a simple test: if half of the funds that go today to the police would simply be wasted (say, they go to a "Trump foundation" where Trump may use them as he pleases) - would you consider that a "win"? If not, your primary goal is not "defund the police", it is better allocation of funds
- praestigiare 6y ago
  It's a bit late to reply, but I do think that would be a win, if not as great a win as using the money elsewhere.

dash2 6y ago

I live round the corner from a UK housing estate with a drugs problem. I very often deeply wish that 60-80% of my local tax money would go to the police. I often also frankly wish that 10% of it would fund a Sharia-style hangman, but perhaps that is my inner misanthrope.

ceejayoz 6y ago
The US drug war is an abject failure, despite very generous and ever-increasing funding. Why would you think it'd work substantially better in the UK? The point of "defund the police" is that that funding would be better used in treating the underlying causes of said drugs problem.

twic 6y ago

The point is that "defund" means "remove all funding from", not "remove some funding from". The person carrying the sign in this photo doesn't want 20% fewer abortions, they want abortions to stop altogether: https://www.vox.com/2016/7/14/12189446/mike-pence-planned-parenthood https://www.vox.com/2016/7/14/12189446/mike-pence-planned-pa...

seeseepeesuxx 6y ago
I've seen plenty of protest signs that say abolish police and prisons. I spent all summer locked inside studying the rhetoric and symbology of BLM and defund means defund to a non insignificant portion of the activists. Saying it means something else is pure gaslighting

virgilp 6y ago

Here's a simple test: if half of the funds that go today to the police would simply be wasted (say, they go to a "Trump foundation" where Trump may use them as he pleases) - would you consider that a "win"? If not, your primary goal is not "defund the police", it is better allocation of funds

praestigiare 6y ago
It's a bit late to reply, but I do think that would be a win, if not as great a win as using the money elsewhere.