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Season 2 episode 5 of the Resist + Renew podcast, where we talk about some frameworks of justice, and reflect on them in relation to conflict.
‘Whose responsibility is the conflict? Is it the responsibility of the people within the conflict…or is it the responsibility of the whole group? Because they are nodes within a network of a group – they are in conflict, so the group is in conflict’
Show notes, links
An explainer for the different approaches to justice that we use to reflect on conflict in this episode:
Note: these words are used in many different ways. Some use restorative justice (RJ) and transformative justice (TJ) interchangeably; some see RJ as between TJ and punitive systems; some see RJ as focusing on individuals and TJ as situating individuals in structures etc. Words are multivalent – don’t get too bogged down on “the right definition”.
A quick summary of the episode:
- People choose the tactics they use to respond to conflict in service of a broader aim.
- These different approaches all come up when thinking about what tactics to choose to respond to conflict. People may respond because they want to disappear a problem through punishment, or because they want to bring cohesion back to a group.
- So it’s useful to have some shared language to discuss in your groups the different tactics you use. What are your rituals around conflict in service of?
- Deeper responses to conflict should look at the people in your group, the relationships between people, and what need to change in the wider structures.
- Conflict can be one of the most visible instances of structural power in a space. Working with conflict in a group can be a path to address how those structural powers impact the group and the relationships within it, in a way that could help shift or transform things.
Some useful links:
- Brick By Brick, a new book by Cradle Community on prison abolition and transformative justice.
- A collection of resources on transformative justice at Transform Harm
- Fumbling Towards Repair, a workbook for community accountability facilitators. A small bit from that book, to give you a flavour:
Perennial resources:
- our sister facilitation collective Navigate have a conflict facilitation booklet (from back when they were called Seeds For Change Oxford).
- See our “What is facilitation?” podcast episode page for more general facilitation resources.
Continue reading “Toolbox: Transformative vs punitive approaches to conflict”
