#transformative+justice

[storyweavingspider]

The Transfeminist Womanism Archives

You can access it here.

This archive isn't complete, as no archive ever is, but I'm finally making it publicly accessible through Proton. I'm constantly taking suggestions on what to add to it or changes to make.

If you're an author of works in here and you'd like to be added to the tip list, you're having technical difficulties, or if you have suggestions for works to be added, please send me a DM and I'll make the changes or see if I can get a copy.

For fiction titles, I'm only accepting works from Black and/or transfemme authors to be added to the archives.

Works within these archives primarily focus on the following topics:

-Transfeminism

-Womanism ("Black Feminism")

-Disability Justice

-Restorative and Transformative Justice

-Ecofeminism

and subjects related to them.

Give this a reblog when you see it so more folks can get access to this and so I can get more recommendations to add to it lmfao

[ayeolaomolara]

I created this piece after some lively conversations with friends about whether or not “evil” people exist and how we should deal with harmful behavior. The conversation ranged from individual behavior to the actions of entire nations.

Ultimately we all agreed that everyone acts one way or another because of their upbringing and the upbringing of their ancestors. However, regardless of one’s past, no one should excuse harmful behavior and it’s up to everyone within a community to hold themselves and others accountable. In the small scale this means deep learning, listening to the most marginalized, tough conversations with loved ones, and reparations. On the larger scale it means the international community has to use their collective power to prevent nuclear wars, genocide and climate catastrophe.

I had a lot of fun with this piece and felt like a good stretch of my graphic design muscles 💪🏾

🍠🍠if you like my art and want to support my work, shares, comments, and saves will help me reach more people! If you like my art and are in position to support me directly, join my p@treon for stickers and prints of my artwork mailed to you each month! 🍠🍠

[standwithdaanes]

What are some lessons you learned from your two years in Rojava and at Mala Jin* that may be useful for U.S.-based organizers? One is that social change is slow. You just have to begin and then as you work, your process will and should evolve. Not everything has to be perfectly in place before you begin community work, it will and should evolve with the community. And then you have to be ready for and remain strong against community backlash. Have boundaries for what you will tolerate and what you won’t, but at the same time, keep your eyes open to the differences between what a radical movement might envision and what the community wants and is ready for. You’re working for and with the community, not trying to be dogmatic and authoritarian. You have to be willing to sit down with people you disagree with. What the Mala Jin does all day, every day is sit down with really patriarchal men, maybe women who have certain ideas they don’t agree with, and they just talk about it, listen to them, they talk to them. And over the years, this has made a really material difference in the way that society approaches these issues. In each individual conversation, you might not feel the needle moving. But in an aggregate of a conversation held over the years in different rooms with different people, things start to change. There is a certain amount of dedication and sacrifice that it takes to show up every day. It’s not going to be sexy the whole time. Having self-control, self-discipline and decentering yourself is really important when you’re doing restorative justice work for the community. At the Mala Jin, it was very difficult to hear people saying really harsh, difficult things about women all day. But it’s not about your personal feelings in that situation, it’s about the slow process of social change, and acknowledging where a community is, so it can eventually be somewhere else. People feeling heard in a room will maybe slowly change the needle, and that process will make a lasting impact on the community at large. It’s really not about you proving in each situation that you are the most radical person and the person with the perfect idea. It’s really not about you proving anything about yourself. When we’re doing this work, we’re doing it for and with the community, and that’s where your sense of self will come from. That’s where our sense of self should arise from, is from being a part of community and being of service while also honoring yourself and your boundaries.

— Clara Moore, activist and researcher, who spend two years living in Rojava and working for both the Mala Jin and the Rojava Information Center, interviewed by Truthout.

*the Mala Jin (“women’s houses”) are places throughout cities and towns in Rojava/DAANES which "allow people to solve disputes at the community level, instead of through courts or police, by offering reconciliation and mediation processes for domestic and family situations." Assyrian/Syriac women in DAANES also have women's houses, under the name Eşterot. Read more on Mala Jin here.

[jstor]

April is Second Chance Month, a month dedicated to celebrating fresh starts and the breaking of barriers for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals.

All month long, JSTOR Access in Prison has been sharing a compelling series of essays, reflections, and creative work from incarcerated writers, educators, and advocates. The series explores how access to knowledge nurtures growth and community—even in the most restrictive environments.

Read the full series on the JSTOR Blog.

Image: "The Truth Is Prisons Are..." 2016. Courtesy of the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery.

[anti-parent]

that was actually my dad's response when i asked him why he was so fucking cruel to my sister all the time over every little thing when she was a teenager - lying, dressing feminine, getting bad grades, hanging out with friends without permission, smoking weed, and so on. and he was like. if i don't do it, then the cops and judges and prison guards will. and i won't let it get that far.

his particular argument kind of fell apart when he called the cops on her for having weed (they hardly even cared beyond just. taking it away.) but still like that is the motivation for a lot of parents to be more punitive towards their kids. youthlib is connected to abolition & transformative justice.

[zooweebaba]

"Being a prison abolitionist is a life path, it's a framework that we develop together through doing and learning."

Sometimes people have a misconception that evolution is entirely about firing the cops and burning the prisons. It is actually about knowing that the current systems we have put in place to address harm are actually causing additional harm. It is about realizing that we have a responsibility to align the ways we relate to each other with our values—from the most intimate relationship up to larger systems like the criminal and immigration systems.

Abolition is the visionary process of imagining and building the structures that we want to see replace the ones we are dismantling today. Yes, I want to see an end to the criminal and immigration systems as we know them today. I want to see the ends to cops, prisons, imperialism, and militarization. I have seen how these systems harm me and my family and the families of millions in the name of safety for the few.

Yet interpersonal harm is a basic fact of human reality. We can't avoid being harmed and harming others. It's just that current systems we have in place perpetuate harm and increase suffering, while claiming to do the opposite. Abolition is a hopeful vision that means each moment where harm happens is an opportunity to transform relationships and communities, build trust and safety, and grow slowly toward the beautiful people we are meant to be, in the world that we deserve.

Beyond Firing, Amanda Aguilar Shank

[parachutinghijabi]

punative justice be like: this person stole my bag because they cant afford to live. i am now going to lock them in a cage, abuse them, and deprive them of their autonomy

restorative/transformative justice be like: lets address crime before it happens and treat people humanely

and then people are really saying: hmmmm but do criminals really deserve human dignity?

[0th3rw0rldl1n3ss]

If you truly believe other people (including people who were genuinely toxic, bigoted, and even abusive) can’t ever fundamentally change their way of thinking and behavior past surface level performance, I’m just gonna assume it’s because you have your own shitty biases and toxic traits (or worse) that you’ve never been willing to fully address or heal yourself from, and you’re projecting your own failure to deal with that onto everybody else.

Does this mean you’re obligated to forgive anyone who used to be awful, or be friendly to them if that’s not what you want- even if they have fundamentally changed? No, I don’t think so. Does this mean all bigoted, toxic, and abusive people actually will actively make the effort required to fundamentally change- even when presented with ample opportunities to do so? Probably not. But that doesn’t negate what I said in the first paragraph one bit.