What Does the Decolonization of Justice Look Like?
A provocative quote. We see the operative words in it as being “common” and “unity”, thus “community.”
The application of justice differs in every culture. If a given community assumes its responsibility to provide justice for its members , it is possible to have a vibrant and sustainable “community of communities.” And that diversity fosters resilience.
The concept of “natural law” has been so thoroughly coopted and institutionalized by Western systems of governance (as with nearly everything else), that it is now exclusively and contradictorily anthropocentric. And so we look for other phrases that may express more inclusive, earth-based values and understandings that recognize all of our relations. These are often called “original instructions” and they are indeed based upon natural law, in its foundational sense.
"The structure of the world itself, it functions on natural law, and the natural law is a powerful regenerative process. It’s a process of regeneration that continues and grows and is endless. It’s absolutely endless, if everyone agrees to the law and follows the law. But if you challenge the law, and you think you are going to change the law, then you are bound to failure…" ~ John Trudell, Santee Dakota
Many forms of social justice-seeking are seen as culturally-affirmative actions - see one here - which may then give the impression of a decolonizing action. But if they are framed in terms of the same social system that defines and delivers both outcomes - either detrimental or beneficial - there is no achievement of substantial decolonization. It’s simply a re-apportionment of the same set of colonized values. Rather, purported decolonization becomes entrapped by colonization, and that is not what it signifies. The prefix “de-” in this usage signifies “to undo” - not to reapportion or redirect or rephrase. As Tuck and Yang have clearly stated, “Decolonization is not a metaphor.” It is a rejection of the imposition and an embrace of the appropriate.
It is true that we live in multiple worlds at the same time, so there is a need to navigate those complexities mindfully and responsibly. But if our intent is to undo the colonization that is at the heart of oppression - and thus injustice - then the set of values guiding our decisions on those journeys needs to come from those original instructions, or there is no justice: “…we are bound to failure.” We are responsible for each other (in the broadest sense), in the light of our grateful recognition that we are all interdependent within the gifts of our Mother. Justice is not the separable province of one group or another; it requires the full accountability and accommodation of all communities, together. To conduct ourselves otherwise is to repeat the oppressions of injustice - this is the decolonization of what often passes for justice.