Questioning the futures of justice (2)
Please see the first part here Questioning the Futures of Justice (1).
The next step for me would be to look again into my subthemes, and aside from unpacking them based on Rawls's Principles of Justice, I would also like to look at how justice would play out in these subthemes in the future. I will be utilizing the pillars of the Justice-based approach or JBA developed by my friends United Edge Directors Daniel Bevan and Matt Kletzing whose training I attended in 2018, and with whom I continue to collaborate. The Justice-based Approach is a lens that refocuses actions and decisions on models that dismantle unjust systems and hold power to account in order to shift the planet towards social and environmental justice. I believe this approach is just as significant in the future as it is in the present. In my exploration of what policies, programs, and practices will be considered just in the future in each of my subthemes, I will be using JBA’s five pillars that include Radical Systems, Living Democracy, Everyday Activism, Alternative Models, and Brave Accountability.
Let us look at each of them briefly, and have an initial take of how these pillars would help in my study.
The first pillar is Radical Systems. In this pillar, I will look deeper into the systems of injustice playing out in the future. According to the JBA, Systemic problems require systemic solutions. I will try to see what alternative systems are emerging in each of my subthemes, and how these systems challenge the status quo.
The second pillar is Living Democracy. According to JBA, decision-making structures and processes are led by those most affected, and they can be changed when necessary because that is where power lies. I will look at the shifts in a democracy that might occur in the future given the changing perceptions, mindsets, and laws on who will be considered legal and non-legal persons in the future.
The third pillar is called Everyday Activism. JBA states that all people need to take full responsibility for their actions, even when they don’t see the consequences. I will use this pillar to investigate how people are living out the principles of justice in the future considering the changing ways of living and livelihood, as well as interactions of different societal players, and how humans can make justice an everyday undertaking from deciding on the food they eat, the products and services they buy, and the systems and practices they support and subscribe to.
The fourth pillar is Alternative Models. JBA posits that alternative models shift the paradigms of change-makers to recognize failing approaches, pilot power-shifting projects, and cultivate alternative models for lasting change.
What would be the models of fairness and equity in the future when the characters are no longer just humans and the spaces of struggle expand to the digital and outer space worlds?
We are seeing how veganism could help address speciesism, the climate crisis, and the many chronic diseases being suffered by millions of people in the present. What other unicorn solutions for wicked problems of injustice might we find in the future? Would those solutions require highly sophisticated technologies or just the basic ideas of love and respect? Would humanity be able to connect the dots and see that one is not free if the other is a slave?
Movements are slowly realizing the intersectionalities and interdependencies in the struggle for justice. I am interested to imagine and anticipate how might persons, entities that are not just humans, will engage in activism in the future. Will single-issue struggles for justice become a thing of the past? If so, what would happen to issues subsumed in the call for justice for all? What would be the platforms of struggle? Who would be leading movements? Can we imagine humans, animals, and robots marching side by side for a common cause? What might that be possible, and what might the cause be?
The fifth and last pillar is Brave Accountability. JBA strives for global justice and an end to impunity and believes in the power of individuals, groups, and movements to shift the power of privilege and unite to hold power to account.
It is no doubt that in the future, as we do today, we will continue to seek accountability for future generations. The likes of our current questions on accountability, such as “How might plastic manufacturers, for example, pay for the clean-up of the Pacific Garbage Patch or the fossil fuel companies making an open sewer out of the atmosphere?” should be constantly asked. We have seen that a lack of transparency and accountability leads to inequity and injustice. What then would be the Holy Grail blockchain equivalent for seeking transparency and accountability in the physical world in the future?
In creating scenarios, we frame the actions in the past tense, as if they already happened, like futures histories, that would hopefully spark conversation and reflection, and more importantly, action in creating just futures, starting today. In the practice of ideation and manifestation, one is advised to imagine visions from a state of the wish fulfilled.
The practice of foresight is always about multiple futures. It is about the many alternative scenarios and narratives we create. Ensuring that people are not looking only at a singular future is the duty of a futurist. Without turning a blind eye to the challenges and disruptions that might derail the achievement of justice, I will focus on creating inspiring and positive stories of justice in the futures. I would like to look into powerful futures narratives and stories that empower for justice. Isn’t the point of looking into the futures making sure we create better stories than before?
Most importantly, I am also a pursuer of justice, I would like to unpack and deepen positive visions of just futures.
In his new paper Justice for a Praying Person, Anwar Ibrahim said that “a vessel must be created to keep intact the perfect nature of justice.” While his paper suggests the vessel to be the social contract and the state of nature, I would also propose that we can create our own vessels of justice. These might be the stories that we create, the visions we aspire for, and the actions we take to achieve and protect them. In this exploration, I will seek to create my own vessel to protect the perfect nature of justice.
A really sophisticated and regenerative civilization is one that thrives on equity, where fairness is real, and where the concept and the word justice seem to already disappear because it is everywhere. As one participant in the United Edge workshop when asked about how the futures of justice might look like, said, “we won’t need the word justice anymore”. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
After all, what is the point of the future without justice? Maybe there is: the seeking of it.
In my three-year journey as an APF Emerging Fellow, I would like to find opportunities to learn, share, and write about the futures of justice. I welcome any support that you would like to send my way in learning about the futures of justice. Just the other day, after the Emerging Fellows Roundtable, I received a relevant article from where I lifted the Anwar Ibrahim quotation. Like that gesture of generosity, your input and feedback will be very helpful and will be greatly appreciated. I would also like to share what I learn by facilitating workshops to help emerge visions and aspirations on the futures of justice, and by speaking at events like this to raise awareness and inspire action. I will be writing all throughout the three-year journey and would love to hear from you what would make my writing relevant to communities, social development workers, activists, and foresight professionals.
Lastly, this is not about the project but what it could help bring. I hope in a way my project provides some questions, inspiration, vision, decision, and most importantly action. May we continue to question the future. May we imagine and create the just future that we want. Hiraya Manawari.
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To know more about the APF Emerging Fellow 2021 Projects, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BU6oPetRp4&list=LL&index=5
This is the video of my unfinished talk at the GFS, the lost part of which is in this writeup. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzsjomW92q4&list=LL&index=4
Image by Nick Collins from Pexel
@ Shiela R Castillo 2021
