How can we avoid reproducing practices of violence and harassment in the conflicts that arise in our communities and spaces?

Faced with everyday violence and conflict, a debate often arises regarding the usefulness of resorting to the police and the courts. It is argued that this may not be a solution but rather an additional problem. However, the alternative mechanisms proposed for administering justice remain deeply imbued with a punitive philosophy: threats, exclusion, harassment, public denunciation, and political discrediting. How can we escape this impasse? The question is all the more difficult given that it arises at a time when reactionary forces are carrying out a broad offensive against individual and collective rights in order to better protect those who organize violence in our societies.

Written by a militant lesbian, this book offers a sharp critique of progressive moralism and punitive practices in social struggles. By challenging the dominant penal system, it lays the groundwork for transformative justice that can care for victims and transform individuals and groups alike. Curbing violence also means ceasing to fear conflict, ceasing to be afraid to fight.