Transformative Justice & Restorative Practices

We facilitate communication between those impacted by harm or violence with those who caused the harm.

This can look like:

• Direct dialogue- face-to-face with significant preparation of all parties.
• Indirect Dialogue- Communication through use of a community member, proxy, family/friend, letters or other shuttle practices that center the desires and needs of those impacted.

All of these processes emphasize both physical and psychological safety. We never bring anyone together if we anticipate more harm will be created. These process are likely to be deeply emotional, difficult and uncomfortable- but never harmful.

We must explicitly name that harm is not only done by individuals, but by systems. If we limit harm to what we may view as “street crimes”, we significantly limit the potential for addressing some of the most egregious forms of violence in our society. For example, environmental theft of land and resources by governments, corporate waste dumping resulting in polluted waterways, police and systemic brutality. Harm is harm no matter who causes it. At Dialogue Up we name it and navigate it all.

We emphasize collaborative and creative means to addressing what occurred. This empowers those who were impacted to dictate what their needs are, and what they need to feel supported and safe. This also empowers those who caused harm to take accountability, and gain support and resources when necessary.

To ensure a robust and inclusive environment, we often include friends, family members, community members, therapists and other supporters to walk alongside all parties. When we look at widespread organizational or community harms, we may include large sections of the community, policy makers, boards, decision making bodies, or community leaders.

Because each person is on their own journey, we walk in the ways that they desire. Sometimes this looks like moving from a “restorative” process to a transformative one in which we address the underlying causes of harm and violence. This is not a requirement, as we recognize that those that have been harmed are already carrying a significant amount of labor and trauma. However, we do believe it is the responsibility of those that have caused harm to reflect on their roles and contributions to larger systemic issues, and consider how we can jointly address these in our everyday lives.

We understand and whole heartedly believe that having conversations alone will not get us to the place we need be when it comes to harm reduction and violence prevention. Although it is a significant start into understanding and empathy building- it must be done in tandem with systemic change. Power, control and privilege are present everywhere. And when we name it, place it in the center of our journey’s, we can begin to dismantle it.

Dialogue Up engages in various forms of action including protests and civil disobedience, as well as community organizing and community education. We have seen how “restorative” movements have been co-opted, and how “dialogue” processes have been used as a means to claim that those demanding change are being unreasonable in the face of extreme harm to their identities or communities.

It is our experience that many of the communities that we work with to address harm have already requested dialogue, and are met with resistance or false promises, only to have these same entities request or agree to a formal dialogue process once significant protest has occurred.

We stand in solidarity with those harmed. We stand in solidarity with those impacted by oppressive peoples, governments and policies. And we believe in the capacity for grassroots change from and by the people.