Editor’s Note:
Violence is at the very heart of the way we live. Hunger
amidst plenty is violence; all inequity is violence; all
inequity is maintained by violence. It has been so with
humans for thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of years.
The only way to overthrow violence once and for all is
by the institution of justice. But as long as we perceive
of justice as punishment and vengeance for past wrongs,
violence will remain at the core of our society. This
is as true for progressive struggle as it is for the current
reactionary status quo. The only real victory humanity
can have, the only real advancement worth striving for,
is the defeat of institutionalized violence. Restorative
justice is worth looking at because, possibly, it offers
a way beyond endless violence, an active way that is not
the “peace of the cemeteries,” not resignation
or acceptance of oppression, injury and injustice, but
a way forward.
