Non-reformist reform

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"Structural reform" redirects here. For the IWF and WB relief programs, see Structural adjustment.

Non-reformist reform, also referred to as abolitionist reform,

anti-capitalist reforms, or reforms that do not base their validity and their right to exist "on capitalist needs, criteria, and rationale", but rather on human ones.[2]

Non-reformist reforms have been identified as reforms that "challenge existing power relations and pave the way for more revolutionary changes in the larger society necessary for a more socially just and environmentally

racialized" under the assumption that "those deemed poor or racialized are not able to take action themselves". In other words, the marginalized cannot be "passive agents" in the process, but must be transformative subjects who "are active in reordering social relationships, diagnosing social inequalities, and mobilizing for a better way of socially organizing the world".[16]

Challenges

Creating non-reformist reforms is often cited as difficult.

bureaucratize and depoliticize feminism".[18]

Another challenge to creating non-reformist reform is the difficulty to avoid expanding the system one is attempting to reform. An attempt to implement a non-reformist reform may become reformist in its implementation, for "some factors leading to the growth of the prison industry were the direct result of attempts to reform the system", as described by scholar Liat Ben-Moshe. In many instances, public and activist efforts to change the conditions inherent to the prison system eventually resulted in the expansion of the prison system.

penal system, including surveillance measures on communities of color". In consideration of this phenomenon, Ben-Moshe identifies that the perpetuation of this problem may reside in activists "not reaching far enough, not engaging enough in coalitional and revolutionary politics that will address the root causes of harm" and may also be unknowingly perpetuated by those who have internalized "the state in their actions and interactions".[21]

Criteria for identification

In consideration of the challenges to creating non-reformist reform that scholars identify, activists have established criteria for identifying when a reform may be reformist or non-reformist. Notable activists and organizations who have established criteria include Dean Spade, Peter Gelderloos, Harsha Walia, Critical Resistance and Mariame Kaba, who propose the following criteria respectively:[1][20][22][23]

Dean Spade
  • Does it provide material relief?
  • Does it leave out an especially marginalized part of the affected group (e.g. people with criminal records, people without immigration status)?
  • Does it legitimize or expand a system we are trying to dismantle?
  • Does it mobilize the most affected for an ongoing struggle?
Peter Gelderloos
  • Does it seize space in which new social relations can be enacted?
  • Does it spread awareness of its ideas? (participatory, not passive)
  • Does it have elite support?
  • Does it achieve any concrete gains in improving people's lives?
Harsha Walia
  • Has the tactic been effective in exposing or confronting a specific point within the system by either diminishing its moral legitimacy or undermining its functions?
Critical Resistance
  • Will it expand the system we are trying to dismantle?
  • Will we have to undo this later?
Marbre Stahly-Butts
  • Does this reform shift any power or resources?
  • Does it, in some way, acknowledge past harm?
  • Does it improve material conditions?
  • Does it create space for experimentation?
  • Are we able to try something new or different as a result?
Mariame Kaba, in regard to police reform
  • Does it allocate more money to the police?
  • Does it advocate for more police and policing?
  • Is the reform primarily technology-focused?
  • Is it focused on individual dialogues with individual cops?

Reformist reform examples

Police body cameras have been identified as a reformist reform by scholars because they have expanded the power of the carceral state while failing to address the root issue of police brutality in the United States.[24][25]

data gathering" measures, as stated by lawyer and activist Dean Spade. While on the surface they may appear beneficial, Spade argues that for trans people arguing for more hate crime laws actually works to "produce the idea that police punishment systems are there to protect trans people, when in reality the largest source of violence for trans people, is those very systems". As Spade states, it allows "the criminal punishment system to be able to say: 'we're here to protect trans people.' Meanwhile, it continues to be a thing that kills trans people".[20]

punitive framework for students and youth.[20]

The

correctional system, perhaps more than anywhere else" and criminalization has not addressed the root cause of domestic violence.[20]

carceral state.[24][11] Scientist Ardea Skybreak argues that body cameras have been identified as reformist because they "tinker with the system" rather than address that police brutality is "deeply rooted in the fabric of this system, in its very foundation, which has everything to do with the white supremacist origins of this particular society in the United States [...] that requires that certain sections of society be kept down and oppressed".[25]

Civilian review boards have been identified as a reformist reform because they have not fundamentally altered the outcomes of policing despite being implemented in some locations since the 1960s.[25] Scholar Suleiman Osman identifies how these civilian police oversight agencies were widely supported by reformists who "were confident that they could allay the fears of white ethnic voters by organizing town hall meetings and open debates", but instead were met with opposition from "a populist conservative insurgency".[26]

Policies and rights frameworks regarding

sexual orientation and gender identity in military service have been identified as reformist reforms that gained popularity among reformist sectors of the gay and lesbian community since the election of Bill Clinton in 1992. Gay and lesbian harm and violence within the military has been recognized as pervasive. At the same time, as described by scholar Nicola Field, "the discipline of capitalist military forces means that even if they allow lesbians and gays to serve, they cannot suddenly become a force for freedom, equality, and liberation".[27]

cisheteropatriarchal violence, but rather extends it.[28]

Non-reformist reform examples

The prison abolition movement and empowering of communities to engage in restorative practices function as an example of non-reformist reform by activists such as Mariame Kaba. Kaba states that non-reformist reform in this regard would mean the creation of a new structure that "will allow people to feel safe, have their needs met, on our way to an abolitionist end".[24]

advertisement and the creation of commerce-free zones" are non-reformist steps to transferring from capitalist society to a degrowth society.[6]

Individual and collectivist challenges to the hegemony of the private

public transportation services and restricting individual automobile use has been proposed as an example of a non-reformist reform on a collectivist level.[29]

In a hypothetical example, scholar Brian Martin states "a strike for higher wages might simply buy off discontent and solidify capitalist control: it is a reform that strengthens the system. In contrast, pushing for greater worker control over shop-floor decisions can lay the basis for further worker initiatives: it is an example of non-reformist reform".[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c Stahly-Butts, Marbre (14 May 2020). "Abolition is Liberation: Marbre Stahly-Butts & Rachel Herzing in Conversation with Cory Lira". Critical Resistance.
  2. ^
    ISBN 9780814318164
    .
  3. ISBN 9783319919805
    .
  4. ISBN 9781351176095
    .
  5. ISBN 9781856497251
    .
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-1-78347-140-9
    , retrieved 2021-11-13
  7. ^
    ISBN 9780691165189
    .
  8. S2CID 145737605
    – via Taylor & Francis Online.
  9. ^
    ISBN 9781431410668
    .
  10. ISBN 9781780324968
    .
  11. ^
    S2CID 219091894
    – via Taylor & Francis Online.
  12. ISBN 9781405151061
    .
  13. ^
    ISBN 9781793604897
    .
  14. ISBN 9780814797549
    .
  15. ISBN 9780520279018
    .
  16. ISBN 9781442604094
    .
  17. ^ a b Martin, Brian (2012). "Reform - when is it worthwhile?". Anarchist Studies. 20: 55–71.
  18. ^
    ISBN 9781849664905
    .
  19. ISBN 9783643500144
    .
  20. ^ a b c d e Spade, Dean (4 May 2016). "Mainstreaming of Trans Politics & Mainstreaming of Criminal Punishment System Reform". The Evergreen State College Productions.
  21. ISBN 9789401209236
    .
  22. ISBN 9780939306046
    .
  23. ISBN 9781849351355
    .
  24. ^
    ISBN 9780190949167
    .
  25. ^
    ISBN 9780976023616
    .
  26. ISBN 9780199930340
    .
  27. ISBN 9781907133947
    .
  28. ISBN 9781452959160
    .
  29. ISBN 9781793604897
    .
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