Australian Restorative-Justice Pioneer David Moore —- featured in my April “Labor Pulse” article —- Responds & Adds to My Discussion
Dear Jim
Thank you for being in touch.
It was lovely to see you again recently, after so many years.
We suffered cognitive and emotional dissonance throughout our recent US visit,
spending time with many good people,
and being looked after in Philly with such care by John and Encarna -
but all against the background of the constitutional / existential crisis…
While sojourning in Manayunk, I did speed read - only because of time constraints -
and certainly very much enjoyed your Growing up in America’s Golden Age.
Plenty of deep reflection there!
I’d be happy to support your (and Claire’s) public intellectual work,
whatever form of thinking globally while acting locally that support might require.
I certainly agreed with the relevant sections of edition 72 (!!)
of your Labor & Employment Law Daily ‘Labor Pulse’.
As you say there:
substantial and lasting change will percolate up, [&]
it’s the millions in the middle who ultimately may make the difference:
those who […] all across the country are exhausted by the tumult,
disillusioned by both parties, frightened by the advent of GenAI…
and looking to their neighbors for solutions.
And reflecting back on our work at Comey Institute:
[with] management-side negotiators [not] much in evidence,
[those] workshops [probably] did [little] to
change the environment at the bargaining tables.
But in the current environment, many of those millions in the middle (including in workplaces)
may now be more receptive to (the urgent need for) cultural and institutional reform.
Again, as you note:
Restorative justice to heal the wounds inflicted over the past several national elections… &
citizens’ and workers’ assemblies to infuse genuine democracy at the local level…
are the opposite of quick fixes.
You note some US examples of the nascent “citizen assemblies” movement –
which still seems most advanced in Europe,
and is supported by the OECD’s initiative on Open government and citizen participation.
[See also the attached NYT piece What Could Citizens Assemblies for American politics.
BTW, I’ve connected the good folks in Oregon with our like-minded colleagues at Duke,
and they are now collaborating…]
As a local example of dots between different forms of restorative practice now being joined:
Last Friday, I facilitated a meeting of senior members of (Australian) Federal government departments
who are participating as senior representatives in the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme.
This ‘Scheme’ is one of several national initiatives to remedy-and-learn from past institutional failure.
A consensus view from the senior officials on Friday was that we need to move:
beyond restorative engagement to link individual healing with institutional reform, &
towards embedding restorative practice as the default mode of institutional governance.
[See attached EFRJ Setting Relations Right and Relational First Aid.]
Happy to discuss!
[Meanwhile, you might find some grist / grits for your whirring intellectual mill in
Messages to the AARJ membership 2021 - 2024 at the resources page of our website.]
So let’s keep in touch… and we’ll see where alignment might turn into collaborative synergy…
Regards to all of you!!
David
D.B. Moore, PhD
President, AARJ
