#NoWar2022 Workshop: Demilitarizing the Police & Community Based Alternatives to Policing

Workshop: Demilitarizing the Police & Community-Based Alternatives to Policing with David Swanson and Stuart Schussler.

Modeling the conference theme of “resistance & regeneration,” this workshop explored how to both demilitarize the police and implement community-centered alternatives to policing. World BEYOND War’s David Swanson describes the successful campaign to end militarized policing in Charlottesville, Virginia by passing a city council resolution to ban military-style training of police and the acquisition by police of military-grade weapons. The resolution also requires training in conflict de-escalation and limited use of force for law enforcement. Beyond banning militarized policing, Stuart Schussler explains how the Zapatistas’ system of autonomous justice is an alternative to policing. After reclaiming hundreds of plantations during their uprising in 1994, this indigenous movement has created a very “otherly” system of justice. Instead of punishing the poor, it works to bind communities together as they elaborate projects for cooperative agriculture, health, education, and equality across genders.

Held on July 10 2022 at the #NoWar2022 conference.