Community accountability

Community accountability describes strategies that focus directly on addressing violence and transforming the conditions that create oppression and harm; implementing anti-oppression education, fostering relationships built on mutual aid, and nurturing a culture of collective responsibility to provide safety and support for both survivors of harm and those who cause harm -Rania El Mugammar, adapted by Michelle Xie

Philly Stands Up! Collective on 5 phases of the accountability process (From Beyond survival: strategies and stories from the transformative justice movement)

Disposability discourse	Much discussion around the severity of COVID was lessened by expressing how it mainly sickens and kills elderly, chronically ill, and disabled people. This discourse suggests these groups are seen disposable.
Loosened restrictions too early	When governments loosened COVID restrictions in response to business demands, political pressure, and public impatience, rather than scientific evidence, high risk populations (the chronically ill, disabled and elderly) were subsequently told they are disposable yet again.
Working through illness	Regulations around how many sick days should be required when someone falls ill with COVID also demonstrated ableism. In relation to these regulations, and in favour of profit above health, many politicians including US President Joe Biden, praised themselves for working through COVID, instead of encouraging people to rest and recover if they'd fallen ill.
Individualism	Individuals have been encouraged to make 'personal' choices on vaccines (without legitimate health restrictions), masks and gatherings. "There is no individual safety without collective safety and collective safety requires that no one is safe unless everyone is safe." - Mia Mingus

1. The beginning

• Choose a pair of people other than the harmed and the person who did the harm to provide support and facilitate the accountability process.
• Assess the situation and schedule a meet up with the person who caused harm.

2. Designing the process

• Make a list of demands with the person who was harmed. I.e. 'if they see me somewhere it's their responsibility to leave the premises', 'they are not to contact me personally, ever' etc.
• Involve the person who was harmed in designing the process, including objectives, timeline, tactics.
• Engage the person who caused harm in a way that works for them (i.e. a meeting online? On a walk? Doing a reading or watching a recording?) Set ground rules w the person so you can hold them accountable if they fail a commitment (i.e. arriving on time or giving notice otherwise, no name calling etc).

3. Life structure

• Give the person who caused harm space at each meeting to do a 'check in'; hurdles in their daily lives, emotional state, logistic hurdles, progress made. Provide support where possible.
  

4. Tools used

• Ask to hear stories, encourage discussion. These can help push for new ways of understanding and rewriting narratives that prevent people from taking full responsibility for their actions.
• Use writing to record instances of abuse, log times they feel angry or frustrated, or to journal about how the accountability process is going.
• Role-playing call help build skills of perception, try new behaviours and understand past ones.
• Refer to film, lectures, podcasts etc. on relevant issues at play

5. Closing the process

• When the demands have been met according to the person who was harmed, the process can close
• The person who did the harm should have sustainable systems of support available moving forward
• Space out meetings more gradually (i.e. meeting every 2 weeks, every month, then every 2 months etc. until meetings are no longer needed).

For a tool used in transformative justice circles on accountability, see pod mapping.

If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.

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