Women’s Council: Challenging Retribution

By Marilyn Montenegro

Continuing to seek new paradigms for a just world, the Women’s Council will sponsor the showing of The House I Live In, a documentary examining the War on Drugs, Friday afternoon on October 11, 2013, at the Cultural Alliance of Long Beach in the heart of the Long Beach Art District.

Challenging notions of retributive justice, which intends to identify and punish individuals, the Women’s Council seeks ways to shift the paradigm from punishment to the restoration of cohesion and peace in the community.

The documentary, The House I Live In, analyzes the institutional policy/structural factors that support the war on drugs and have become integral to the economic well-being of individuals, governmental units and corporations engaged in various aspects of the retributive justice system. Shifting the paradigm from retribution to restoration requires a shift in the allocation of economic and status rewards. The discussion following the film,with members of All of Us or None (an organization of former prisoners),will consider strategies for shifting the paradigm and actions for implementation.

This free event is October 11, 2013. between 2:00pm and 5:00pm at the Cultural Alliance of Long Beach located at 727 Pine Ave. in Long Beach. CEUs will be available for a small fee and preregistration.

The Women’s Council continues to raise issues of justice and to challenge the ethics of retribution. The bi-annual Law and Ethics Workshop is scheduled for February 27, 2014. For more information, please contact (800) 538-2565 ext. 57, or womenscouncil@sbcglobal.net or mujerista@All2Easy.net.