Checkpoint: You Are Now Entering Free America
David Ryder
Police abolition is widely considered to be one of the most extreme political movements to emerge from the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests across America. Since flames engulfed the 3rd Precinct in Minneapolis last month, an idea has taken root and grown in the minds of many Americans. An idea that asks: “What if the cops never came back?”.
For some, like President Donald Trump, that future is one of anarchy and lawlessness. A Hobbesian world where the “war of all against all” takes the place of civilisation. Without police forces maintaining order in the streets, society will crumble into chaos.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 18th century French philosopher, gives us an alternative idea of human nature from the brutality his 17th century English counterpart, Thomas Hobbes, presents in Leviathan. According to Rousseau, humans in their natural state are peaceful and content. It is the corruption of a materialistic society that drives them to malice and strife. The police, arising from early militias for hire, can be seen as a symptom of this corruption, along with the violence that goes hand in hand with their profession.
For Hobbes, the state must maintain control of the population, by brute force if necessary. For Rousseau, this violent coercion of human beings by the state is the cause of societal conflict, not the solution. Throughout history, and into the modern day, there are examples of societies without police, proving Rousseau’s arguments on human nature true to some extent. At the very least, they show a different path to the one America, and most of the world, has taken.
Before the invasion of Ireland by the Normans in 1169, the native Irish had operated under a policeless legal system known as Brehon Law. In some areas mainly in the west of the country, this system survived until the 17th century. Many of these laws, especially in areas of gender equality and environmentalism, would be considered progressive in modern society. Of particular interest is the emphasis on restorative, rather than punitive, justice.
Every person had their “Honour Price”, based on their wealth. If they wronged someone, they would have to pay a portion of their Honour Price to the victim/victim’s family as compensation. Failure to do so would leave them without the protection of the law, fair game for any who desired to harm them. In this system, based on honour and restitution, the Irish had no need for a police force.
It is not necessary to look hundreds of years into the past for examples of policeless societies, however. There are examples happening right now, in the modern day, even as the debate over police abolition rages. One such example can be found among the Kurds of Rojava, the autonomous Kurdish-held territory in northern Syria.
In Rojava, the Asayish (Internal Security Forces) take responsibility for arresting criminals and protecting government buildings. They also oversee traffic and protect victims of domestic abuse. The responsibility for maintaining law and order within individual communities, however, lies with the HPC (Civil Defense Forces). The HPC is a voluntary organization with a gender quota of at least 40% women.
Under this system, people from the local area sign up to take turns patrolling their neighbourhoods. With many younger men and women still fighting against ISIS or defending against attacks by the Turkish army, even the elderly are given a chance to help protect their friends and neighbours. While in America the majority of police do not live in the areas they work in, in Rojava local communities police themselves. As a result of this, there are no problems with police brutality or racism, and the personal connections between community members allow for deescalation of conflict.
Closer to home, the city of Seattle, Washington, has witnessed the creation of the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone, nicknamed the CHAZ. After police forces retreated from the East Precinct building on June 8, protesters seized the building and began barricading off streets for a couple blocks radius. A sign declaring “You are now entering Free Cap Hill” is reminiscent of the “You are now entering Free Derry” sign created by Irish Nationalists in the Northern Irish city of Derry, declaring an autonomous area in the face of brutality and discrimination by British police and military forces.
Within the CHAZ, protesters have established a food co-op, a community garden, medical stations, a speaker's stage, movie nights, book exchanges and round-the-clock security patrols. The Zone is governed by consensus decision-making at daily meetings of protesters. While President Trump may decry the protestors as dangerous anarchists, evidence on the ground suggests that like the Kurds of Rojava, they are creating and protecting a vibrant community without the need for the return of police forces or the violence that follows in their wake.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has made it clear that she envisions the return of ‘official’ law enforcement to the CHAZ “peacefully and in the near future”. However, given the growing list of examples of police brutality against unarmed protesters, and the embarrassment of being forced to cede control of several city blocks to the movement, there can be no guarantee that any attempt by police forces to return to the East Precinct building will remain peaceful. This fear of violent retaliation from Seattle PD is one the reasons organizers in the CHAZ are reportedly wrapping up the project.
Abolishing the police is possible, as these examples show. Simply getting rid of the police is not enough, however. The groundwork must be laid for a new type of community based society. Even moderates are calling for the defunding of severely bloated police budgets, and by taking this first step cities and states across the country can begin to use those funds to address real societal problems.
The money taken from the police can be used to house the homeless, feed the hungry, heal the sick, build essential infrastructure and provide economic opportunities to those left behind by capitalism. These issues are the root causes of most crime in society, and fixing them can help to eliminate the need for police forces in the first place. For the crimes that do still take place, a model of voluntary community policing with an emphasis on restorative justice instead of punishment will take care of those disruptions to the peace.
Crime is not a disease. It is a symptom of a disease, the disease of inequality permeating society. Since their foundation the police have at best wrapped a bandage around the infected wound, hiding it away while letting it fester. At worst, they have come in heavy-handed to amputate the limb without considering if the infection can be treated.
There is a better way. By abolishing the police we can create a truly safe and free America.