Just Power
“Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just.”
– Blaise Pascal
Behold Just Power.
Since our founding, we have always loved the ironic double meaning of “just” to communicate both the humility required of a popular educator who facilitates and organizes collective leadership and as a signal of our grounding in social justice.
When we called ourselves “Just Associates,” we sought to play up the fact that we are fundamentally a “community of practice” – a network of dedicated activists, scholars, and popular educators who shared political histories and a mission – and secondarily an organization because we had doubts about joining the “non-profit industrial complex.” 17 years later, we are a transnational web of multiple organizations, partners and allies in many countries and regions – something we never imagined.
Together, we dream of and work for a more just world. For JASS, being just and building justice are more than legal rights: it includes radical forms of inclusion and fairness that demand that those most excluded have a greater and equal place, voice, and chance in the world. Justice demands care and caring for the planet and people. Social, economic, political, environmental, and gender justice are concepts that signal to others that our focus is with those activists and leaders on the edges of change.
Since our founding, power is explicitly at the heart of all our approaches to leadership, movement- building, feminism, and change, and our “power tools” are our biggest contribution to other change makers. Our work on power – both oppressive power and transformative power – is what JASS is known for and why JASS was founded.
