Abstract:

The US-American TJ practitioner Mia Mingus emphasizes that transformative justice does not mean the absence of the state and violence but rather confronting structural and state violence with the “presence of solidary relationships” (Mingus 2019). The NSU tribunals also applied this approach: In light of the massive right-wing and racist violence closely intertwined with state authorities in the NSU complex, the victim families and the society needed transformative responses that the rule of law failed to provide. As a result, various self-organized forms of education and solidarity emerged through social movements and civil society actors. They joined forces in the action alliance “Unraveling the NSU Complex” and convened the first tribunal in May 2017. The book contribution by Ali Şirin and Madlyn Sauer explores the origins of the NSU tribunals, their critical engagement with the criminal justice system and previous legalistic tribunal practices, and their connection to ideas of transformative justice.