Justice in the 21st Century

                 This post is a summary of the book with the title above, published in 2022 at https://www.enop.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/ENoP_Progresiva-Povod-IJEK-NOVUM_Justice-in-the-21st-Century.pdf

                 The history of mankind has always been interested in the question of justice and fairness, yet despite all of the effort invested, we could probably agree that so far, we have not managed to find an answer with which we would all agree or which would universally correspond to all societies. This happens because this is one of those questions for which resigned wisdom holds true that one can never find a final answer but can merely strive to ask better questions. The "Justice in the 21st Century" project, of which this anthology is a part, was developed during a period in which we are facing some of the flaws uncovered or deepened in our system by the COVID-19 pandemic.  These realisation, as well as our awareness of them, are an ideal opportunity for us to open a discussion on how we will regulate justice and fairness in our society, how we will provide for equality, etc. In addition, the 50th anniversary of the book "A Theory of Justice" written by John Rawls was commemorated in 2021; this book is one of the fundamental works on the regulation of mutual relations in a liberal social arrangement as we know it today. The historically important crossroads represented by the COVID-19 pandemic is an ideal opportunity to ask ourselves: is the concept of justice that we know today still relevant when it comes to sorting out social relationships in the 21st century? Finding inspirations for the implementation of a project honouring the 50th anniversary of the publication of "A Theory of Justice" does not depend on whether we agree with its principles or not, but is mainly connected with Raws's idea of finding or developing a systematic political theory which will structure our different intuitions. Rawls wanted to provide with his most famous work an answer to the entrapment of the political theory between utilitarianism on the one hand and s confusion of ideas and principles on the other which he called "intuitionism", an approach which is hardly more than a set of anedocdotes concentrated on intuitions about individual questions. The purpose of the "Justice in the 21st Century" project was to shed some light on the current state of affairs in our society and to open a discussion about justice as a concept that regulates relationships in society, its core values and principles according to which it functions. Theories of justice are among the most often discussed theories of the 21st century. They are the successors of social contract theories which mostly emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries and gave new meaning to the relationship between the governors and the governed. What can we do to prevent a transition to the new yet old social system which is poised to be even less fair than the now-prevailing capitalism? First, we must immediately put privacy at the forefront for it to become a cornerstone of digital democracy. With the boom of internet in the 21st century, the concept of privacy became almost redundant. Second, countries should become more involved in the control of the power of technological giants that have quite literally outgrown them in this past decade. A fair digital economy is one of the guidelines of the plan of the European Commission up to 2024 with which the European Union is trying to take a step into the future. In the text, "fairness" is understood as an equal approach to technologies and services. Justice is extremely important for people. Evolutionarily speaking, communities are more successful if their members cooperate with one another. Voluntary cooperation reduces the amount of energy that must be used to coerce people, keep them in check, and resolve disputes. People are more likely to voluntarily cooperate with others if they can count on the fact that others will treat them justly. Providing a fair digital economy that will actually reflect the wishes of its creators should therefore juggle several areas at the same time while keeping in mind a common goal, the provision of a fair digital environment for all users. It is not enough for companies to commit themselves to ethical development only to discover, time and time again, that they do not have the necessary tools or procedures for its implementation, or that they are doing it without being aware of how their automated solutions affect society at large. It is hard enough for consumers to pressure private companies or have our political representatives deal with regulatory frameworks while the industry keeps on finding innovative solutions to avoid efficient control, and continuously endangering the human rights and privacy of their users. Based on what we have discussed in this paper, we should be careful when using the term "justice" in the 21st century, so as to not abuse it by combining it with ideological goals. For peaceful and productive cooperation in a society, people need to feel like they are being treated justly. This feeling is not only destroyed by real injustice but also by a different, forced and made up definition of justice. Community-based organisations are vital for recovery during and after the COVID-19 crisis. The gentrification of autonomous cultural and social centres coinciding with the restrictions of assembly challenges the community support, especially regarding the support in the form of free-thinking platforms. Autonomous Factory Rog was an essential place to produce justice in spatial development within itself and in the broader city of Ljubljana; it created alternative cultural and artistic spaces for the least privileged, thus contributing to a just distribution of goods according to Rawls' theory of distributive justice and to the self-governance principles of Ostrom. Autonomous Factory Rog (AFR) contributed to pure procedural justice of spatial development by channeling unheard voices on unjust policies that impact them; it provided a space where those who experience oppression are the ones who lead the change. Through socio-political discourse analysis and based on the socio-ecological model to prevent violence, we argued that AFR was also an essential place to protect free thinking and prevent political attacks on free journalism. The NGOs of Metelkova 6 are resisting the eviction to protect the autonomous value of the common place where the NGOs are located. The resilience of these NGOs is essential to maintaining procedural and distributive justice in the city of Ljubljana. The resistance against eviction maintain justice in spatial distribution because it fulfills the original position of justice according to Rawls, which means assuring fundamental rights for free-thinking, culture and arts. Finally, the NGOs' resistance against eviction not only protects the value of the place where it is located but also contributes to our wider society, resisting to preserve critical thinking, free media, arts and culture, and underprivilege's rights for justice and inclusion in an accessible city for all.