Law, violence and social movements

reflections from the case of the movement for the removal of statues

Abstract

https://doi.org/10.1590/2179-8966/2023/66975i

Using the epistemological instrument of historical and dialectical materialism, embodied
in the critique of the legal form of Pachukanis, with the procedural modality attributed to
it by Edelman, consisting of formulating theoretical developments from the immanent
critique of judicial decisions, the article investigates the relations between law and
violence, especially in light of its impact on social movements, from the case study of the
legal dispute surrounding the removal of the statue of a Confederate general in the city
of Richmond, Virginia. In the end, it is concluded that, even when the state welcomes the
interest of a critical social movement, as in the case in question, it does so in order to
reaffirm the mechanisms of reproduction of the legal form that imprisons the contesting
movements and prevents them from advancing towards the transformation of the mode
of production.

Keywords: Critique of law; Legal form; Violence; Political form; Social movements.