Doug, A couple of thoughts came to me when I read your mail.
The first was about who exactly would be apologizing to whom. It is fairly clear that neither George Bush nor Tony Blair went to war in the name of even a majority of their own people. Given the numbers of people who actually vote in the western democracies and the nature of two party (max three party in most nation states) politics itself, an apology is probably forthcoming from us all for not paying sufficient attention to the consequences of democracy itself. When most people vote they vote on the basis of selfish economics. Little or no thought is given to what these people will do with the many other issues that concern governments. I'm not exactly sure that all Americans need to apologize for anything. Many made it quite clear they opposed the actions of their government. Many do need to apologize but not for the war but for their disinterest in not voting. I include my own country which provided facilities for military transports at Shannon on the basis of the income it would provide and the fear that US companies would pull out of Ireland if we refused. The second thought relates to the whole concept of truth and reconciliation between peoples. The idea is being considered for Northern Ireland. It has also been called for in response to the scandal of child abuse by clergy where many victims simple want a chance to tell their story. They feel it is the only way they can know they have been heard. It is a consequence, I feel, of how time has sped up. We used to have to wait until all those involved were dead, the perpetrators and the victims, for the historians to discover the truth of the matter. Now we have the concept of International courts and crimes against humanity. I am left to wonder how far back we need to go. The British Government apologized for their lack of response to the Irish famine of 1840. Have France, Germany, Spain, et al apologized to their former colonies. Do we expect the people who call themselves citizens of these states today to do so in the name of their forebears? The Irish went everywhere from the 1690's on and as professional soldiers at that. Do we expect the EU to make a profound apology to the Native Americans, to the peoples of central and south America for our barbarism over so many decades? I suspect that the people who need to say sorry are those who knew what they did was immoral or those who chose to avert their gaze as wrong was done in their name. I believe there are none who read or subscribe to this list who have anything to apologize for but I acknowledge the sense of frustration that many feel whose only satisfaction is to murmur "I told you so". Shay At 16:24 01/07/2004, you wrote:
To my good friends-- Would you be so kind as to help me think this through? The last few days watching the news the phrase "truth and reconciliation" keep coming to me. Now I do not know much about the phrase, but I associate it with a formal process that was undertaken a few years ago (maybe it is still ongoing?) in South Africa to help heal the wounds of Apartheid. What would happen if the USA would apologize to the people of Iraq for the invasion and the atrocities done by us or under our watch? What is the likely result if we would make sincere efforts to make amends? Even to dare to vulnerably make amends? Some would surely say it will be viewed as weakness, as an admission of defeat. But it takes a strong people to make an apology, yes? Is this not a form of griefwork? What do the learnings of open space do to help us think this through? What would warriors for peace do? :-Doug. Germann Seeking people making change. * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
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