Truth and Reconciliation

I was born in 1969. The year man landed on the moon. It was the year the world was told, the sky was not the limit and the future looked brighter then ever even though Kennedy and King were assassinated and America was yet again, embroiled in a war half way around the world.

I was born in India. The land of Gandhi and the land that was split into two over the butchered bodies of three million people. Since then India has gone to war with Pakistan several times and I grew up being told by the press and the nation that Pakistan was our enemy.

In the life that I have lived, I do not recall a time on our planet when the human race was not at war with itself, in some part of the world. After the last great big one (World War II) we have had several big ones and small ones, all when added up would almost be as big as the last big one, in terms of the lives they have taken and scars they have left. This blog would not be sufficient if I were to list all the conflicts that have passed us by. Yet there is no shortage of new ones and the old ones keep coming back to haunt us like episodic horror movies. No animal on the plant goes to war with itself like we do. Its not surprising given the fact that we as a species are at war with the planet, unlike the animals who live in harmony with the planet.

Journalists, intellectuals and politicians can always propound theories and analyses in great detail about social and geo-political reasons behind every war. But few can explain coherently what drives people to hack and butcher each other for the sake of land. Especially in a world where we say the sky is not the limit. Unfortunately this saying is not true for most people in the world, and perhaps therefore there is war. Therefore there are more guns on the continent of Africa, than there are books or computers. Even though not a single gun is manufactured there.

Now that we have established that humans like to butcher each other, given the ripe conditions, the question then arises is if there is an opportunity for peace how does one arrive at it and sustain it for institution building. The only two words that come to mind are TRUTH and RECONCILIATION.

Once two nations, two tribes or two ideologies have gone so far as to exterminate each other, the only point of return is through each other. Once the insanity of killing cannot blind them anymore, they have to return to life and the sanctity of it even in the most direst of situations.
Then begins the process of coming out of denial and accepting the crimes that were committed under the guise of war. Killing is murder whether on a battle field, in a jungle or in an alleyway. It can never be justified no matter who pulls the trigger.

To accept the crimes that have been committed, takes a great heart. To look in the eye of the person who has committed the crimes and forgive them, takes an even greater heart. But that is the only path to peace. Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days. Most of the dead were Tutsis - and most of those who perpetrated the violence were Hutus. This goes down in recent human history as one of the worst genocides ever committed. That conflict has ended and by most accounts Rwanda has made a come back from the brink through the process of Truth and Reconciliation. Victims and perpetrators have looked each other in the eyes acknowledged crimes, forgave and moved on to a better tomorrow.
It is not that Rwanda's problems have gone away for good, but they certainly have taken a step in the right direction and there is a lesson to be learned. South Africa has walked on this path and has achieved a civil society they can be proud of. They by no means have reached the promised land, they have just decided to give healing a chance out of fatigue and weariness.

In my last blog I talked about the horrors being unleashed on Gaza and how it had to stop. A report in the New York Times today (January 13, 2009) states that while the world opinion sees Israel's actions to be disproportionate their citizens overwhelmingly support this offensive. I find that hard to believe. No person in their right mind can support the killing of innocent civilians as "Collateral Damage". I find it hard to accept. And the only way I see out of this conflict is through the process of Truth and Reconciliation. That process has to begin now. I do not know how but it will have to begin for the sake of the children of Israel, Palestine, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Congo, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, North and South Korea, Iran, Georgia and the world.

We have to talk to everyone involved. No matter how hard it may seem. For the sake of our children common ground must be found. Diplomacy and compromise is the only way out. The alternative is just not acceptable. We have to talk to those we call terrorists and those we shun as dictators. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Some might call this a naive approach, the fact of the matter is the alternative is not working. It is what it is.