No_Future_Without_Forgiveness_Lessons_f.pptx

No_Future_Without_Forgiveness_Lessons_f.pptx

1. “No Future Without Forgiveness”? Lessons on restorative justice from the SATRC PJS 0150-03 Tufts University Dr. Laura Graham

2. Summary Historical Context What is a truth commission? SA TRC Mandate, Aims and Objectives Reconciliation Focus Findings, Recommendations and Subsequent Developments Criticism Video: Reconciliation between victims and perpetrators? Discussion

3. Historical Context “Apartheid” – segregation 1948-1990 Stripped “colored” and “black” South Africans of civil and political rights. Resistance met with police brutality Opposition groups banned – e.g. ANC Apartheid system gradually came to an end following int’l sanctions and end of Cold War Negotiations between National Party & ANC Democratic elections held 1994 – Nelson Mandela elected President. Interim Constitution passed 1994 Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up to address past human rights abused under Apartheid.

4. What is a truth commission? A truth commission is a body that investigates a country’s past human rights violations – including violations by state actors and/or armed opposition. Focus on the past. Investigate pattern of abuses over time. Temporary body. Sanctioned, authorized & empowered by state ( Hayner , 2002). A truth commission is an ad hoc , autonomous and victim-centered commission of inquiry set up in and authorized by a state for the primary purposes of: Investigating and reporting on the principal causes and consequences of broad and relatively recent patterns of severe violence or repression that occurred in a state during determinate periods of abusive rule or conflict; and Making recommendations for their redress and future prevention (Freeman, 2006).

5. SA TRC Mandate Investigate gross human rights violations perpetrated under Apartheid regime 1960-1994. Violations by the state Violations by liberation/opposition movements TRC could grant amnesty to perpetrators in exchange for full confession. Allow v ictim testimonies: victim-centered approach. Construct impartial historical record. Make recommendations on prosecutions, reparations and institutional reform. Produce Final Report of findings and recommendations.

6. Aims & Objectives “The function of truth commissions, like the function of honest historians, is simply to purify the argument, to narrow the range of permissible lies” ( Ignatieff ). Five Basic Aims of Truth Commissions: To discover, clarify and formally acknowledge past abuses. To respond to specific needs of victims. To contribute to justice and accountability. To outline institutional responsibility and recommend reforms. To promote reconciliation and reduce conflict ( Hayner ).

7. “No Future without Forgiveness” Victim-centered Promote reconciliation Interpersonal: victim/perpetrator Societal: restorative justice Ubuntu – connectedness/relationships Amnesty: trading justice for truth? Rx: Forgiveness & Reconciliation

8. Findings 849 amnesties granted. Government destroyed documentary evidence between 1990-94. Addressed structural violence Named perpetrators and recommended prosecutions against those cases where amnesty was rejected. Produced historical account of causes of violence.

9. Recommendations Recommended reparations Financial - $3500/ yr x 6yrs Symbolic – monuments, museums and days of remembrance community – property/land restitution Institutional reform Public participation Prosecutions Archive work of TRC Public apology from goverment

10. Subsequent Developments Government apology from Pres. Mandela Commission to oversee reparations; task force to oversee exhumations of disappeared. Prosecutions limited. Reparations delayed and less than recommended.

11. Criticism Truth commissions cannot/should not force victims to forgive and/or reconcile with their perpetrators. Reconciliation approaches sacrifice justice. Few successful prosecutions. Victim-centered, but not representative. Re-traumatizing; re-victimizing. No follow through on recommendations for reforms, reparations. (Re)conciliation achieved? Antjie Krog on (re)- conciliation:“There is nothing to go back to, no previous state or relationship one would wish to restore.”

12. Video of TRC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azz- F0mbWP8

13. Discussion What do you see as the strengths/weaknesses of the TRC? After mass violence and genocide, are restorative approaches to justice appropriate? Or should societies strive to achieve retributive/punitive justice? Do you think SA’s victims sacrificed justice for truth? Do you agree/disagree with Tutu’s view that truth commissions should and can promote forgiveness and reconciliation? What are some of the problems with asking victims to forgive perpetrators; societies to forgive government/institutions that have perpetrated mass atrocities? Do you think the amnesty approach is a satisfactory method for dealing with the past for victims, societies, etc.?

14. References Hayner , P. (2002) “Unspeakable Truths: Facing the Challenges of Truth Commissions” Routledge : New York. Philpott , D. (2012) “Just and Unjust Peace: An Ethic of Political Reconciliation” OUP: New York. Tutu, D. (1999) “No Future Without Forgiveness” Random House: London USIP : http://www.usip.org/publications/truth-commission-south- africa Transitional Justice: http://tj.facinghistory.org/reading/history-south-african-truth- reconciliation http://www.rnw.nl/international-justice/article/unspeakable-truths-truth-commissions-and-transitional- justice TRC Report: http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/report/ index.htm

15. Extra Credit 1 Watch the full length video of “Long Night’s Journey Into Day” (available in Tisch Library Media Center) and write a 500 word report answering at least 3 of the following discussion questions: What feelings came forward for you while viewing this film ? What stands out for you most about the film ? From the cases in the film, how effective has the TRC been ? Do you think the TRC has satisfied all the people in the film? Why or why not ? Is there a difference in culpability between the person who commits violence to support an unjust state and the person who commits violence in order to resist state-sponsored human rights violations ? Do the end always justify the means? Should Blacks have foregone the use of force in response to White violence and apartheid even when it may have meant continuing to suffer grave human rights violations ? Would you want to know the details behind a violent crime that affected you in the past? Are there some details you would not want to know ? What is necessary for forgiveness to take place? Is knowing the truth enough? Would you be able to forgive someone after they admitted to a heinous act ?

16. Extra Credit 2 Read Desmond Tutu’s book, “No Future Without Forgiveness” (available in Tisch library) and write a 500 word critical review of the book, explaining how forgiveness and reconciliation are linked to restorative justice and whether you believe the TRC was successful in encouraging personal and societal healing, restoration and reconciliation.