Thought of the Week
8/18/2015 12:08:00 AM
reflections
Jun 9, 2015
The landmark report details accounts of the forced assimilation of aboriginal children and physical and sexual abuse in state-funded, church-run boarding schools. It concludes that what happened at the schools, and the broader aboriginal policy that they were a part of, “can best be described as ‘cultural genocide.’”
The use of the term “cultural genocide” has sparked a furor in Canada’s normally staid public political discourse. Deeply divided opinions have been voiced on the appropriateness of using a term typically reserved of mass killings to describe these historical events.
The polarized reactions that have greeted the Canadian TRC are strikingly similar to the reactions that followed the release of the South African TRC Report a decade ago. Scholars of South Africa often question whether the South African TRC was a “miracle” or model. Can it serve as a model for other countries in the aftermath of serious human rights abuses? Or was it a miracle of the sort that occurs but rarely in the life of nations, dependent on the compelling personalities of extraordinary leaders? The answer seems somewhere in-between.
In their tribute to Nelson Mandela, Justice Sinclair and the other leaders of the Canadian TRC acknowledged that the South African TRC was an inspiration for their work. They stated that their understanding of the purpose and value of truth-telling and reconciliation “owe a great deal” to the South African TRC. Reading through the Canadian TRC Report and its 94 recommendations, the influence of the South African TRC is indeed evident.
As was the case in South Africa, many Canadians have welcomed the Canadian TRC Report as a step towards national catharsis and reconciliation. But as in South Africa where some derisively dismissed the TRC as the “Kleenex Commission” (in reference to the emotional scenes at the Commission’s public hearings), some Canadian have been critical of the Report.
One newspapers contributor commented: “If you want the average Canadian to turn their backs on you, keep using the term ‘Cultural Genocide.’ This is a nonsensical appellation and one sure to get everyone’s backs up. Genocide is what happened in the deliberate and methodical extermination of 6 million Jews by the Germans in WW2 and by the Turks against the Armenians.” The TRC Report need not get anyone’s back up.
This is where I think Canada can learn from South Africa. In South Africa, the TRC did not resolve the complex questions of historical injustices perpetrated under apartheid and opinion remains divided about its record on promoting national reconciliation. What the Commission so effectively did, however, was to provide a forum for open discussions about historical and continuing injustices that had long been ignored or mentioned in hushed tones.
Even amidst the divergent reactions it garnered, the South African TRC Report provided the essential first step in the journey towards coming to terms with a nation’s dark past and charting the path towards reconciliation.
The Canadian TRC Report can play a similar role. It will take the commitment and goodwill of political and civil leaders to push a national program of restitution and reconciliation. Archbishop Desmond Tutu who chaired the South African TRC used Ubuntu, the traditional African notion of interdependent humanity, to legitimize the work of the TRC and to sell its vision of reconciliation to a skeptical nation.
In Canada, a nation that celebrates tolerance and diversity, the TRC Report can provide the foundation of a long overdue program of national learning about a dark chapter of Canadian history.
A first step will be to heed the call of the Report that students in Canadian schools be required to take courses in the history and legacy of aboriginal people and in particular, the history of the residential schools.
Truth and Reconciliation in Canada: Lessons from the South African TRC
6/09/2015 07:50:00 AM
history, human rights
Jan 31, 2015
Winston Churchill has been written into the history books as a heroic wartime leader. His resolute stand against Nazism rallied Britain and the Allies to victory during World War II. But now, a BBC News Magazine story sheds light on his more uncertain and complicated record.
While many may condemn these revisionist accounts of Churchill’s legacies, the lesson here is that all great leaders are products of their time. In the quest for culture heroes, societies often construct one-dimensional narratives about leaders who often lived complicated lives.
We put them on a pedestal and deify them. But our heroes need not be unblemished. If anything, their failures and foibles humanize them and make them more realistic role models. We can emulate their many good sides and learn to avoid what, with hindsight, we now recognise as their not-so-good sides.
Mandela’s legacy as a peacemaker is not diminished by his armed militancy and resort to violence at a critical point in the struggle against apartheid. Gandhi’s humanism and philosophy of Ahimsa (Non-violence) is not diminished by his support for British mobilization of Indian troops during World War I. These aspects of their lives help us better appreciate the realities of the times they lived.
In the same way, drawing attention to Churchill’s racism, anti-Semitism and support for the wartime use of poison gas doesn't make him any less a great wartime leader.
In my book Imperialism and Human Rights, I argued that although Churchill was idolized in Britain and its allies, many African nationalists struggling against British colonialism during the war considered him a duplicitous and die-hard imperialist. I received a lot of flak for this claim.
Winston Churchill: Wartime hero and an Uncertain Legacy
1/31/2015 11:34:00 PM
reflections, war and peace, world
After months of fighting, Kurdish fighters battling the Islamic State jihadists in Syria finally succeeded in recapturing the key town of Kobane. The Kurds defeat of the Islamic State jihadists was widely celebrated as a victory for the forces of moderation and toleration against extremists. Rightly so.
If ever there was a just war, this would appear to be one. But even in this war, there are ultimately no real winners. Everyone involved loses something – lives, dignity, relationships, hope, aspirations, community, property. This Associated Press photo of the “liberated” Kobane tells it all. It could well be a scene from the apocalypse. A remainder that in war, there are no real winners.
More photos below
War has no real winners
1/31/2015 10:29:00 PM
war and peace, world
Dec 19, 2014
On Christmas day of 1914, amidst the ruins and devastation of the First World War, British and German infantrymen declared an unlikely truce. In a story that has come to represent the hope and generosity of the human spirit, soldiers on both sides took a break from war to sing Christmas carols. They left their trenches to exchange pleasantries and gifts in sub-zero temperatures. By some accounts, they even took time to play a soccer match before returning to their trenches to continue the fighting and killing. For a fleeting moment, peace was possible.
As a year defined by global conflicts and social upheavals draws to a close, the holiday season provides another opportunity to reflect on the proclamation “peace on earth and goodwill to all.”
The Christmas truce of 1914 holds 3 important lessons for peacemaking in our world today.
1. Peace is always possible. Even in the darkest moments of conflict and bitterness; even in the hostile and dehumanizing trenches of warfare peace is always a possibility.
2. Peacemaking stands a better chance at the early stages of conflict. Nothing like the Christmas truce of 1914 ever happened again throughout the course of the First World War. As the war progressed, annihilation rather than fraternization came to characterize the conflict. The Christmas truce could only happen at the beginning of the war, before attitudes hardened on both sides of the conflict. As one historian notes, "This was before the poisoned gas, before aerial bombardment … By the end of 1915 both sides were far too bitter for this to happen again."
3. Ordinary people can be effective peacemakers. Peace initiative need not always be top-down; they can come from the bottom-up. The Christmas truce of 1914 was a spontaneous initiative of weary solders in the trenches who desperately wanted a break from war. Had the generals, monarchs and politicians any say in it, the truce would never have happened. After all, soldiers are supposed to be fighters not peace makers. But peacemaking cannot be the sole prerogative of politicians, statesmen and diplomats in conflict situations. The stakes in war are simply too high.
Coalitions of ordinary citizens, even common solders in war trenches, can be the engines of peace-making. Unfortunately, the truce of 1914 was short-lived. But the key lesson for all of us is that the possibilities for peace are often closer than we think.
For more on the Christmas truce see:
A handwritten letter from British soldier Gerald Blake, describing the event as perceived by a participant, one who would later be killed in action. The original letter is held at the McMaster University Library
The Christmas Truce Website
BBC: “What really happened during the Christmas Truce?”
The Forgotten Christmas Truce of 1914
Peace on Earth: Lessons from the Christmas Truce of 1914
12/19/2014 11:22:00 AM
war and peace, world
Oct 31, 2014
I have blogged about human right and social justice since 2007. But I have always understood that the right to freely express oneself through bogging or other social media platform is one that is not equally enjoyed around the world. Raif Badawi is serving a sentence of 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes for blogging in Saudi Arabia. Amnesty International has declared him a Prisoner of Conscience. The freedom of expression is a universal right that should be protected. It is the responsibility of freedom and peace-loving people to continues the struggle to free Raif Badawi and others like him.
Join the Amnesty International Campaign to free Raif Badawi
Free Blogger Raif Badawi
10/31/2014 11:29:00 PM
human rights
Aug 6, 2014
In a recent interview, Christopher Till who is the director of the Apartheid Museum in South Africa talks about the reaction of children and young South Africans when they visit the museum. He noted that many of the children, who were born after the end of apartheid, visit the museum with their parents. What he found most remarkable was how the children interact with each other. After their exposure to the cruelty and brutality of the apartheid system, one question always comes out of their mouths: “What were our parents thinking?”
This speaks volumes. Times have changed. A new generation of South Africans simply cannot wrap their minds around what would have motivated their parents to create or support the cruel and inhuman system of apartheid. "How could our parents have treated other human beings like this?," I can imagine them asking themselves?
There is a lesson here for all us in the positions we take on the key moral questions of today - racism, homophobia, poverty and injustice. What positions are we taking today that will prompt our children to ask incredulously, a generation from now:
“What were our parents thinking?”
This speaks volumes. Times have changed. A new generation of South Africans simply cannot wrap their minds around what would have motivated their parents to create or support the cruel and inhuman system of apartheid. "How could our parents have treated other human beings like this?," I can imagine them asking themselves?
There is a lesson here for all us in the positions we take on the key moral questions of today - racism, homophobia, poverty and injustice. What positions are we taking today that will prompt our children to ask incredulously, a generation from now:
“What were our parents thinking?”
What were our parents thinking?
8/06/2014 08:10:00 PM
africa, history, human rights
Jul 25, 2014
The world is a more dangerous place “than even at the height of the Cold War,” when the threat of mutually assured destruction kept the world’s superpowers in check, says one historian and global security expert.
With fighting between Israel and Hamas flaring once again and adding to what seems like a growing list of conflicts around the world, the threat to global peace is more significant than ever before, says Bonny Ibhawoh of the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.
At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, the United States and Soviet Union were ultimately prevented from engaging in all-out war by the threat of mutually assured destruction, Ibhawoh told CTV’s Canada AM on Thursday.
“But today we live in a world where the weapons of mass destruction are in the hands of militias, insurgencies and so there’s really no control over how these weapons are used around the world,” he said.
During the Cold War, the West had a clearly defined enemy in the Soviet Union and containing Communism was a singular goal.
Now, there are almost too many enemies, Ibhawoh says.
“Fragmented warfare, insurgencies, asymmetrical warfare: That is exactly the problem,” he said, noting that one scholar has coined the term “the democratization of the weapons of mass destruction.”
And unlike the 1960s, when a strong and vocal peace movement tried to drown out the sound of war drums with popular protest songs, activists and artists today are not writing this generation’s “Imagine” or “Blowin’ in the Wind.”
“Today we see that the voices for peace have been drowned out by the voices of extremism and the voices of intolerance and I think that makes us an even more dangerous world today,” Ibhawoh said.
What is also missing today, he says, is grassroots political activism that has the power to push world leaders to the negotiating table to solve conflicts, he said. For example, “a very vigorous grassroots activist movement” in South Africa and around the world helped end apartheid.
“That is missing today,” Ibhawoh said. “And I think that unless you begin to create a space for these kinds of grassroots activism, the prospects for peace in our world are very slim.”
World enduring 'more dangerous times' than at height of Cold War:
7/25/2014 06:29:00 PM
history, politics, war and peace, world
May 7, 2014
#BringBackOurGirls: Let the Outrage Persist
Apr 16, 2014
In one of the many Christmas parties hosted by Virginia and Oktay in their Westdale home, Oktay and I got talking about barbecue lamb. I had suggested to Oktay that I missed the elaborate whole lamb barbecue that I enjoyed so much growing up in Africa.
I asked if he knew of any restaurants where I could treat myself to spicy grilled barbecue lamb. He thought for a moment. He knew of no place where I could find the kind of spicy open-fire barbecue lamb that I craved. Then with that famous twinkle in his eyes he added “…but there is no reason why we can’t do this ourselves.” Really?
Preparing whole lamb barbecue would be a complicated undertaking, I reasoned. Where would we find whole lamb or even a barbecue grill large enough to grill it? “Don’t worry about that” Oktay assured. We could buy whole lamb from a nearby farm and he assured me that a large enough grill could be found. I volunteered to supply the condiments and we planned the event for summer.
But summer came with life’s other events and we didn't get to have our barbecue lamb. At every Christmas party thereafter, we would renew our commitment to the elusive barbecue lamb. At our last Christmas party meeting, Oktay, though frail, was in high spirits. His enthusiasm for our barbecue lamb event hadn't waned and once again we agreed to finally get it done this summer. We never got to it.
Although our meetings were infrequent, each encounter was happy and memorable, filled with laughter and banter. I found much in Oktay to which I could relate. Stories about his Turkish childhood held a particular fascination. Once, during our conversation, he suddenly burst out singing the Scottish folksong, “My Bonnie is over the ocean……” It is a song of my own childhood and it instantly brought me pleasant memories. Oktay was a gentle and personable soul. He will be missed.
Barbecue Lamb with Oktay
4/16/2014 08:22:00 PM
Tributes
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