THE UNDEAD PAST-HOW NATIONS CONFRONT THE EVILS OF HISTORY
It would be a crime not to acknowledge the input of the decorated Gideon Rose, Editor Foreign Affairs on this one where he explicitly questions on how nations deal with the sins of our fathers and mothers. Imagine the scars of genocide , slavery or politician mass murders, xenophobia and apartheid.
I have never spoken German language but i read from his publication that they call it Vergangenheitsbewaltigung which means coming to terms with the past.
I may have been very young to have detailed information on what led to the 1996 mass strike action , during that period of time i was a prime of my youth days and i remember one cloudy day without my parents concerns i joined the toy toy from Mbabane bus rank to Coronation Park. I was not part of the struggle and i was not affiliated to the Swaziland Students Association but because i saw a lot of young boys who were i would relate to and were from my township Msunduza and Moneni leading the pack , i joined. Despite the meaningful contribution but i remember i was part of history and little did i know that the mass action would have devastating effects on our daily livelihoods.
We had to live for two weeks without electricity, water, bread, milk etc. This was the difficult times of our lives and the recent protest action left me crunching the whole day praying that history should not repeat itself. Let us hope the government and everyone in the negotiating table would consider that this the last term for our school going children and it is the term which shall determine if they pass to the next grade or not.
Let them further consider that the demands of the Cost of Living is not only affecting the protesters but everyone within the Public Service Payroll and thus it does to be shifted to those who are feeling wrath of the scorching rays of the sun.
Political Science scholars shall recall on the current Russia/China problematic responses to Stalinism and Maosim respectively. The world is still trying to find an official soft pedaling of the Soviet's regime's horrors , combined with patriotic celebration of Russia's authoritarian past.
If I may also take it from Sisonke Msimang a Eswatini born, Zambia, Kenya and Canada raised but educated in the United States who has contributed to Foreign Affairs where she had been casting a cool eye on the Republic of South Africa 's truth -and reconciliation process, arguing that although it provided a useful public forum for victims to find answers and perpetrators to seek forgiveness, it failed to dismantle the enduring structuring racial and economic inequalities of apartheid.
For the world not learning much on the past experiences, worst practices are easy to identify : denying what actually happened. best practices are more scattered, but one country leads the field.
Germany's crimes ranks with the worst in history .But at least , over time , the right lessons are indeed learned and responsible engagement with the past has become a national tradition.
I have never spoken German language but i read from his publication that they call it Vergangenheitsbewaltigung which means coming to terms with the past.
I may have been very young to have detailed information on what led to the 1996 mass strike action , during that period of time i was a prime of my youth days and i remember one cloudy day without my parents concerns i joined the toy toy from Mbabane bus rank to Coronation Park. I was not part of the struggle and i was not affiliated to the Swaziland Students Association but because i saw a lot of young boys who were i would relate to and were from my township Msunduza and Moneni leading the pack , i joined. Despite the meaningful contribution but i remember i was part of history and little did i know that the mass action would have devastating effects on our daily livelihoods.
We had to live for two weeks without electricity, water, bread, milk etc. This was the difficult times of our lives and the recent protest action left me crunching the whole day praying that history should not repeat itself. Let us hope the government and everyone in the negotiating table would consider that this the last term for our school going children and it is the term which shall determine if they pass to the next grade or not.
Let them further consider that the demands of the Cost of Living is not only affecting the protesters but everyone within the Public Service Payroll and thus it does to be shifted to those who are feeling wrath of the scorching rays of the sun.
Political Science scholars shall recall on the current Russia/China problematic responses to Stalinism and Maosim respectively. The world is still trying to find an official soft pedaling of the Soviet's regime's horrors , combined with patriotic celebration of Russia's authoritarian past.
If I may also take it from Sisonke Msimang a Eswatini born, Zambia, Kenya and Canada raised but educated in the United States who has contributed to Foreign Affairs where she had been casting a cool eye on the Republic of South Africa 's truth -and reconciliation process, arguing that although it provided a useful public forum for victims to find answers and perpetrators to seek forgiveness, it failed to dismantle the enduring structuring racial and economic inequalities of apartheid.
For the world not learning much on the past experiences, worst practices are easy to identify : denying what actually happened. best practices are more scattered, but one country leads the field.
Germany's crimes ranks with the worst in history .But at least , over time , the right lessons are indeed learned and responsible engagement with the past has become a national tradition.
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