 |
At the doom of historyHistorical memory is troublesome. Often imperfect or false, it can perpetuate and worsen a conflict. The old man, crying over his ruined house, on the cover of the magazine, could be Albanian in Kosovo, a Serb in Belgrade, an Arab in Palestine. He could symbolize a Sudanese or a Ugandan, a Burmese, a tribesman in the Amazon, or anyone anywhere. He is a victim of inhumanity, but it was history that doomed him. They are anonymous people, victims of violent conflicts, which every few years shake a nation's life somewhere around the world. The reasons for the conflicts are usually similar - territory, natural resources, civil rights, religion, the ethnic cultures of the state. Conflict can start from simple hatred of the "other", wrapped in a justification of ancient fears. The photographs taken at the scenes of conflict are amazingly similar - weeping, hunger, ruined buildings, hands pleading for help, eyes wide with pain and horror for a life rapidly packed up into a few bags, children’s stares frozen in astonishment at the hell that stole their world. The pictures tell the same story everywhere - suffering, loss and the emptiness of an abyss opening under fleeing feet. The picture captions merge into the same message - a mantra of chaos. |
|
An attempt to delve into the roots of conflicts gives birth to another sad conclusion about their similarities - the troublesome role of historical memories, often imperfect or false, in perpetuating and worsening conflicts. The recent example of Kosovo shows again how terrifying can be the impact of historical memory - a 600-year-old battle comes crashing into the 20th century, bringing chaos. The humiliation and atrocities of a 1389 battle in which the Ottoman Turks had defeated the Serbs, remains a collective trauma deeply imprinted in the memory of the people in the area. This historical memory has been so vivid that it has been easily used to fuel fears and hatreds in the present when the fragile unity of Yugoslavia disintegrated. History itself has led to the torture, persecution and banishment of innocent citizens accused of re-planning the deeds of abusers of 600 years ago. There is little doubt the new horrors and the animosity born of these days can be imprinted again into the historical heritage, ready to trigger the next round. Ireland has carried the burden of its historical memories for 800 years, reinforced again and again into the modern Northern Ireland conflict.
|
