From Truth to Transformation: South Africa

Clearly we have already received all the information we are likely to get from the government of George W Bush, mostly in the form of the 911 Commission report.

And indeed, if information implicating the government's hand in the attacks became

verifyable publicly, what effect would it have on our citizenry? Would it create chaos and do more harm than good?

An alternative to established legal systems, which are often influenced or controlled by the political elite, is the Truth and Reconciliation process. While it is also imperfect in its form and limitations, this kind of process might be beneficial in the case of the 911 attacks, and their aftermath. The following is an excerpt from an interesting and very readable article on Truth Commissions. I hope you find it useful.

Web address for the full article: http://www.wits.ac.za/csvr/papers/papbhsk.htm

From Truth to Transformation: South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

by Brandon Hamber & Steve Kibble

Truth commissions

"As a result (*of show trials which have done little to bring forth full disclosure of human rights violations and actions of governments against their own people), since the early 1980s the concept of the truth commission has gained prominence as a mechanism for elucidating history and addressing human rights violations. Argentina's National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons 1983-84 began the process, and the 1993 report of the UN Commission on the Truth in El Salvador, From Madness to Hope, sharpened the focus on truth recovery processes. There have been at least 15 truth commissions since 1971.

The South African TRC is a sophisticated truth recovery process. It began its first hearings in April 1996 in East London in South Africa's Eastern Cape chosen because it was the site of intense repression in the 1970s and 1980s. It was also the home of Steve Biko who died in police detention in 1977. The TRC has attracted extensive national and international attention. This is partly because of its scale, reflected in the sheer number of cases it dealt with and the resources at the commission's disposal.

It is also partly a reflection of the high international profile of the struggle against apartheid. But more importantly perhaps, the TRC has also thrown into sharp relief the widely divergent issues and conflicting interests that require balancing in a process of political transformation. It is the first commission to deal practically with amnesty as a compromise between the polar opposites of blanket amnesty and judicial prosecution.

In the words of the TRC's chair Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the commission represents a compromise 'between those who want amnesia and those who want retribution'. It has also come under the international spotlight because it has tried to learn and incorporate lessons from the strengths and weaknesses of other truth commissions. "

* This statement is my own summary of previous paragraphs in the article