Communicating Reconciliation in Today's World

Mark D. Alleyne

The idea that high schools and universities are bastions of enlightenment that will lead the struggle against racism and other pathologies that cause war has seen its day and now needs to be rethought or even discarded. This provocative, polemical suggestion is not likely to be welcomed at the United Nations where that basic idea was the inspiration for its creation, its Department of Public Information (DPI), and its specialized agency covering education, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Chris Arthur

The French painter Henri Matisse believed that ‘The four sides of a frame are among the most important parts of a picture.’ Frames confine. It is important, as the following article argues, to consider how a point of view is framed by ‘elements of tradition, culture, politics, economics and other shaping participles of particular perspective’. Only by doing so can we learn to see, understand and communicate with less bias and more effect.

There are many calls for international conventions to protect the rights of different groups of people, especially those who have been marginalised or discriminated against by global politics and economics. But conventions in themselves are not enough. In order for them to work they have to be implemented, respected and monitored to ensure that agreements are respected at all levels. The following call is for a convention to promote and protect the rights of people with disabilities and enhance equal opportunities for their participation in mainstream society.

Alyda Faber

‘If we could ever get around to touching each other, it wouldn’t be a bad thing,’ says Sylvia, a character in Mike Leigh’s film Bleak Moments. It is in such oblique ways that human compassion and moments of connection are often expressed in Leigh’s films. Secrets and Lies offers more reconciliation and resolution than his films usually give us, but like his other films, it evokes enduring human habits of estrangement. Since these habits of estrangement are recalcitrant to full and final transformation, reconciliation is necessarily made up of fragmented yet real acts of repair that must occur again and again.

Geneviève Jacques

‘Reconciliation is not an event. It is a way of life. Reconciliation is a process if you look at it in a biblical sense. But for many reconciliation has been “cheapened”, because it is given a populist, religious meaning by people who do not want to face the really tough questions and to go to the heart of the matter.’ Dr Villa-Vicencio, speaking from experience as one who accompanied the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa from beginning to end, sets the tone of the reflection offered in the following article.

Mel Lehman

Great controversy surrounds the UN’s imposition of sanctions on countries that ignore its Security Council Resolutions. Some countries have impunity: Israel, for example. Others suffer dire consequences, as the following short article on Iraq demonstrates.

Ian S. McIntosh

The year 2000 marks the culmination of the ten-year long process whose purpose was the achievement of a true and lasting reconciliation between Aborigines and non-Aborigines in Australia. Orchestrated by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, the goal of the process has been a united Australia that celebrates its indigenous heritage and provides justice and equity for all. The question is: Has this goal been achieved?

Francis B. Nyamnjoh

The media have a duty to promote what Africans have in common and to play down what divides them. If they bring to the fore what divides, unity is endangered. This implies that if a certain politics or way of playing politics is such that it divides or jeopardises African unity, it is incumbent on the media to condemn it, even at the risk of being silenced. Playing this role effectively implies much work on the part of media practitioners. Since one cannot inform, educate or facilitate something one knows nothing or little about, journalists and other media practitioners must seek to inform and educate themselves on Africa, its realities and its peoples. They must really know Africa and Africans, and be able to write or report meaningfully about them. Ignorance cannot spread knowledge; all it brings is arrogance, and a marriage between ignorance and arrogance is the worst fate that can befall African unity.

Rolando Pérez

Para quienes venimos trabajando desde aquella practica comunicativa sustentada en los valores cristianos y que busca abrir caminos democráticos desde la ciudadanía, el proceso político al que asistimos recientemente los peruanos - y que concluyó con la elección ilegítima del actual presidente Alberto Fujimori - nos ha suscitado una serie de reflexiones, que intentaré expresar en el presente artículo.

Paul A. Soukup, SJ

Reconciliation has existed for as long as two people have contradicted each other or struggled for domination. In the Christian era, as the following article clearly shows, reconciliation took centre stage. Theology today sees communication as a fundamental element of the process of reconciling an individual to his or her own community or to God.