A Time to Forget
“Lest we forget”, a term originally from a Rudyard Kipling poem
used to remember the sacrifices of soldiers of WWI, has now become a phrase
equally associated with remembering the horrors of the Jewish Holocaust, along
with the term “Never Again” from a 1927 poem, Masada, by Yitzhak Lamdan.
“Lest we Forget” was the title of a 1921 exhibition in
UNESCO Paris, of photographic portraits of Holocaust survivors. Jean-Baptiste
Lemoyne, French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, said the exhibition “illustrates
the very tangible dimension of Nazi barbarity, which was not executed
abstractly but targeted men, women and children, each with their own story and
singularity.” Ironically the fear associated with that trauma which every Jew
is encouraged to remember, is used to justify the actions we see in Gaza today
which also target “men, women and children, each with their own story and
singularity.”
It raises the question of how should we remember the past
and what of it should we remember. More importantly how can we forget and move
forward into a more positive world of coexistence. Japan’s response to the horror
of atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in which at least 200,000 died
instantly and many more from continued after effects of radiation, has been a
call to ban nuclear weapons. South Africa responded to decades of apartheid
massacres with a Truth and Reconciliation Committee and today both white and
native South Africans work side by side.
There are countless examples of wars and genocides
throughout history, most of which do not remain in the collective memory beyond
a couple of generations. Are these memories erased over time or was there a
conscious decision to tap into social resilience for a better future? The opposing
sides of the French Revolution, the American Civil War and WWII found some
common ground to set aside their differences leading to prosperous societies
that have developed mechanisms to deal with any new challenges that arise. Reconciliation is easier when there are
shared values and more complex when the opposing sides differ greatly,
especially over religion, race and language.
The rigid demarcations of the modern nation state not only
split communities but also created justifications for exclusion or inclusion of
social groups, current examples of which are India and Israel. The argument of
Historical Rights is problematic and clearly has no place in a world whose
people are constantly on the move. Would it be acceptable for the Aborigines
who arrived in Australia 65,000 years ago, to expel all Europeans? Should the Picts of Britain deny the Angles,
the Saxons, the Normans and the Jutes the right to call themselves British
because they lived there before? The further back in history we travel, the
more nomadic is the nature of human society.
In his article ‘How to Forget the Unforgettable?’ philosophy
professor, Ciano Aydin, explains Nietzsche’s concept of “active forgetting” –
not the fading away of memories, but rather a positive and active force to
separate past trauma in order to step into a positive future. Nietzsche says
that "without forgetting it is quite impossible to live at all." Aydin says “a culture can become stronger and
flourish or it can become weaker and disintegrate. A necessary requirement for
it to flourish seems to be the power of active forgetting.”
Not sublimating collective trauma locks people in the past.
Sometimes it is perpetuated by leaders, as we see with Netanyahu and Modi, to keep
the resentment alive, inevitably perpetuating the cycle of cruelty against
others.
In the words of Nelson Mandala “In the end, reconciliation
is a spiritual process, which requires more than just a legal framework. It has
to happen in the hearts and minds of people.” “It is kindness and accommodation
that are the catalysts for real change.” “I am not truly free if I am taking
away someone else’s freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is
taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their
humanity.”
History should be remembered not to keep wounds open, but to
generate mutual understanding, to carry forward collective knowledge. The
future of human society is intertwined as never before, whether for economic
prosperity, tackling climate issues, health, education or the exchange of
cultures.
Durriya Kazi
December 15, 2023
Karachi
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