Ending injustice and oppression? This is the world without end EAO and as long as we exist here there will never be an end to injustice or oppression. Working and living against them are the greatest part of our journey. There is no substitute for the lessons of evil. And what value would mercy have if it were broadcast to the wind like chaff? Hardend hearts will spit in the face of mercy and deride the forgiving as weak and foolish. Many of these hard ones have lost all sense of the humane. There is only one answer to evil and that is relentless resistance and determined prosecution. Now is not the time for magnanimous forgivness for repeat offenders.
I understand your viewpoint. But ending Apartheid is more important than punishing people for it. Sometimes you can't have both.
The TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) was set up in terms of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act, No. 34 of 1995, and was based in Cape Town. The mandate of the commission was to bear witness to, record and in some cases grant amnesty to the perpetrators of crimes relating to human rights violations, reparation and rehabilitation.
Committees
The work of the TRC was accomplished through three committees:
* The Human Rights Violations Committee investigated human rights abuses that occurred between 1960 and 1994.
* The Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee was charged with restoring victims' dignity and formulating proposals to assist with rehabilitation.
* The Amnesty Committee considered applications from individuals who applied for amnesty in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
Public hearings of the Human Rights Violations Committee and the Amnesty Committee were held at many venues around South Africa, including Cape Town (at the University of the Western Cape), Johannesburg (at the Central Methodist Mission), and Randburg (at the Rhema Bible Church).
The commission was empowered to grant amnesty to those who committed abuses during the apartheid era, as long as the crimes were politically motivated, proportionate, and there was full disclosure by the person seeking amnesty.
To avoid victor's justice, no side was exempt from appearing before the commission. The commission heard reports of human rights violations and considered amnesty applications from all sides, from the apartheid state to the liberation forces, including the African National Congress.
A total of 5 392 people were refused amnesty and 849 were granted amnesty, out of 7 112 petitioners (there were a number of additional categories, such as withdrawn).
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Without the amnesty component, I doubt the TRC would have successfully ended SA Apartheid. People would have lied to protect themselves. Its true that some people got away with murder... literally, but the truth came out and the true horror was revealed. People finally found out who did what to whom and the victim's families got closure.
The problem with atrocities on this scale is that people who live on the privileged side have no idea of the level of suffering on the unprivileged side. They never see it, let alone experience it. Evil remains obscured by lies, misinformation and propaganda. But as soon as the people responsible start confessing to save their asses from prosecution, the truth is exposed in plain sight and the scale of the crimes becomes undeniable. At which point, the system of oppression and injustice crumbles and collapses.
Truth is what finally conquered South African Apartheid and truth is what will eventually conquer Israeli Apartheid.
