Radical forgiveness: transforming traumatic memory beyond Hannah Arendt

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511575419.003

2 - Radical forgiveness: transforming traumatic memory beyond Hannah Arendt

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2009

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

Edited by

François du Bois and

Antje du Bois-Pedain

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François du Bois: Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
Antje du Bois-Pedain: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge

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Summary

INTRODUCTION

‘To err is human; to forgive divine.’ So the adage goes. This folklore about the role of the divine in forgiveness may well be the conventional wisdom and defining mantra framing debates about ‘the unforgivable’ in political and social life. The magnitude of human atrocities, in other words, ‘radical evil’, places these crimes beyond the realm of human intervention – human beings can neither punish nor forgive them; they fall in the province of divine prerogative, only God may judge them. These views, however, may have to be set aside in light of the lessons learnt by our generation, a generation which has witnessed a plethora of public apologies for atrocities by world leaders, from Pope John Paul II, to Bill Clinton and to Jacques Chirac. Expressions of forgiveness by victims of some of the most egregious violations of human rights in the past century seem to gesture us to the position: To forgive is human.

The experience of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has been one of the most profound historical moments at the close of the twentieth century. The days, weeks and months of listening to the testimonies of victims' and survivors' pain and trauma, and of encounters with the terror, depravity and sometimes the brokenness of perpetrators of the most unimaginable crimes, confronted us more closely and deeply with the complexity of the human condition.

Type: Chapter
Information: Justice and Reconciliation in Post-Apartheid South Africa , pp. 37 - 61

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511575419.003 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2009

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