Denis Hurley dies

The Roman Catholic Emeritus Archbishop of Durban, Denis Eugene Hurley, died on Friday at noon after returning from a religious celebration. He was a veteran anti-apartheid activist and human rights champion. He will be missed.

Therapy with New Labour

Sent an article by Catherine Bennett entitled "We'll move on when we're ready, Dr Blair" to my mailing list recently, I simply couldn't resist...very amusing...all about Blair, closure and wanting to move on too quick, "therapeutic language" and government, forgiveness, etc....read it...you'll see...

Back in Belfast

I am now, after a very short and cold visit, back in Belfast. The conference on reparations was fascinating. It was very good to be exposed to the broad range of topics concerning the reparations issue from slavery through to individual human rights violations.

Government dismiss Tutu's support for Reparations

Sapa and Christelle Terreblanche report that: The government is dismissive of Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu's support for reparations cases brought before United States courts by apartheid victims. If Tutu had discussed his concerns with the minister of justice, who asked the court in July to dismiss the suits, he would have had a clearer understanding of the position of the government, its chief spokesperson, Joel Netshitenzhe. More...

I'm in Canada at a Reparations Conference

I am now in Canada at a Conference focusing on the issue of reparations. It is hosted by the Department of Philosophy at Queens University in Kingston. The conference is entitled, Reparations: An Interdisciplinary Examination of Some Philosophical Issues. I will be presenting a paper on the process so far in South Africa, but the conference will have a wide remit considering issues from reparations for colonialism through to reparations for human rights violations.

Retributive justice: The Gacaca courts in Rwanda

I haven't read this yet, it was recommended to me by Cornelia from Trauma Research Net. I thought I would post it anyway...looks interesting. The article is written by Allison Corey and Sandra F. Joireman. The abstract reads: "After decades of cycling violence between Hutu and Tutsi groups in Rwanda and Burundi, violence peaked in 1994 with a genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda, during which the Hutu majority slaughtered 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus, leaving the country with 120,000 accused génocidaires awaiting trial. Rwanda's gacaca courts were established as a response to the backlog of untried genocide cases. These courts disturbingly distinguish between genocide and war crimes committed during the same era, trying only those accused of genocide. This article argues that the gacaca process will contribute to the insecurity of all Rwandan citizens in the future, since it pursues inequitable justice, accentuates the ethnic divide and will be interpreted as revenge". More...