Truth and Reconciliation Committee

I've been seriously thinking about applying for an internship in Liberia with the Truth and Reconciliation Committee.

I'm not sure why it appeals to me so much, but it's been something I've been fascinated with since I first went to the refugee camp. Liberians have a really different sense of truth and reconciliation than I do - there's this strong tradition of complete forgiveness without accountability. This means that really atrocious war criminals are now elected officials. I have a problem with it - because I believe it destabilizes the country, punishes the innocent (can you imagine if your mayor had raped you and cut off your breasts?), and it just on a common sense cultural level seems wrong.

That's probably right there why it fascinates me so - it's called a "rich point" by Agar in anthropology - something that seems to make no sense. Everything makes sense, so figuring out that sense fascinates me. Plus, one of the mandates of the Commission is to figure out "the truth" and combat falsehoods. I'm all about the truth, and yeah, I can handle it.

And I think that honestly I can add to the process. I can read up on South Africa, Argentina, Rwanda, and Germany and how their processes worked (and didn't). I will encounter, "Yes, but things are different here," and I have dealt with that enough to know how to handle it. ("Yes, and you all suffered war atrocities because that's how things have been here - is that really what you want to suffer again?") I can apply my understanding of Rule of Law.

Based on my past experiences with Liberians, I recognize that I listen well, synthesize issues to move forward, and get a lot done - my galvanizing to action often works. Plus, Dayton's experience as a peace cell leader is valuable. (If we can ever find peace in our relationship. No offense Michele, but I recently wrote that I would prefer being bayonetted in the gut to being in love with a Leo. Y'all are difficult.)

But here's where I think I'm delusional. I've been talking a lot of bayonets and bullets lately, for some reason putting myself in the mindset of the Liberian civil war. I've been telling stories of General Butt Naked (people believe he and his Butt Naked Battallion had magical powers, including that he could shoot bullets from his anus - which Dayton, like other Liberians, actually believes - once again, I love the truth).

On that - from the article, General Butt Naked who killed and tortured so many and is now an evangelical preacher, says, "When he goes out to preach now, he says he sometimes encounters relatives of his victims. "I feel very bad, so bad," he said, but he insists it was satanic powers that possessed him in the past and he cannot be held responsible."

This is exactly what I mean. He should be locked up in prison. He has such a debt to society for the horrible, horrible things that he did - and instead he's hiding under cover of "forgiveness." Where is penance and atonement?

Here's my self-delusion, in two parts.
First, that I can live in a city with people like this running free and not be irate all the effing time.
Second, that I can hear the stories and know the horrible things and not be deeply upset all the time. I couldn't even handle Criminal Law and its tales of parents killing children and date rapes. How can I handle war crimes?

Well, in part because they happened and people must move forward. Denying their existence doesn't make them go away, and suppressing memories of their existence does not help anybody. I'm not saying to make victims relive the atrocities - but I do mean holding accountable the perpetrators.

Much more confusing are the child soldiers - young, mostly males, who got drugged out and committed really violent acts. For them, I am more forgiving - but there MUST be mechanisms within society to provide them opportunities and then enforce that they stay on the straight and narrow. If you've been strung out and killed people and played soccer with decapitated heads and raped and tortured grandmothers, it seems a descent into that again could be dangerous for society. Just, maybe.

I dunno. Maybe I could do it for a month in lieu of summer school courses at The Hague.