From Memory and the Landscape of Violence in Post-Genocide Cambodia, "Commemoration is often used as a tool to create, erase, or reinvent an official history and collective memory, and thereby utilized to justify present forms of social representation and political presence" (Tyner et al. 856). One of the key points brought up is that the official story and reality are often times different and don't truly express those who were affected. A lot of governments tend to create memorials in order to hide the guilt or blame that has been brought upon them. In the case of Srebrenica, there is a strong sense of denial or exaggeration of the numbers involved. "In the absence of a societal consensus on the historical fact and moral delinquency of past violence, the possibility looms even larger that this violence will be repeated" (Srebrenica Memorial Center 2023).
Links about Srebrenica:
Another example that I learned about and was mentioned in class was Argentina's Dirty Wars. In my previous class, we primarily focused on advocacy groups such as the Abuelas and Madres de Plaza de Mayo. Groups such as these are important in keeping the memory of these events alive in order to prevent them from happening again. A reading that we focused on involved a woman involved in the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo who got connected to her 'disappeared' grandson. After finding out about his true identity, he was able to connect with his grandmother and his Argentine identity. They state, "With the aging of the Abuelas, the grandchildren know that they will be the ones to carry out the project in the future. And the search will grow even more complex" (Cholakian Herrera 2020). Through continued attempts to raise awareness of this event, the Abuelas have been successful in reuniting family members and ensuring that the search will continue.
https://assets.editorial.aetnd.com/uploads/2019/03/mothers-of-the-disappeared-getty-496009048-feature.jpg
Both of these events have led those who had been affected to rise up and stand their ground for justice to be served. While there are now memorials and organizations made, it was and has still become difficult to raise enough awareness to ensure that reparations are made. Before these classes, I was unaware that either of these tragedies had occurred. As mentioned in class, it is important to recognize events like these and truly understand those who are represented and those who are forgotten. What are some other ways that we can ensure that events like these don't happen again and how many other incidents have already been forgotten?
https://srebrenicamemorial.org/en
https://www.icty.org/en/search-results?as_q=srebrenica
https://www.hrw.org/report/1995/10/15/fall-srebrenica-and-failure-un-peacekeeping/bosnia-and-herzegovina
Links about Dirty Wars:
https://www.abuelas.org.ar/
https://www.history.com/news/mothers-plaza-de-mayo-disappeared-children-dirty-war-argentina
References:
Cholakian Herrera, L. (2020). Decades After Argentina’s Dictatorship, The Abuelas Continue Reuniting Families. Latino USA. https://www.latinousa.org/2020/03/24/abuelascontinuereuniting/
Srebrenica Memorial Center. (2023). DENIAL. srebrenicamemorial.org. Retrieved October 1, 2023, from https://srebrenicamemorial.org/en/page/denial/29
Tyner, J. A., Alvarez, G. B., & Colucci, A. R. (2012). Memory and the everyday landscape of violence in post-genocide Cambodia. Taylor and Francis Online. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14649365.2012.734847
Wagner, S. (2010). Tabulating loss, Entombing memory: The srebrenica-potočari memorial ... Semantic Scholar. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Tabulating-Loss,-Entombing-Memory:-The-Memorial-Wagner/6fe144a227996910069191ff7ae197be9cb18ad6
This is really interesting! The "disappearing" of it all reminds me of the mass deportations and parental separations that occurred under Trump's administration. There was a "zero tolerance" policy that he enacted in an effort to locate and deport individuals in America without documentation. This policy separated over 5000 children from their families with no paper trails or documentation to find each other. This is something that is still very recent history. At the same time, it is something that many are actively trying to forget or ignore.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to think about how things like mass separations and disappearances have been happening in multiple places and at multiple times. But forgetting means that these families will never have closure or be reunited.
Article: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-a-trump-era-policy-that-separated-thousands-of-migrant-families-came-to-pass
After Zero Tolerance Documentary: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/after-zero-tolerance/
You ask: What are some other ways that we can ensure that events like these don't happen again and how many other incidents have already been forgotten?
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that we need to be vigilant, more informed about our own country and the new worldwide which is not easy. Often, not because we don't care but because we get involved with our own personal world and have no time for these larger issues. I think we in the US are particularly guilty. Often we believe that we are the "good guy" but we are as involved and guilty of so many horrible policies and situations. It takes a lot of time and effort to remain informed. I am heartened that you and other young people are interested and caring and hopefully can make a difference.
It always shocks me when acknowledging that genocide, mass killing, and massacre still happen somewhere in the world. It’s hard to believe that in modern society, where we are heading to a peaceful, co-existing, and developed world, political or religious leaders still want to use inhuman actions to achieve their goals. Searching more on “Srebrenica massacre”, I found out, “Some Serbs have claimed that the massacre was retaliation for civilian casualties inflicted on Serbs by Bosniak soldiers from Srebrenica under command of Naser Orić” which is apparently an excuse, exactly how the Khmer Rouge made the excuse for Cambodian genocide: for making the way to a utopian communist society. (I was also shocked that five years after the Srebrenica massacre had taken place, from 1995 to 2000, Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center and Cemetery were built. It took a long time to do that simple but essential work) There is no rationale for killing innocent people. So yes, I agree that we need to make these brutal events more aware using all tools available, like memorials, education, public rituals, commemoration, etc., to ensure these things never happen in the future.
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This post is great. It really tackles the ideas of contested space and memory and who gets to carry on the memory, how and why? I did not know about either of these events. I like how you touched on the class readings to further support your point. Especially in the area where you are talking about the government using memorials as a way to deny or ignore what happened and shift the blame away from them or the perpetrator. I think pretty much every government does this and it is extremely disheartening and frustrating and I'm sure even more devastating for the people who knew someone that got taken from them or the people who did get taken or murdered. We have seen the US do this many times and probably will continue to do this. I think it is important that you touch on these events and the government hiding stuff that made these people stand up for justice and rise up. That is very inspiring. It is very heartwarming to see a bunch of people coming together for justice. We need way more of this. So much more. It is also really important that you said who will be remembered and who will be forgotten? That is a huge theme in contested spaces and memorials.
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