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Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History after Genocide and Mass Violence
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First published January 1, 1998
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About the author
Martha Minow
36 books13 followersMartha Louise Minow is an American legal scholar and the 300th Anniversary University Professor at Harvard University. She served as the Dean of Harvard Law School between 2009 and 2017 and has taught at the Law School since 1981.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 15, 2021
Mass atrocities are not given publicity by the governments who commit them. Torture, mass murder, loss of limbs and property and rights, while often made invisible to the world because of media and public silence, fester. But modern communications and the nature of governance in democracies allow these underground social pustules of seething resentment and generational losses eventually to burst. Loudly. My words, not Martha Minow's, the author of 'Between Vengeance and Forgiveness.'
Vengeance, forgiveness, and violence during and after government-condoned terrorism, as well as whether monetary compensation and other types of reparations are appropriate afterwards and how much monetary awards should be are a problem for many democratic governments and moral adjudicators. These issues from the viewpoints of officials and victims and moral adjudicators and historians are concisely described in Martha Minow's 'Between Vengeance and Forgiveness.'
Minow's book is written in an academic 'just the facts' manner, condensing published opinions and history of what various governments have done in resolving victims' pain. She goes into depth in only a few historical events of recognized government terrorism of its citizens in abbreviated detail and what was done to make amends - the Nuremberg trials of Nazis, the South African Truth Commissions to reveal apartheid horrors, and America's reparations and public acknowledgement of the injustice of the imprisonment of American-Japanese citizens during World War II. She discusses what happened at the conclusion of these imperfect attempts at resolving victims' pain and losses. All viewpoints are aired. The obvious failures and successes of each solution are academically gone into in some depth.
For victims, these issues are not as thorny as they are for governments. Black and white thinking prevails for victims. If victims are very religious they tend to try to forgive and try to forget, and want to move on. If not, well.
Gentle reader, the truth is often some victims want revenge, retributive violence and reparations to be made whole. Of course, this leads to another round of victims, revenge and violence. Perpetrators have no reason to help victims expose their crimes, especially if criminal acts involved the perpetrators enriching themselves. Governments and psychologists and the morality police of various institutions try to end the cycles of violence even if injustice results and remembered resentments continue for a few generations. Again, these are my words. The author writes in a more modulated and nonjudgmental discussion of facts and professional opinions.
It is very clear to me psychiatric care should ALWAYS be included in whatever solutions are decided on. However, psychiatric care is almost NEVER provided to victims in official acts.
Victims also sometimes surprise with what they want in reparations. The author describes indigenous tribes asks for their land back, taken hundreds of years ago. Or survivors who want health care only, such as the woman asking for the removal of bullets from her vagina. Or of relatives only wanting tombstones for their dead.
How does one make good on plundered artworks, cash or family artifacts or bones? Museums are among those institutions caught in blowback. Banks are secretive about accounts and rented boxes full of stolen items, as are government "free-trade zones" where warehouses which store goods are at many ports of entry, including the United States, created for rich people and wealthy businesses to escape a nation's taxes and tariffs.
Apologies are enough for some. There have been apologies by governments such as England to Ireland for the 1845-1851 potato famine, Australia and Canada for kidnapping Aboriginal children, Japan to the sufferers of World War II, East Germany to survivors of the Holocaust, a Pope for the violence of the Reformation.
The best outcome of all of the above is maybe only correcting the historical record. Full stop. Examples abound: Bosnia, Rwanda, Argentina, Cambodia, Armenia, and others not in the book, such as what is happening to the Myanmar Rohingya or America's reverence for Civil War heroes of the South, who were people who advocated slavery and sedition. I don't think Americans have yet come to terms with our actions in Vietnam. Land mines are still maiming Vietnamese citizens, as is the genetic damage from Agent Orange.
Governments have usually opted to sweep horrible events and government-condoned crimes under rugs of concealment. When governments are forced to acknowledge horrors and injustices, at least those governments which are democracies, they try slowly, often fifty to a hundred years later, to make amends. For victims such public acknowledgement is a complicated fix. Many governments experience pressure from other governments to curb their abuses or choose victim reparations that include democratic and Western values, such as abolishing the death penalty, or serving arrest warrants on criminals and having speedy trials, or simply recognizing human rights violations. The jury is still out on whether international criminal courts or Truth commissions have much effect other than correcting the historical record. NGO's can definitely claim successes in revealing the crimes of governments.
IDK. I take comfort in that Humanity tries to be better. Sort of. In fits and starts, right?
The book has an extensive Notes section (50 pages!), and an acknowledgements and Index section. 'Between Vengeance and Forgiveness' is a fantastic book! I recommend it with great enthusiasm.
Vengeance, forgiveness, and violence during and after government-condoned terrorism, as well as whether monetary compensation and other types of reparations are appropriate afterwards and how much monetary awards should be are a problem for many democratic governments and moral adjudicators. These issues from the viewpoints of officials and victims and moral adjudicators and historians are concisely described in Martha Minow's 'Between Vengeance and Forgiveness.'
Minow's book is written in an academic 'just the facts' manner, condensing published opinions and history of what various governments have done in resolving victims' pain. She goes into depth in only a few historical events of recognized government terrorism of its citizens in abbreviated detail and what was done to make amends - the Nuremberg trials of Nazis, the South African Truth Commissions to reveal apartheid horrors, and America's reparations and public acknowledgement of the injustice of the imprisonment of American-Japanese citizens during World War II. She discusses what happened at the conclusion of these imperfect attempts at resolving victims' pain and losses. All viewpoints are aired. The obvious failures and successes of each solution are academically gone into in some depth.
For victims, these issues are not as thorny as they are for governments. Black and white thinking prevails for victims. If victims are very religious they tend to try to forgive and try to forget, and want to move on. If not, well.
Gentle reader, the truth is often some victims want revenge, retributive violence and reparations to be made whole. Of course, this leads to another round of victims, revenge and violence. Perpetrators have no reason to help victims expose their crimes, especially if criminal acts involved the perpetrators enriching themselves. Governments and psychologists and the morality police of various institutions try to end the cycles of violence even if injustice results and remembered resentments continue for a few generations. Again, these are my words. The author writes in a more modulated and nonjudgmental discussion of facts and professional opinions.
It is very clear to me psychiatric care should ALWAYS be included in whatever solutions are decided on. However, psychiatric care is almost NEVER provided to victims in official acts.
Victims also sometimes surprise with what they want in reparations. The author describes indigenous tribes asks for their land back, taken hundreds of years ago. Or survivors who want health care only, such as the woman asking for the removal of bullets from her vagina. Or of relatives only wanting tombstones for their dead.
How does one make good on plundered artworks, cash or family artifacts or bones? Museums are among those institutions caught in blowback. Banks are secretive about accounts and rented boxes full of stolen items, as are government "free-trade zones" where warehouses which store goods are at many ports of entry, including the United States, created for rich people and wealthy businesses to escape a nation's taxes and tariffs.
Apologies are enough for some. There have been apologies by governments such as England to Ireland for the 1845-1851 potato famine, Australia and Canada for kidnapping Aboriginal children, Japan to the sufferers of World War II, East Germany to survivors of the Holocaust, a Pope for the violence of the Reformation.
The best outcome of all of the above is maybe only correcting the historical record. Full stop. Examples abound: Bosnia, Rwanda, Argentina, Cambodia, Armenia, and others not in the book, such as what is happening to the Myanmar Rohingya or America's reverence for Civil War heroes of the South, who were people who advocated slavery and sedition. I don't think Americans have yet come to terms with our actions in Vietnam. Land mines are still maiming Vietnamese citizens, as is the genetic damage from Agent Orange.
Governments have usually opted to sweep horrible events and government-condoned crimes under rugs of concealment. When governments are forced to acknowledge horrors and injustices, at least those governments which are democracies, they try slowly, often fifty to a hundred years later, to make amends. For victims such public acknowledgement is a complicated fix. Many governments experience pressure from other governments to curb their abuses or choose victim reparations that include democratic and Western values, such as abolishing the death penalty, or serving arrest warrants on criminals and having speedy trials, or simply recognizing human rights violations. The jury is still out on whether international criminal courts or Truth commissions have much effect other than correcting the historical record. NGO's can definitely claim successes in revealing the crimes of governments.
IDK. I take comfort in that Humanity tries to be better. Sort of. In fits and starts, right?
The book has an extensive Notes section (50 pages!), and an acknowledgements and Index section. 'Between Vengeance and Forgiveness' is a fantastic book! I recommend it with great enthusiasm.
May 25, 2019
I read a lot about genocide. It's very depressing, but it's kind of also my job. What I mean to say is, I don't really recommend these books to anyone. I'm just filing it in here for my personal record.
September 25, 2009
This is the first book I read for a Justice and Reparations course. Minow is a law professor at Harvard and wrote this book in such a way that made the language of human rights law accessible to all (even people like me!). A great introduction to ways of dealing with mass atrocity and exploring levels of forgiveness.
February 14, 2009
This book is ok for what it does. But it doesn't do much. It specifically looks at three state-based ways to deal with the aftermath of mass violence. Those would be trials, reparations or truth commissions. What was completely lacking is an affirmation of people and civil society's agency in creating a solution to mass violence. In Minow's conception, everything is dependent on the state. This is very problematic on several levels, most obviously when the state is the purveyor of the mass violence attempting to be addressed. I found this extremely disappointing.
July 27, 2009
It's hard to make a book about societal response to genocide a page-turner, but Minow is thorough and accessible for an (educated) lay audience. A useful introduction to many types of post-conflict responses in (trials, reconciliation, forgiveness, etc), with historical examples, honestly weighing the pros and cons of each. Extremely useful for anyone interested in what really happens after contemporary war and conflict, as opposed to the "bad guy's dead, roll the credits" paradigm in films, even "historical fiction" films. Painful and frustrating at times but also fascinating.
February 26, 2009
Was a required text for my international political law class. It was extremely intriguing and powerful.
August 28, 2013
Great details on how history on the guilt of nations. In depth and a good reference to strengthen your humane approach in seeing things.
March 8, 2019
ExGB. Get the ebook version.
December 18, 2024
So fascinating one of my favorite books I've read on transitional justice
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May 20, 2011A rather dry and technical discourse on the differing paths of trials, truth commissions and reparation/restitution during the period immediately following mass violence or genocide.
July 5, 2016
A really interesting look at the ways in which crimes against humanity have been or can be addressed. Lots of food for thought.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews