Suchergebnisse

THE PRESENT CULTURAL FOCUS ON HEALING THE WOUNDS OF WAR THROUGH A RECONCILIATION BETWEEN VIETNAM VETERANS AND NON-VETS, WHILE LONG OVERDUE, RISKS SUSTAINING CONVENTIONAL FOREIGN POLICY OBJECTIVES-FOR EXAMPLE COLD WAR ANTI-COMMUNISM--IN ITS ATTEMPT TO TRANSCEND THE POLITICS OF VIETNAM. INDEED, IT TENDS TOWARD RECONSTRUCTING THE 1960S AS A PERIOD OF SELF-INDULGENCE, MORAL COWARDICE, AND FADDISM. AS SUCH, THE PRESENT RECONCILIATION, IN ADDITION TO RECONSTRUCTING THE HISTORY OF THE 1960S ALONG NEOCONSERVATIVE LINES, PERPETUATES THE INVISIBILITY OF "THE OTHER," THE VIETNAMESE. A RECONCILIATION WHICH IGNORES THE VIETNAMESE AND SMEARS THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT YIELDS AMBIVALENCE RATHER THAN HARMONY IN LEAVING UNRESOLVED THE ESSENTIAL FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES. TO PUT VIETNAM BEHIND US WE MUST COME TO GRIPS WITH WHAT MUST BE CALLED OUR IMPERIAL PAST. TO BUILD A GLOBAL AND HUMANE FUTURE, INCLUDING A GENEROUS RECONCILIATION BETWEEN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE, WILL REQUIRE A STRENUOUS REJECTION OF THE PAROCHIAL AND ETHNOCENTRIC MYTHS OF INTERVENTIONISM. IT WILL REQUIRE A RECONSTRUCTED PATRIOTISM COMPATIBLE WITH SELF-DETERMINATION FOR ALL NATIONS. IT WILL MOST OF ALL, REQUIRE A REJECTION OF A DANGEROUS BIPARTISANSHIP NOSTALGIC FOR THE PRE-VIETNAM COLD WAR CONSENSUS. FINALLY, RECONCILIATION CANNOT TRANSCEND POLITICS; ESSENTIALLY, IT IS POLITICS.

Peace initiative of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan; implementation since Jan. 1987.

Focuses on political dimensions of the concepts, with perspectives from different cultures and overview of different types of reconciliation; international in scope; 9 articles. Contents: Acknowledging history as a prelude to forgiveness, by Michael Henderson; Sociopolitical forgiveness, by Cristina Jayme Montiel; Rethinking our sorrow, by Mark Gibney; Views on forgiveness in Northern Ireland, by Frances McLernon, Ed Cairns, and Miles Hewstone; Rebuilding social trust in Northern Uganda, by Timothy Murithi; Towards a culture of reconciliation in divided Korea, by Roland Bleiker; Khmer Rouge and national reconciliation, by Chea Vannath; From hatred to hope, by Mark Flanigan; Making peace with myself, by Jenna Jordison.