THE FORGIVENESS FACTOR /• I Iirsy
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THE FORGIVENESS FACTOR /• i iirSy- yy:,!8 ^ ' V- THE Forgiveness Factor: Stories ofHope in a World ofConflict MICHAEL HENDERSON CrfcAuxVl I ; ■ .i 5s> l^ij Grosvenor Books USA Grosvenor Books, London Grosvenor Books USA Available from: Grosvenor Books, London Grosvenor Books 3735 Cherry © 1996 by Grosvenor Books. Avenue NE All rights reserved. Salem, OR 97303 USA Printed in the United States of America. Grosvenor Books 12 Palace Street London, Library of Congress Catalo£fin£f-in-Publication Data SWIE 5JF UK Henderson, Michael. The forgiveness factor : stories of hope in a world Grosvenor Books 226 Kooyong Road of conflict/ Michael Henderson Toorak, VIC 3142 p. cm. Australia Includes bibliographical references and an index. Grosvenor Books P O Box 1834 ISBN 1-85239-024-7 Wellington I. History, Modern—1945- 2. Ethnic rela New Zealand tions—Moral and ethical aspects. 3. Pacific settle ment of international disputes. 4. Diplomatic nego MRA Books tiations in international disputes. 5. Forgiveness. I. Suite 500 251 Bank Street Tide. Ottawa, Ontario D842.H46 1996 K2P 1X3 909.82-dc20 96-24605 Canada CIP Dedicated to Lawson and Mary Wood, without whose carefor ourfamily this book mi^ht never have been written. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Born in England, Michael Henderson is a freelance journalist and radio commentator now living in Oregon. He is a recipient of national and local awards for his radio commentaries and newspaper columns. Books by the author FROM INDIA WITH HOPE EXPERIMENT WITH UNTRUTH A DIFFERENT ACCENT ON HISTORY'S COATTAILS HOPE FOR A CHANGE ALL HER PATHS ARE PEACE CONTENTS FOREWORD Rajmohan Gandhi ix FOREWORD Joseph V. Montville xiii PREFACE xix SECTION ONE Healing the Postwar World 1 1 Caux: Forming a world conscience 3 2 Bridges over the Rhine 18 3 North Africa: Dialogue of decolonization 37 4 Japan: Struggle for the soul of a nation 59 5 Prisoner 8231 74 SECTION TWO No End to History 85 6 Cambodia: After the killing fields 87 7 From Russia with hope 106 8 Southern Africa: Forgiveness as policy 124 9 Europe: The ethnic crisis that disappeared 148 SECTION THREE Unselfish Capitalism? 161 10 New aims for management and labor 163 11 Initiatives from below: Saving an industry 176 12 Initiatives from the top: Leveling the corporate playing field 181 SECTION FOUR People Power 195 13 America's unfinished business 197 14 Citizen-diplomats around the globe 215 APPENDIX Bjemaking the World:Frank Buchman and Moral Re-Armament 256 BIBLIOGRAPHY 279 INDEX OF PEOPLE 283 Vlll FOREWORD Rajmohan Gandhi Sometimes history, selective history, gets us by the throat, threat ening revenge and breathing new life into a chain of oppression and retaliation. Here, however, in this book on the possibility and power of forgiveness, courtesy of Michael Henderson, we have a selection of facts from the recent past that do the exact opposite: They kindle the hope that we may yet catch history's hand and guide it along calmer, safer pathways. I marvel at the array of Henderson's evidence of reconciliation between bitterly divided groups. What is the invisible spark that, seemingly sudden at times, unites humans who had vowed death and humiliation to each other.!" Is it composed of forgiveness offered or asked.^ Of pity for survivors? Of a willingness to pause and reflect? Of an unexpected glimpse of the enemy in oneself, or of oneself in the enemy? Of an abrupt awareness that great ness was designed for us? Of an unexpected recollection of a long-forgotten mercy we had not merited? Is it a mystery linked to the Grace of God? Henderson does not spell out his answers. Neither does he seek to reduce the real-life episodes in this book to a set of rules or steps. Reflecting readers may arrive at different conclusions. I think, however, that most will link the episodes to current head lines, and some at least may wish to see the spirit informing the episodes invoked over today's divides. Michael Henderson's standing as a monitor of our times with an eagle eye for the gallant act is almost unique: I find it hard to Rajmohan Gandhi is an author, research professor at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and a former senator. IX Foreword think of others who have shown his perseverance over the decades—come wind, come weather—in spotting shoots of hope and describing these shoots, as well as the soil against which they struggle, to the large numbers who read, hear, or view him. To be associated with his latest book is a privilege. It is also how I felt in 1977 when, in responding to my request, Hender son wrote Experiment With Untruth, a scrutiny of India under the 1975-77 Emergency declared by Mrs. Indira Gandhi. That valuable book illuminated, for the world and for Indians, a dark phase in a country that prizes democratic rights. In the years that followed, Henderson wrote regularly for the weekly Himmat that I was editing in Bombay, and he and I have found ourselves working together for reconciliation in different parts of the world. I also feel moved as I pen these lines because of Henderson's English origins, which in his speech and demeanour are as unmistakable now, after the quarter century he has spent in the United States, as they were when I first met him in Germany almost forty years ago. I cannot for long be with a Briton—^whether physically or in the mind—^without remembering that for about two hundred years Britain ruled over India. This rule did not commence at the invitation of Indians; neither did they ask for its continuance. If, in the process, Britain did several useful and indeed remark able things in India, it did not remove either the resentment that Indians felt at being held against their will, or the humiliation at being held by relatively small numbers of aliens. The fact of inde pendence in 1947 did not fiilly dissolve these feelings. Recently I was in the city of Kanpur in the North Indian province of Uttar Pradesh. In Kanpur had occurred some of the most painful killings of 1857, the year of the mutiny by Indian soldiers employed by the British. Many perished in the violence, women and children as well as men, whites as well as Indians. The Mutiny, as the British called it, or the First War of Independence, as some Indians think of it, was effectively suppressed. In Kanpur I sought out some of the Rajmohan Gandhi graves of 1857's victims. One epitaph I lingered with was to Judge Thornhill, his wife, and two children. It said: "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him." In contrast with several of I857's British victims, few of the Indians killed that year appear in diaries, letters, or epitaphs. Though each had a face, a name, hopes, a personality, and loved ones, these are now beyond recall. All we have are the numbers of Indians hanged, shot, and bayoneted in that year. Born twelve years later, my grandfather Mohandas Gandhi— the Mahatma—led a nonviolent struggle that sought India's free dom without having to hurt a single Briton. The result was cor diality in independent India's relations with Britain, but it cannot be claimed that Britons and Indians have together acknowledged the past, or wholly agreed on it. Why does grief trigger in one the emotion of revenge, and pity in another? Every episode related in this book by Henderson sparks such a question. We edge back in our chairs, stare at the horizon, wonder about the workings of a heart that decides to forgive, and ask if our heart is similarly capable. We also ask other questions, and wonder whether, in practice, trust is likely between whites and blacks in the United States. Between Hutus and Tutsis, Indians and Pakistanis, Arabs and Israelis. Between the world of the West and the world of Islam. These are formidable questions, yet we can, it seems to me, draw a little confidence from democracy's triumphs over totali tarianism in the last six decades. A great price was paid for these triumphs, and there were long spells of waiting and suspense, yet in the twentieth century history has more often than not seemed to side with decency. Nevertheless, to this day, thick walls of blame and suspicion segment our global village. Vast and detailed information is at our fingertips; we touch a button and the world emerges on the TV screen; but evoking friendliness from the ethnic Other—or even an estranged family member—seems as hard as ever. Thus, though we are awed by it, the Information Highway will not heal history's wounds. There is a limit to what facts can xi Foreword achieve; as a religious fundamentalist friend said recently to me, "Never mind the evidence, I will only believe what I want to believe." All the same, Henderson's history suggests that men and women may be drawn to a Reconciliation Highway. May these narratives of courage and faith be widely read! I think they will inspire at least some acts of bridge-building. New Delhi, May 25, 1996 Xll FOREWORD Joseph V. Montville SCIENCE AND FAITH COME TOGETHER This book is easy to read and full of stories of self-searching, modesty, quiet courage, and unacknowledged successes in resolv ing conflict. The protagonists are real people, and the tales are deeply human and appealing. The men and women described in The Forgiveness Factor qualify as spiritually motivated, sympa thetic people who, unlike third-party outsiders, are often full- fledged members of one ethnic group in conflict with another.