66 Closing the Books or Keeping them Open? Contributions to the Bonn Conference on Adult Education and Development (BoCAED) “Remember for the Future” Vanya Ivanova / Matthias Klingenberg (eds.) International Perspectives in Adult Education Sponsored by International Perspectives in Adult Education – IPE 66 The reports, studies and materials published in this series aim to further the develop- ment of theory and practice in the work of the Volkshochschulen (VHS) as it relates to international aspects of adult education – and vice versa. We hope that by provid- ing access to information and a channel for communication, the series will serve to increase knowledge, deepen insights and improve cooperation in adult education at an international level. Published by: Institut für Internationale Zusammenarbeit des Deutschen Volkshochschul-Verbandes (dvv international) Editor: Vanya Ivanova / Matthias Klingenberg Editorial Assistant: Gisela Waschek Production: in puncto druck + medien gmbh, Bonn Opinions expressed in papers published under the names of individual authors do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher and editors. This publication, or parts of it, may be reproduced provided the source is duly cited. The publisher asks to be furnished with copies of any such reproductions. Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at <http://dnb.ddb.de> ISBN Nummer: 978-3-942 755-03-0 © 2011 dvv international dvv international Obere Wilhelmstraße 32 · 53225 Bonn Federal Republic of Germany Tel.: +49/228-97569-0 · Fax: +49/228-97569-55 [email protected] · www.dvv-international.de Our publications are printed on 100% chlorine-free bleached recycled paper. Contents Vanya Ivanova / Matthias Klingenberg Introduction . 3 | Remembering or Forgetting? | Tyrone Savage Closing the Books or Keeping them Open . 7 Jan Robert Schulz Who Fears to Speak of Easter Week . .17 Mike Abrams When the Past Stands in Front of the Present so We Can’t See the Future . 29 | Youth and Adult Education Practices in Processing History | Lisa Freigang / Sascha Rex “What’s that Got to Do with me?” – Political and Historical Youth Education on 20 Years of Peaceful Revolution in Germany. 45 Vanya Ivanova / Violeta Stoycheva Collecting Oral Evidence and Creating Active Citizens . 53 Tatyana Spogar Achieving Reconciliation through Dialogue, Collaboration and Exchange. 67 Alisher Sabirov Oral History and How Youth and Adults Learn from the Past . 75 Contents | 1 | Insights for Sustainable Peace | Helen Rottmann Coming to Terms with the Armed Conflict in Colombia at a Local Level . 87 Nélida Céspedes Rossel Education and Armed Conflict – Never Again! . 99 Kathy Bond-Stewart / Lucia Manychi / Petros Ngingi Community Publishing for Conflict Trans formation and Peace-building – a Zimbabwean Experience . 113 Darko Gavrilovic How to Transform the Post-war Society through Reconciliation: Yugoslavia and Serbo-Croat Relations . 125 Emir Avdagi´c / Britta Schweighöfer Poto˘cari Memorial Site – a Place of Reconciliation? . 137 Emina Bužinkić Educating Croatian Youths on Dealing with the Past: The Method of Experiential Learning in Building Sustainable Peace . 151 List of Authors . 159 2 | Contents Introduction “Don’t struggle with people, with men. Struggle with the goals and conditions that make men fight each other.” Maha Ghosananda This compendium of articles is meant to complement the discussion during the Bonn Conference on Adult Education and Development (BoCAED) on 12th and 13th of December 2011. The call for articles was spread with the support of all the partners of the conference – Academy for Conflict Transformation (Bonn, Germany), the Alliance of Historical Dialogue and Accountability (AHDA), Colum- bia University (New York, USA), and the European Adult Education Association (EAEA). Scholars, educators and practitioners working in the fields of memory studies, peace and conflict studies, and Youth and Adult Education were invited to contribute for the discussion on issues concerning recent violent past and its implications in the present. More and more Youth and Adult Education providers are involved in reconcilia- tion and dealing with past activities, the role of non-formal education in this field his increased in recent years. Actors are involved in broad variety of approaches and contexts, such as nation and identity building, democratization processes, pro- cessing memories, biographical work, eye-witnesses work, getting into terms with the past, how to handle blame and/or denial, etc. This demands a high professional capacity and responsibility from these organizations and the experts working in the field, both on the theoretical and practical level. The compendium and the con- ference itself would like to systematize the experiences made and lessons learned, bridge the existing gap between theory and practice and offer tools on how to deal successfully with these issues. In the volume you will find thirteen articles coming from different parts of the world and covering various topics: Youth and Adult Education methods in dealing with the past, teaching shared memory and violent past, oral history, museums and memorials as educational sites and providers of public education, dealing with the past as a method for peace-building and reconstruction of civil society after violent conflicts and war, achieving reconciliation through dialogue, collaboration and exchange. Introduction | 3 This compendium wants to stimulate an open discourse about the relation of Youth and Adult Education, processing the past and development work. All the articles contained here reflect the options of the authors. Our wish was to bring as many as possible multiperspective approaches for both the publication and confer- ence, aiming at a synergy effect and richer exchange. Nevertheless we are aware that this attempt is a small step toward systematising the experiences gathered and lessons learned, bridging the existing gap between theory and practice and offer tools how to deal with these issues. The editors sincerely hope that the compendium and the related conference will be of interest to professionals, academics, educators, policy makers and the general public alike. Vanya Ivanova and Matthias Klingenberg dvv international 4 | Introduction | Remembering or Forgetting? | Tyrone Savage Closing the Books or Keeping them Open “Closing the books or keeping them open”. It is a dilemma typically found in post- conflict situations in which heinous crimes have been perpetrated. The worst of crimes: those that denigrate the very meaning of what it is to be human and which have been designated “serious” violations and abuses of human rights. And as the brutal chatter of the Kalashnikovs goes quiet, the walls cease their shuddering, and peace descends, it may seem preferable, in the words of the Cambodian Prime Minister, Hun Sen, “to dig a hole and bury the past.”1 The general mood may be one of wanting to forget and of focusing on the urgent need to rebuild schools, bridges, streets, hospitals – the list of needs is usually overwhelming – and put aside memories of the worst of times and the worst of crimes committed in them. Yet for many of those who have suffered gross violation, the war still rages on inside of them – vivid in its detail, brutal in its continuing impact, undeniable in its demand for some sort of recognition, or reckoning, and heartrending in its ques- tions. Who, precisely, is responsible for the atrocious act that tore through my life? How did my loved one die? Where are their remains? How can I let the past now rest? Do I even want to? Societies that neglect or refuse to acknowledge this struggle, to listen to survivors’ questions, their stories, and to respond sympathetically, do so at their peril. One commentator on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda talks of how easily victims become killers.2 And poet Maya Angelou writes, “History despite its wrench- ing pain cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again”. 3 To attempt to close the books on an episode of systemic violence without having tack- led the violations committed is to leave trauma unaddressed, grievance unresolved, animosities intact and highly charged, volatile patterns of conflict unaltered – and the likelihood of a resurgence of conflict, in some form or other, extremely high. 1 Quoted in Youk Chhang, “The thief of history” in International Journal of Transitional Justice. Vol.1, 2007, p.163. 2 Mamdani, M. (2001) When victims become killers: Colonialism, nativism, and genocide in Rwanda. London: James Currey. 3 From the poem by Maya Angelou, delivered January 19, 1993, at the inauguration of President Clinton. www.poetseers.org/contemporary_poets/maya_angelou_poems/on_the_pulse_of_morning/ Closing the Books or Keeping them Open | 7 The need to account for violations and abuses perpetrated in violent conflict has become widely acknowledged in many quarters, leading to the growth of an international consensus that serious human rights violations should not be subject to amnesty. Allow me to digress for a moment to unpack this term, “amnesty”. Es- sentially, it comprises legal measures that have the following effect: a. “Prospectively barring criminal prosecution and, in some cases, civil actions against certain individuals or categories of individuals in respect of specified criminal conduct committed before the amnesty’s