TRIALS AND (RETRIBUTIONS) RECONCILIATIONS

Nelson Mandela was a brave man. After more than a century of oppression of his people and 27 years of personal imprisonment, he announced there would be no prosecution of the racially motivated crimes committed by colonialists who ran amok during Apartheid. He was not the first to preach reconciliation with a pre-independence regime. More than 10 years prior to his famous speech, one Comrade Mugabe made similar utterances in the capital of South Africa’s northern neighbours.

Meanwhile in Rwanda, right about the time when South Africa got its independence, there was an ethnicity based genocide which saw 1 million lives lost in a space of 100 days. This is a time when each Rwandan citizen had their ethnicity inscribed on their identification. Take a moment to calculate the gravity implied by the average lives lost per day during this period. When there finally was a change in regime and some semblance of peace and calm, justice eventually started taking its course. The justice system was not rebuilt, as whatever system that existed prior to that was not worthy of the title. Instead, it was built from the ground up and at the time, there simply was not enough capacity to handle the cases of the crimes that were committed during the days of madness. We are talking of hundreds of thousands, if not a million, perpetrators of violence, arson, destruction of property and the most heinous crimes of them all, rape and murder.

With an inadequate capacity in the official channels of justice, no doubt some people were tempted to turn to retribution, blood for blood. I am not certain any champion of peace and reconciliation like the Mandelas and the Gandhis of this world could have inspired a shared vision of reconciliation, this situation was simply beyond that. Instead, Rwanda came together as a nation, ethnicity aside, and sought the noble route of fair trials for the perpetrators through traditional courts that aimed to get the whole community to come together, identify and fairly punish the hate crimes that were committed against their countrymen. This path to restore peace and justice still has its benefits being reaped today. It is evident in the political stability they continue to enjoy this day.

22 years later, Britain has voted to leave the EU. That slogan, “Better together”, could have been, nay, should have been solely based on the economic benefits of being a member of the EU trading bloc. But, knowing how human psychology works and people tend to focus on Micro rather than Macroeconomics, it was likely motivated by fear of the unknown and the fear of being isolated as a nation. No doubt the citizens of Britain also had their minds on their loved ones in Europe and how the impending changes to visa requirements and possible restrictions in the current free movement of labour would affect their families and businesses.

Now, not all of us are degenerate gamblers but life is about gambling. We all have to make choices based on imperfect information and (hopefully) educated guesses. At least that is the ideal because in reality, humans are very emotional creatures and tend to rely on their feelings more than they technically should when making choices. So perhaps those who voted for Britain to exit the EU were brave (or other things I care not to discuss on this forum. Yes, I am looking at you xenophobes). Brave because they overrode the evidence that pointed to a likelihood of a worse of economy outside the EU, overrode that sense of belonging and a group mentality that was achievable from being part of the EU, and decided they better of facing the world and a possibly adverse Europe on their own. Perhaps, for some, it was just a temporary moment of madness as a sizeable number of people who voted out woke up to regret when the gravity of their choice sunk in. But the bet was already placed and the games have begun.

Meanwhile in the USA, there is a real possibility that Mr Trump could be the next American president. I personally want to see this happen. It is the age of clowns for president. We had Zuma, who compared taking a shower after sex to washing your hands to cut an onion. I am still struggling to reconcile the two concepts. A journalist responded to that comment by pointing out that HIV and AIDS are a serious problem in the country, a deadly one in fact. Of course Zuma would go on to respond that hygiene was just as big a problem. I have no words to comment on that either. The same way I have no words to express my reaction to some of Trump’s statements. I suppose he figured if you say one outrageous statement, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Instead, say a hundred outrageous statements and that way, people become desensitised to that kind of talk. To all Americans, it is time to place your bets!

As for Britain, the dice are cast and betting is closed. The game is still in play and, sure enough, an independent Britain could be better off; those Brexiteers may deservedly wear their favourite smug faces to work every day if it turns out to that the 23^rd of June is worthy of being labelled ‘Britain’s independence day’. It’s ironic that a significant part of the world spent a century taking turns to be independent of British rule. Trump could even ‘make America great again’. That smug face will forever be imprinted on the world’s most popular currency. Now take a moment to imagine that Trump is voted into presidency and that, together with Brexit, bring the respective countries to ruin. You will be living next to the same neighbours who voted your country to ruin while your beer consumption is dwindling together with the economy. This actually applies to almost every country that was sold dreams by a promising politician. Let’s take it a step further and say each one must wear their vote on their sleeve. How would we treat our neighbours who ‘betrayed’ the country? Do we seek retribution (and restrict them to a vegan diet if they love meat or sentence them to badly made burgers if they were vegetarian), or should we all just reconcile and act like they didn’t vote for someone who said taking a shower can prevent contracting STIs? Jesus Christ.

Democracy, it’s a terrible system unless every voter is educated on the issues at hand and the consequences of their vote.