(PDF) (DOC) (JPG)May 17, 2012

(MAHWAH, NJ) – On May 17, 2012, the Gross Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies in cooperation with the New Jersey State Commission on Holocaust Education and with funding from the Gumpert Foundation and the New Jersey State Department sponsored a Gumpert Teachers’ Workshop, “Transitional and Transformative Justice in the Aftermath of Genocide.” Held at Ramapo College, it was attended by 64 educators from New Jersey and New York.

As noted in Center Director Michael Riff’s welcoming remarks, the workshop intended to interject a note of hope into studying the Holocaust and Genocide. Namely, according to Riff, societies from Germany and Yugoslavia to Peru and Rwanda have often already introduced judicial measures in tandem with restorative measures as part of their quest to come to terms with and transcend their tainted pasts.

Speaking on behalf of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, Executive Director Dr. Paul Winkler emphasized that teaching about Transitional Justice had the added benefit of opening up classroom discussion about individual responsibility, standing up against bullying and improving interpersonal behavior.

Ramapo Professor of Political Science and International Studies Dr. Rebecca Root delivered the keynote lecture to introduce the topic. Her masterful and highly acclaimed presentation, began by examining the subject conceptually before elaborating on the efforts in Peru to right the wrongs of the Fujimori regime (1990-2000) and the nearly two-decade long struggle against the Shining Path insurgency. She concluded by attempting to draw some lessons from the Peruvian experience:

• Efforts at Transitional Justice function best when the offending regime is swept from power;
• Prosecutions should accompany truth commissions;
• In societies having experienced “wars on terrorism,” popular opinion may still tolerate human rights abuses in favor of reconciliation;
• Transitional Justice is the start of a process that necessarily involves a decades-long quest for truth, justice, reconciliation, and reform.

Dr. Root elaborates further on these issues in her recently completed book, “Transitional Justice in Peru,” to be published in the fall by Palgrave Macmillan. Dr. Root has a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts. At Ramapo, she teaches Political Science and International Studies, with a special focus on human rights. She also serves as convener for the minor in Human Rights and Genocide Studies.

Equally well received was Sharon Van Blijdesteijn’s hands-on presentation on how to bring the subject matter of transitional and transformative justice into the classroom. A Social Studies Teacher at Milburn High School, she made it clear that one of her aims in teaching about genocide generally is to foster student involvement and engagement. In this context, she identified several reasons why teaching the aftermath of genocide is important:

• To bear witness;
• To prevent cycles of violence;
• To reduce prejudice and send strong anti-bullying/antiviolence messages;
• To foster character education in teaching the importance of an apology and taking responsibility for one’s actions.

Like Root, Van Blijdesteijn used a well-conceived PowerPoint presentation to lay out her learning strategy using the acronym DETER: “Defining key terms (Genocide/Justice), Essential questions, Teaching framework, Emotional connection, [and] Resources.” She concluded her remarks with a series of poignant quotes, including one by former German President Richard von Weizsaecker: “Anyone who closes his eyes to the past is blind to the present. Whoever refuses to remember the inhumanity is prone to new risks of infection.”

Sharon Van Blijdesteijn has been at Millburn High School for eight years where she teaches World History, Global Issues, and Economics. For the last three years she has served as the chair of the Holocaust Remembrance Day Committee and has worked to transform the event into a broadly focused Genocide Awareness Program, including both survivor testimony and student-led discussion. Van Blijdesteijn holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree (with Distinction) in Political Economy from the London School of Economics where her graduate research focused on philo-Semitism in Eastern Europe during Post-Communist Transition.

Following a break for lunch, two survivors of the Rwandan Genocide reflected on the route their country has taken since the murderous events of 1994. Telesphore Kagaba, who was a teacher and interpreter at the time of the genocide and is now an Immigration & Refugee Services Case Manager at Catholic Charities in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, assessed the efficacy of the Gacaca traditional village courts in bringing perpetrators of the Rwandan Genocide to justice. Given the enormity of the problem, with 761,000 potential cases waiting to be resolved, Kagaba ventured the view that the system, by engendering a significant measure of justice and reconciliation, has been a qualified success.

The second survivor to speak was Eugenie Mukeshimana who founded and now serves as Executive Director of the Genocide Survivors Support Network, a charitable organization based in South Orange, New Jersey, whose mission is to help genocide survivors rebuild their lives and use their voices to educate the world about the crime of genocide.

She spoke about how closure still remains elusive for many of the genocide’s victims. While acknowledging that the Gacaca courts have played a role in the process of recovery, she emphasized that Rwandan society has been irrevocably damaged. Many thousands of women were raped and children were left without families. Survivors and perpetrators have been forced to live in their villages and somehow co-exist with one another.

Moreover, even in the wake of punishment by Gacaca courts, victims still live in fear and find it difficult to continue as if nothing had ever happened. They often also continue to be afraid of their former tormenters. As a consequence, some survivors have felt it necessary to seek political asylum in the United States and Europe. Still, as Mukeshimana noted in closing, most victims have regarded their ability to re-build their lives in the face of great adversity as the best form of revenge.

Judging by evaluations completed by participants, the workshop was extremely well received. Not only were the presentations of high quality, but so too were the lively and well-informed discussions that followed them.

 
 

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