"It was then and is now more than ever my belief that a fragile democracy is strengthened by expressing for all to see the deep dramas and sorrows and hopes that underlie its existence and that is not by hiding the damage we have inflicted on ourselves that we will avoid its repetition...
"How can those who tortured and those who were tortured coexist in the same land? How to heal a country that has been traumatized by repression if the fear to speak out is still omnipresent everywhere? And how do you reach the truth if lying has become a habit? How do we keep the past alive without becoming its prisoners? How do we forget it without risking its repetition in the future? Is it legitimate to sacrifice the truth to insure peace? And what are the consequences of suppressing that past and the truth it is whispering or howling to us? Are people free to search for justice and equality if the threat of a military intervention haunts them? And given these circumstances, can violence be avoided? And how guilty are we all of what happened to those who suffered most? And perhaps the greatest dilemma of them all: how to confront these issues without destroying the national consensus, which creates democratic stability?"
(Ariel Dorfman, "Afterword," in Death And The Maiden)
*******
I just finished reading the play after years of having watched its Roman Polansky's cinematographic version ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109579/) I'm thinking of the many ways that a militaristic mindset has installed itself in the mentality of many. Perhaps people just don't want to face the hard questions, such as the ones Dorfman struggled with as he went about re-imagining a post-Pinochet Chile. Perhaps that's the reason why we have coups d'etat in Paraguay, and right wing death squads in Colombia, and violence everywhere.
"How can those who tortured and those who were tortured coexist in the same land? How to heal a country that has been traumatized by repression if the fear to speak out is still omnipresent everywhere? And how do you reach the truth if lying has become a habit? How do we keep the past alive without becoming its prisoners? How do we forget it without risking its repetition in the future? Is it legitimate to sacrifice the truth to insure peace? And what are the consequences of suppressing that past and the truth it is whispering or howling to us? Are people free to search for justice and equality if the threat of a military intervention haunts them? And given these circumstances, can violence be avoided? And how guilty are we all of what happened to those who suffered most? And perhaps the greatest dilemma of them all: how to confront these issues without destroying the national consensus, which creates democratic stability?"
(Ariel Dorfman, "Afterword," in Death And The Maiden)
*******
I just finished reading the play after years of having watched its Roman Polansky's cinematographic version ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109579/) I'm thinking of the many ways that a militaristic mindset has installed itself in the mentality of many. Perhaps people just don't want to face the hard questions, such as the ones Dorfman struggled with as he went about re-imagining a post-Pinochet Chile. Perhaps that's the reason why we have coups d'etat in Paraguay, and right wing death squads in Colombia, and violence everywhere.
