The Past is a Foreign Country

In my piece for The Times of Malta (11.VII.2018), I argue that one cannot get over painful memories of the past by re-writing history. Rather, only a purification of memory can help to heal the great conflicts of history:

"To judge historical events, we must divest ourselves of the prejudices of the present to critically reconstruct the environment, the thought patterns, the economic conditions and the social dynamics in which events took place.

There is a degree of solidarity – a ‘relationship of reciprocity’ – between past and present. Those who committed acts of wrongdoing still affect the lives of individuals in the present. In this context, whitewashing or rewriting of history won’t help.

To purify memory from wilful distortion, ideology and partisanship, one has to work towards “eliminating from personal and collective conscience all forms of resentment or violence left by the inheritance of the past”."

The full piece may be read on the Times of Malta website by clicking here.