Archbishop Tutu remarks that a nation divided during a repressive regime does not emerge suddenly or spontaneously united when the time of repression is passed … neither can anyone have the power to say ‘Let bygones be bygones.’ After all, a commonly shared traumatic or violent experience indicates that the past, far from disappearing or being forgotten, is embarrassingly persistent and will return unless it has been addressed with adequately.
Absolutely Nagas need to address their legacy of conflict and create space where the hurts can be acknowledged so that the healing process can begin. As Nancy Good Sider put it, in order to forget one must first remember. It is imperative to address the legacy and scars of protracted conflict – and especially armed conflict in a meaningful and appropriate manner. We have all contributed to this condition at various levels by complicity, inaction, apathy or by direct involvement.
In the course of protracted struggle people have come to experience both roles as a victim and offender or perpetrator. This raises how the questions of acknowledgement and forgiveness can be addressed in individual and collective terms. In situations of protracted conflict where an entire society has been affected, in order for an inclusive reconciliation to take place, having a sense of collective responsibility, collective acknowledgement and collective forgiveness have to be included.
Recognizing that one is capable of doing the same things that their opponents or oppressors have committed, it is important to first reconcile within oneself. Indeed forgiveness is not reasonable – it needs something more than reason to evoke it – it needs grace that comes from the Creator of all life.
Walter Brueggemann indicates that the compassion of Jesus is to be understood not simply as a personal emotional reaction, but as a public criticism in which he dares to act upon his concern against the entire numbness of his social context. He continues to say that compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural, but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness. The compassionate person also is able to have empathy and genuine feelings for the ‘other.’
For the sake of the future, a process must be initiated where hurts and wrongs committed by Naga people on Naga people in the name of the Naga people can be addressed in a meaningful and restorative way. This would be a significant step in an ongoing process to address political hurts within the Naga socio-political fiber so that collective healing can take place.
Similarly, economic justice and poverty has to be addressed. Those who have wrongfully profited from the conflict need be held accountable, and the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ needs to be narrowed in order for the healthy growth of a just Naga society. Both victor’s justice and victims’ justice are rooted in the Naga struggle for self-determination and can emerge from the people with survivors’ justice that only liberates the both the oppressed and the oppressors. This is possible through engaging with sincerity, compassion and empathy.
