Communal guilt

Petar (pvodogaz) has written an extensive comment to my Monday notes post, earlier today. He specifically commented on the decision by the Australian PM-elect, Kevin Rudd, to apologise to the aboriginal people of Australia, for the way they have been treated in the past. Petar raises an interesting slant on this, in that individuals may not feel it incumbent on themselves to be part of this apology.

I would like to discuss it further by placing it in a broader historical perspective, but in doing so am liable to cause offense. I want to state in advance that none is intended.

There are several historical parallels to be drawn in the case of the Aboriginals.
First of all, the Native Indian people of America. The Spanish Conquistadores slaughtered and brutalised them under the pretext of a religious imperative. European settlers fought them, and treated them equally like savages. Having subjugated them by the end of the 19th century, the Indians were stuffed into reservations and treated like the last-rate citizens. Their land was taken from them, their culture destroyed. I have yet to hear an apology from the US administration, although it was in fact genocide on a stupendous scale. It happened a long time ago, and nobody alive today was involved in that. Still, the United States carries a communal guilt in this field, which they are not prepared to confront.

Many of the conflicts in the world today are born of colonial rule by European powers, Great Britain, France and Portugal being the prime suspects. The legacy of British rule in particular can safely be described as catastrophic. I am talking about Pakistan and India, at perennial loggerheads for 60 years, nuclear powers in opposition to each other. I am talking about the Middle East, a colossal mess far, far worse than India, which was left in total disarray after the British pulled out at the end of the first half of the 20th century. I'm not expecting an apology soon from the governments in London, Paris or Lisbon.

World War II left two nations with a gruesome legacy to come to terms with. Germany, which has the death of tens of millions on its conscience, as well as Japan. The barbarity of both regimes is well documented. There have been a few expressions of regret from the government in Bonn, latterly Berlin. Very little has been forthcoming from the Japanese, who were not so utterly vanquished as the Germans were. Emperor Hirohito was relieved of his status as deity, but never faced a war crimes tribunal, unlike leading surviving figures in the Nazi regime in Germany.

Saying sorry for past misdeeds does not undo the past. Apologising is about recognising by present generations that a wrong has been done by the nation in the past. I appreciate that legal repercussions may ensue of an apology in the case of the Aboriginals.

I headed my post Communal guilt, as that what this is about. This is not about individuals, this is about a nation. In my personal opinion, it would show Australia as a matured nation, that is prepared to stand up for its actions.