At the end of this century there are so many occasions, so
many residues of the most violent of times, that challenge the
very idea of forgiveness—residues personal, political,
social, and cultural. The harms are vast and yet close to
home: alcoholism takes its toll on relationships, divorce
undermines love, parental harshness and abuse create generations
of problems for offspring, addictions of every sort turn
humans into caged spirits. Additional and even greater
challenges include infidelity, breaking public promises,
political power plays, torture, genocidal slaughtering
of races and tribes, civil and cultural wars, ancient
enmities—Northern Ireland, Bosnia, the Tutsis and Hutus,
the Shiite and Suni Moslems, the settlers and African immigrants
in South Africa, indigenous populations against the dominant
culture. The open violence and rapaciousness of human enmity can
be viewed now in the displacement of masses of people in Kosovo.
Said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata,
about the Kosovo crisis: “It is frightening …
that this century, as in its darkest hours, should end
with the mass deportation of innocent people.”
Die Afrikaanse prosa, 1918 - 1926: brandpunt van die geboorte van ’n nuwe bewussyn
