As difficult as it is for me to reconcile this with the painful memories of individuals, groups, and entire nations, I believe that the preservation of the democratic system is most important in these fragile transitions to democracy. Obviously, with the examples we\u2019ve seen in class, whether it\u2019s Pinochet\u2019s lifetime appointment to the Senate or survivors seeing their torturers on the street, these are personal, emotional, and painful individual experiences that no person should ever have to endure. People might make the argument that if the country has moved into a democracy and the majority of citizens feel that these torturers and murderers should be prosecuted, then the will of the people should reign. However, the issue here is that most of these states are in a quasi-democratic period where democracy is extremely fragile, and the threat of military intervention still looms over the nation. In these cases, any legal action taken against the former regime could result in the collapse of the current system and the reinstatement of the old.<\/p>\n
As a result of this threat, I find the best course of action to be encapsulated in the quotation, \u201cNeither amnesia nor vengeance\u2014justice!\u201d In this case, as we discussed in class, justice is never forgetting; justice is truth. Truth about the horrors of the old regime, truth about the state-sponsored violence that was once accepted, truth about every individual involved in these heinous crimes, truth like in Brasil: Nunca Mais<\/em>. Survivors can find solace in having the world know their stories and they can be hopeful that this remembrance will ensure that it truly does not ever happen again. This is by no means the best solution for survivors, but if democracy is the second-best solution, then, for better or for worse, sometimes we have to forego the moral in favor of the practical to ensure the health and prosperity of democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As difficult as it is for me to reconcile this with the painful memories of individuals, groups, and entire nations, I believe that the preservation of the democratic system is most important in these fragile transitions to democracy. Obviously, with … Continue reading