Violence, Conflict and Memory

These words are related to the surpassing of our capacity to solve human affairs in the public arena. It is understood that the uniqueness of human beings makes the comprehension of the messages we send to each other when we meet subjective, and elusive, and therefore the encounter between us –precisely the origin of the public- becomes inherently charged with conflictivity. Conflict is thus a protean term that may have positive connotations, although we haven’t made clever use of it; perhaps because it is easy to fall into the imposition of ideas by force, which implies violence and this is always the first to occur among the issues defined by the three words. When the excess is so violent that The Conflict becomes a proper name –as is the case in Colombia, Palestine, Syria– the only way out –Hanna Arendt warned us– are agreements and pardon. However, neither one may occur without the help of the miraculous balm of bitter ingredients that is memory.