Never Again! What Does This Mean?

664

QUESTION OF THE DAY

‘Never Again’ is the slogan adopted by the TRRC. This slogan however has different interpretations. Gambians must interrogate what it means in order to build a consensus in order to transform the slogan into reality.

The first meaning attached to the slogan is the prevention of atrocities that outrages the human conscience. All human beings are in agreement that such atrocities should not be perpetrated against any other human being. However, they persist. This is why we must move to the next stage of finding out the circumstances which give rise to such atrocities.

Alienation is a common source of breeding conflict. One such alienation is a byproduct of the exercise of might to deprive another of a right or to teach a person a lesson of past wrong doing. The desire for revenge remains in the hearts of the alienated. Hence injustice must be prevented and redressed in a just manner that sooths the heart of those who suffer injustice or perpetrate it. Gambians must therefore contemplate the outcome of the TRRC and prepare the template that will help us to build a country where all those who suffer wrong would feel that redress has been done and all those who did wrong would be repentant and would feel justly treated so as to harbour no ill feeling against anyone. Then the slogan ‘Never Again!’ would have meaning.