AFTER VIOLENCE: 3R, RECONSTRUCTION, RECONCILIATION ...

position, then bring them together to celebrate a joint approach
A basic problem arises when the symmetry breaks down. Their
acts may be enactments of structural positions, but in different
structures, and from different positions in the same structure.
And yet soldiers forced to kill by different states nevertheless
enact the same state war logic to fight, unless they both become
conscientious objectors. And even if the landowner may prefer to
keep the land of his ancestors and not yield to the landless, he
may also be brought to see that position as untenable. The same
applies to culture: people may be hit by violent aspects of the
same culture, or violent aspects of different cultures. In either
case the peace worker's task is carefully and tactfully to open
the eyes of the parties to the peaceful aspects.
[2] The reparation/restitution approach. X has harmed Y, X is
conscious of his guilt, Y is conscious of the trauma. X comes to
Y and offers reparation/restitution: I'll undo the harm done by
undoing the damage, repairing, restituting, restoring the status
quo ante. At the simplest level--a tenant buying a new vase for
the vase broken to the most complex level of countries and
alliances at war with each other--money, goods and services start
flowing to undo the damage. Sometimes the relation is direct,
sometimes via institutions like insurance companies (e.g., for
damage done to cars in accidents; countries are not yet insuring
against damage in wars). But, as any house- or car-owner knows:
there is also the time lost in the process, with opportunity
costs. Reparation must always be at a higher level than the
replacement cost.
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