Talk:Russell Tribunal

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[edit] Archive

Any material here prior to my signature has been moved to Archive 2. Please go there if you would like to see the past history of the article. KC9CQJ 04:11, 16 May 2005 (UTC)

For a short history of popular or peoples' tribunals and hearings See "Women Testify: A Planning Guide for Popular Tribunals & Hearings. I. En-gendering Popular Tribunals/Hearings", available online at http://www.cwgl.rutgers.edu/globalcenter/womentestify/chapter%20I.pdf.

The tradition established by Russell and others in 1967 is similar to the 'truth commissions' set up in South Africa and other countries which have suffered from state-inflicted human atrocities. It is, in part, a way of making a record of testimony of people affected by atrocities. This, in a very small, way helps to balance the traditional histories created by state authorities having the power to write their views of history for posterity. Even if no law is created, and certainly there is no power of enforcement, real witnesses can testify, and others can interpret it howsoever they wish. The fact that it is not 'legal' is really irrelevant when viewed in this way. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the world will never have the opportunity to hear these other sides of the stories we hear about on our news. This allows the state-perpetrated myths to predominate.

-To the critical commentator in your archives, why doesn't he/she look into the birth deformities suffered by children born after the Vietnam War. Is this on your news? Is the US free of responsibility for this? This is only the tip of the iceberg of the repercussions of that war [and all war, especially in contemporary times] on a people seeking to be free of foreign domination, and with irreparable fallout on the world's environment, and for what?! .......

There is a wealth of literature on truth commissions, and numerous universities offer law courses in this area of human rights. A sample of some of this literature follows:

Martha Minow, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness (1998)

Rotberg, R.I. and Thompson, D. (eds.), Truth v. Justice: The Morality of Truth Commissions (2000)

Truth and Econociliation Commission of South Africa: Final Report (1998).

Villa-Vicencio, C. and Verwoerd, W. (eds.), Looking Back, Reaching Forward: Reflections on the Truth Commission of South Africa (2001)

Wilson, R.A., The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa (2001).

Taylor, T., The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir (1993).

James, W. and Van der Vijver, L. (eds.), After the TRC: Reflections on Truth and Reconsiliation in South Africa (2000).

Des Forges, A., Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda (1999), Human Rights Watch (see their website)

Buergendahl, T., "The United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador," 27 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 497 (1994). [User BKW 22 Nov 2005]