wfn.org | WACC Congress Hears Stories of Reconciliation, Truth the Justice

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>]

WACC Congress

Stories of reconciliation, truth and justice in WACC Congress

Reconciliation, considered the rupture of established patterns of cause and 
effect, and the possibility of breaking the chain of violence and revenge 
to move toward new life, was described by Charles Villa-Vicencio, Executive 
Director of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town, 
South Africa, at the Third World Congress of the World Association for 
Christian Communication (WACC).

Speaking to more than 300 WACC delegates on 6 July, Villa-Vicencio, who was 
national research director for South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation 
Commission, provided examples of how many people who were adversaries under 
the former apartheid regime are now handling the new situation in the country.

"Gathering stories of reconciliation suggests that the possibility of life 
transcends the logic of revenge," he said, adding that reconciliation is a 
process and that it does not necessarily imply forgiveness. "Reconciliation 
takes perseverance. It is not for the faint-hearted or easily defeated. And 
clearly some have no obvious desire to go in search of reconciliation at all."

Acknowledgement, patience and the need to look inward were among the 
elements Villa-Vicencio mentioned as part of the process of reconciliation. 
He called on communicators to build peace, speak the truth and be objective.
In another story of reconciliation, lawyer Germán Vargas of the Peruvian 
human rights organisation Paz y Esperanza recounted the case of Juan 
Mallea, a Peruvian taxi driver falsely accused of belonging to the Shining 
Path terrorist group and unjustly imprisoned by the government of 
then-President Alberto Fujimori. Thanks to a campaign by human rights 
workers, Mallea was finally freed after spending several years in prison. 
His case attracted widespread media attention, especially when he publicly 
forgave those who had falsely accused him.
Also in yesterday's session, Dr. Dina Iordanova, a lecturer at the 
University of Leicester, showed part of "Truth Under Siege," a documentary 
about the war in Yugoslavia, which is based on interviews with journalists 
who chose to work independently during the conflict in an attempt to 
provide more balanced coverage than that provided by state-run or 
international media.
The WACC Congress on "Communication: From Confrontation to Reconciliation," 
which is being held at the Leeuwenhorst Conference Centre in Holland, begin 
July 3 and will end Saturday,  July 7.