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The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: Legitimizing the Post Apartheid State. - book review
Contemporary Review, Jan, 2002
The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: Legitimizing the Post Apartheid State. Richard A. Wilson. Cambridge University Press. [pounds sterling]45.00 (US$64.95). 271 pages. ISBN 0-521-80219-9. This book examines the relationship between the late century's obsession with 'human rights' and the creation of the new South Africa after the end of apartheid.
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How did the talk about these 'rights' work alongside the creation of a new, black, elite? To answer this question the author has examined the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission between 1995 and 1998. He concentrates on two aspects: 'truth-telling about the apartheid past and the reconciliation of "the nation"'. Human rights' in South Africa became part of the elite's work to create a new nation and often were wide off the mark when it came to 'local moralities and justice institutions'. The author argues, in the end, that all the talk about 'human rights' is often just that. People's 'rights' are 'most effective when conceived of a s narrow legal instruments designed to defend individuals from political institutions and to hold accountable those responsible for violations'. Edmund Burke said the same thing some 200 years ago when he denounced the 'rights of man' and defended the rights of Englishmen. (J.M.)
COPYRIGHT 2002 Contemporary Review Company Ltd.
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group
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