‘Find ways to live together or the world will explode’

People who lost their family members in the 9/11 attacks have made an emotional appeal against a mosque coming up two blocks away from the site of the attack. For the people involved, it’s difficult to let go off the tragedy. But are there ways to put it behind and move on?

During the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the majority ethnic group in the country, Hutus, killed almost 1mn of the minority group, Tutsis. What happened after the genocide was overwhelming. “When I arrived in Rwanda, there were 1,30,000 people in prison awaiting trial,” says American documentary filmmaker Anne Aghion, whose film, My Neighbour My Killer documents the beginnings of a unique experiment where the accused were tried in the traditional gacaca courts instead of going through the normal judicial process. Victim and perpetrator came face to face in these courts, and the idea was not to punish, but to get the two talking to one another.

While the Rwandan government calls this reconciliation, Aghion prefers the term ‘peaceful coexistence’. Forgiveness is complex, and very difficult to achieve, she told DNA. “But feelings change. Either we find ways to live with one another, or the world will explode.” Excerpts:

What makes forgiving so difficult?
Forgiving is a very personal thing. I think there are many variations of being on the road to forgiveness. I don’t know if any of us really forgive. There was a woman in my film who is confronting a guy accused of killing her children. At first, the guy is sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. Then she comes on and says that for a long time he (the accused) didn’t ask for forgiveness. But now that he has, why not grant him clemency. If you look at her body language in the film, she is very resigned. But the fact that she says those words is the first step towards something. Most people in Rwanda are resigned to the fact that they have to live together. I don’t think they are resigned to forgiving.

Can reconciliation be engineered?
I prefer the term, peaceful co-existence. We hope this lasts a while and eventually there will be reconciliation. There is an all-encompassing term in Rwanda — National Unity and Reconciliation Commission. These are words used by politicians, and they often forget that there are real people in the world. Maybe people feel their coexistence is reconciliation. But in terms how things are on the ground, it is coexistence.

What can the rest of the world learn from the Rwandan experience?
I don’t think that there are lessons from Rwanda per say. But when people watch the film, they see others going through a different experience. That makes them reflect on their own experience.

That’s very important.

There is a great deal of discussion on the proposed mosque close to the site of the WTC attack. Beyond the politics, it is a human issue, and in that context, what response has your documentary drawn?
The reaction to the documentary is consistent — whether it’s in Kenya, Haiti, Cambodia or Mumbai. People are able to see what Rwandans are going through in their reconstruction process. What happened in Rwanda was so horrific. But if people there are able to start talking, then we should be able to do it as well. It opens up a case for discussion within one’s self and among others. It’s hard to move past. But there are several ways to look at the world. Either we find ways to live together or explode.