REFLECTIONS ON MEMORY
By Mohamed Khamlichi *Through public hearings and debates launched within the framework of the Moroccan experience in the field of transitional justice (April 2004-November 2005) by the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER), appears the need to preserve the memory of the 1956 - 1999 period.
Several countries have adopted transitional justice (in Latin America, Africa, Asia ...) and are working now to restore their memory and their painful past. Memory is the central element in all transitional justice experiences. It has a great symbolism in the quest for truth and reconciliation, whether past violations are linked to dictatorships, racism, civil wars, world wars, colonization or even changes of internal policies.
When memory is collective, it moves from belonging to the victim alone to the community as a whole. Memory goes back then to the context of past human rights violations. The individual and collective reparations, aiming to repair material and moral damages caused by such violations, are crucial for transitional justice, which is based on reconciliation between the parties and opens the door towards democratic relations marked by respect for human rights.
Memory in the Moroccan context is a kind of individual and collective wish and willingness to remember. On this basis, the majority of the victims of the “years of lead” unanimously stressed the necessity of preserving memory and preventing the fall of the painful past into oblivion. Memory in this context has specificities that should be recognized in the context of recognition and respect for individual, collective and regional rights. If the legitimacy of memory is based on human rights, it gives way to another law in return, which is simply the right to forget.
It goes without saying that memory creates historical, political, aesthetic focal points... It gives meaning to people, events and places. It is reflected in the form of oral, written, audio or visual forms (paintings, sculptures, museums, graphics, memorial stones, detention centers, cemeteries, documentaries, etc.).
Hence, the strategy of positive preservation of memory, in any country, officially and publicly, constitutes one of the strongest guarantees to learn from the past serious human rights violations. It's also a way to offer the opportunity to memories, which were oppressed and marginalized during the time of the past serious human rights violations, to express the needs of victims and their families. It is an opportunity for all those who survived the individual and group atrocities to publicly express their sufferings. Although there is no single formula to approach the subject of the memory of past human rights violations, understanding the needs of victims and their families and all those who survived the horrors of the violence of the State security institutions is a key element of the operation of storing and preserving memory.
Memory, in this context, is a human right that frees speech and expression, and a social and political duty of the State and all political stakeholders. It contributes to the liberalization of the political, cultural and aesthetic process.
In this context, the Equity and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendation on the preservation of memory ensures the presence of long silenced and marginalized memory and ensures that the population, especially future generations, can better perceive the voices of victims, even after the publication of the final report of the commission. Even if history books tell stories of victims, memorization should encourage citizens to be involved in a sustainable dynamic discussion not only on the past, its events and teachings, but also on the way in which memory is retrieved. The objective is to create a collective memory that benefits citizens in the present and inspires the future of coexistence and citizenship for future generations, in respect for values of human rights.
This makes the call for the "right to remember" and the need to provide the appropriate conditions for memory preservation, a civilized request by excellence. It is a call for the State and all social categories, even if this memory takes us back to painful periods, as the "years of lead". Remembering the past is honoring those who died or who were persecuted, their relatives and friends.
The Moroccan experience is somehow unique. It aims at a richer and more open future. It encourages debates and discussions on the past and underlines the need to include these events in a proper historical record, for a national memory.
In this context, the Follow-up Program of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations in the field of Archive, Memory and History, entrusted to the Advisory Council on Human Rights, comes to answer a series of questions including:
1/ How can we agree on the necessity to build collective memory/memories, with the challenges and constraints of the old political conflicts, and even today’s?
2/ How can we, through the preservation of secret detention centers and creation of memory museums for violations, support community reparation policy?
3/ What are the possible guarantees that ensure non-repetition of past grave human rights violations and non-impunity?
4 / What are the steps that can be taken to ensure the development of the pedagogy of citizenship and respect for human rights education?
*in charge of Memory in the IER2 Program