Mobilising+Memory

Several public and prayerful memorials took place on the first anniversary of 5th-6th May massacre. At least one attempt to march to Shapla Chottor was blocked by the police. The place of the victims and successors in prayer and artistic memory are important to maintain and pursue, as the government's power to silence the issue, through wealth, threats, character assassination, persecution and worse is quite effective.

However, private rigorous documentation of evidence for the legal dimension of the quest for truth, justice and transformation is critical, and here there is much to learn from the region and beyond.

Documenting and understanding state crimes in detail is difficult given a hostile environment. It is a generational activity. Following the 1984 Amritsar Massacre, a recent Ensaaf and HRDAG's report, on violent deaths and enforced disappearances during the Indian Government's counter insurgency in Punjab (1984-95) is well worth reading closely.

Regarding Gujarat 2002, the late Mukul Sinha's Truth of Gujarat site is useful, just as the uphill legal battle of Nishrin Jafri Hussain (speaking here) over the Gulberg Society Massacre which claimed the life of her father and many others, is inspiring.

In 1989 the June 4th Tragedy that took place in Beijing (aka Tiananmen Square) is marked by the Tiananmen Mothers.