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32 New Eng. L. Rev. 967 (1997-1998)
Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Feminist Responses to Violent Injustice

handle is hein.journals/newlr32 and id is 979 raw text is: ESSAY Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Feminist Responses to Violent Injustice* Martha Minow** I. INTRODUCTION I am especially honored by the chance to speak in this series dedi- cated to Anna Hirsch. I have heard her described as a woman who per- severed against the odds, and I am honored to participate in celebrating her and her example. I remember when Mary Joe Frug participated in the creation of this lectureship. Mary Joe, my dear friend, introduced me to my future husband, to passionate legal scholarship, and to the four basic food groups-salad, bread, wine, and chocolate. A current project of my own is in a way triggered by her death. I am embarked on a hard study of social responses to mass atrocity. How should South Africa deal with the past and continuing legacies of Apartheid? What responses can be framed for the 120,000 murders in Bosnia, and genocide in Rwanda, killing between 500,000 and one million adults and children during a four month period in 1994? What do prosecutions for human rights violations offer? What, in contrast, might be afforded by a commission of inquiry, such as the South Afri- can Truth and Reconciliation Commission? When are reparations and restitution constructive and effective responses? When are artistic me- morials, literature, and theatrical productions the kinds of responses most deserving of support? It is impossible not to consider similar * This speech was delivered at the Anna E. Hirsch Lecture Series, held at the New England School of Law on January 30, 1998. It grows from MARTHA MINOW, BErWEEN VENGEANCE AND FoRGIvENEss: FACING HISTORY AFTER GENOCIDE AND MASS VIOLENCE (Beacon Press, forthcoming). Thanks especially to Judi Greenberg. ** Professor, Harvard Law School. 967