Kanner Michael Re: Recent conversations about Bosnia


This is forwarded from the peace list to led a datum to our discussion on
martyrdom.

Forwarded Information:
>From: Kanner Michael (peace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) on Mon, 31 Jul 1995 11:01:30 -
0600 (MDT)
To: peace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Recent conversations about Bosnia

I have also heard of the 'Herodotus' solution on a number of occasions.
The best argument against is one given by a German friend who reminded me
that the creation of martyrs only increases passions. He also provided a
number of cases from ancient History, his speciallty, where these
hostages were considered dead individuals as soon as they were
transferred. One case he cited was of a hostage whose wife was
considered a widow and permitted to remarry, although her husband was
still alive as a hostage. In a more modern cite, you might remember that
for years the Israeli position on terrorist hled hostages was that they
were to be considered KIA as soon as they were seized. A drastic
position but one which they maintained for years.

On Fri, 28 Jul 1995, Jeff Finlay, NYU wrote:

> > Finally, I ask - as I did last week - that we focus our expertise on
> > developing solutions to help those who are killing one another. While a
> > certain amount of criticising and lamenting is to be expected, it doesn't
> > get us anywhere. And it *is* our responsibility - not just the
> > responsibility of others - to help create viable solutions to this war.
> > Clearly violence (the war) is not the solution (at least for me). What is?
>
> Sometimes in the mid-70s, someone proposed an "Herodotus solution"
> as a way of decreasing nuclear tensions in the Cold War. The idea was
> to send a number of hostages from the US to Moscow, and vice versa,
> a hostage exchange in effect, with the proviso that these people
> would include all classes and categories from society and would
> be educated in their captors' cultural life while serving their
> time as hostages. I thought it was a pretty good idea, but it
> never got adopted. If Saddam had held onto his "foreign guests"
> would the Allies have bombed Iraq into the Stone Age? Supposing
> the warring parties were to exchange their key people as a
> guarantee that they wouldn't kill each other, while peaceable
> negotiations moved forward. That's the best non-violent solution
> I've seen to conflicts. I wonder if the reason it hasn't been
> tried is that it might work?
>
> Jeff
>

---
There is no path to peace. Peace is the path.

Tom Blancato
tblancato@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Eyes on Violence (nonviolence and human rights monitoring in Haiti)
Thoughtaction Collective (reparative justice project)




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