Home | Intervention Overview | World Apology for Equal Dignity
World Apology for Equal Dignity (WApologyED)
HumanDHS is primarily grounded in academic work. We are independent of any religious or political agenda. However, we wish to bring academic work into "real life." Our research focuses on topics such as dignity (with humiliation as its violation), or, more precisely, on respect for equal dignity for all human beings in the world.
Several years ago I had the idea to launch "The Apologies Project." The idea was for non-state groups (e.g., local or national peace organizations, churches, sub-national governments such as town, city, or county, school classes, from primary schools to gymnasia to universities) to apologize for an historic abuse. This would entail researching an event in which their national or ethnic group did some harm to another identifiable group, then conceiving of a way to express apology for that event, and then publicizing that this research and apology have been done.
The events in Italy now, are very much a matter of humiliation. The Italians feel humiliated, that the Americans killed their hero, and then was dismissive of the event. One US officer of rank said something to the effect, that the Italian public and media should just calm down and take an aspirin, and in the morning they won't feel so bad about their journalist and negotiator being shot. Thus the US follow-up actions are turning out to be as damaging, or more damaging, than the original event. This might bring down the Italian government.
Floyd Rudmin, Tromsø, March 2005
The work by Aaron Lazare
On Apology
by Aaron Lazare
Hardback, 320 pages, September 2004
The text you see here has been retrieved from the Publisher Website, Oxford University Press
Description
One of the most profound interactions that can occur between people, apologies have the power to heal humiliations, free the mind from deep-seated guilt, remove the desire for vengeance, and ultimately restore broken relationships. In On Apology, Aaron Lazare offers an eye-opening analysis of this vital interaction, illuminating an often hidden corner of the human heart. Why do people apologize? Why is it so difficult to apologize? Why do some apologies heal while others fail--and even offend? Is it ever too late to apologize? Is the ability to apologize a sign of strength or weakness? In what ways are public apologies different from private ones? What is the relationship of apology to forgiveness? Lazare answers all these questions in this fascinating volume. Indeed, the author offers a wide-ranging dissection of the apology. He discusses the importance of shame, guilt, and humiliation, the timelessness of emotional pain, the initial reluctance to apologize, the simplicity of the act of apologizing, the spontaneous generosity and forgiveness on the part of the offended, the transfer of power and respect between two parties, and much more. Throughout, the author looks not only at individuals but also at groups and nations--for instance, Abraham Lincoln's apology for slavery, the German government's apology to the victims of World War II, and the U.S. government's apology to Japanese-Americans interned during World War II. Readers will thus find not only a wealth of insight that they can apply to their own lives, but also a deeper understanding of national and international conflicts and how we might resolve them. Everyone has the opportunity to apologize now and then. On Apology opens a window onto this common occurrence to reveal the feelings and actions at the heart of this profound interaction. Reviews
"This jewel of a book reveals the many facets of the seemingly simple act of apology.... Drawing on a vast array of literary and real-life examples, from Agamemnon to George Patton to Arnold Schwarzenegger, from the current pope to the machinist who approached him after a lecture, Lazare lucidly dissects the process of apology.... Everybody on earth could benefit from this small but essential book."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"At a time in our history when there seems to be so much to apologize for--Lazare's book is a wise reminder of how much depends on the sincerity and openheartedness with which we acknowledge that a wrong has been done and begin to work together toward forgiveness."--Francine Prose, Oprah Magazine
"Lazare, a gifted psychiatrist, distinguishes between genuine apologies and statements of sympathy ('I'm sorry for your loss') and pseudo-apologies of the kind often favored by politicians ('I'm sorry if you were offended by anything that was said').... The strength of this book rests in the stories of apologies that Lazare has collected from people, politics, literature and history."--Washington Post Book World
"Traces the history of the world's most humbling act, exploring everything from Lincoln's apology for slavery to Arnold Schwarzenegger's mea culpa after allegations of breast-groping."--Wall Street Journal
"This unique book is sure to set a reader thinking on many levels, but its ultimate message is the meaning and the magically transformative power of what would seem on the surface to be a simple apology. No one who becomes familiar with Dr. Lazare's perceptive interpretations will forget his sensitivity and wisdom."--Sherwin B. Nuland, MD, author of Lost in America and How We Die
"The culmination of the prestigious career of a man who has dedicated his entire professional life to improving relations between people."--The Forward
"Moving, enlightening, and potentially profoundly healing, On Apology is a timely gift for our era. Aaron Lazare sheds light on one of the most basic of human interactions, and on why people, and even nations, can feel so bad and then so good, on both sides of a true apology. His skillful storytelling and analysis touchingly reveal our common humanity, how we might nurture it, and how it is also sometimes ignored or betrayed. You may find yourself more than once in tears of empathy and uplift."--Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, author of Wherever You Go, There You Are and Coming to Our Senses
"A splendid treatment of a fascinating set of topics that touch all of our lives."--Sissela Bok, PhD, author of Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life and Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation
"Intimacy is healing, and apology is a powerful doorway to intimacy and healing. This is the most important book ever written on the value of apology. Highly recommended." --Dean Ornish, MD, author of Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease and Love and Survival
About the Author
Aaron Lazare, M.D., is Chancellor and Dean, and Professor of Psychiatry, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, in Worcester, Massachusetts and Senior Psychiatrist at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was formerly Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is a leading authority on the psychology of shame and humiliation, and wrote a highly regarded article on apology in Psychology Today that led to appearances on "Oprah," "Talk of the Nation," and many other TV and radio shows.
Links
Florida Legislature Apologizes for State’s History of Slavery
The Florida Legislature formally apologized Wednesday for the state’s “shameful” history of slavery, joining five other states that have expressed public regret for what Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, recently called America’s “original sin”...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/7348548.stm.
Warm US Welcome for Pope Benedict
...Before arriving the Pope told reporters on board his plane that he was "deeply ashamed" of sexual abuse by US clergy...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/7348548.stm.
Australia Apology to Aborigines
Kevin Rudd's apology represents a break from previous policies
The Australian government has made a formal apology for the past wrongs caused by successive governments on the indigenous Aboriginal population.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised in parliament to all Aborigines for laws and policies that "inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss"...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7241965.stm.
See the full text of Kevin Rudd's apology speech.
Australia Apology to Aborigines
The Australian government has announced it will issue its first formal apology to Aboriginal people when parliament resumes next month.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin said the apology would be the first item of business when the new legislature convened on 13 February...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7216873.stm.
Sarkozy Says Colonial Rule Unjust
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said during a visit to former colony Algeria that his country's colonial rule was "profoundly unjust".
Mr Sarkozy was recently attacked by some in Algeria over his refusal to apologise for France's colonial past...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/africa/7124548.stm.
Rudd to Apologise to Aborigines
Australia's new government will issue a formal apology to Aborigines for the abuses they suffered in the past, prime minister-elect Kevin Rudd has promised.
Mr Rudd, whose Labor Party swept to power in an election on Saturday, said the apology would come early in his first parliamentary term. Outgoing Prime Minister John Howard had repeatedly refused to say sorry...
Indigenous Australians remain an impoverished minority, with a much lower life expectancy than the rest of the population. Thousands of Aboriginal children were handed over to white families under Australian government assimilation policies from 1915 to 1969. The issue continues to be a controversial one among Australians. Mr Howard held back from offering a full apology to the so-called Stolen Generations, saying the current generation should not feel guilty about mistakes from the past...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7112773.stm.
Uganda Rebels Ask for Forgiveness
A representative for the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebels has asked war victims in the north to forgive them.
"The LRA made plenty of mistakes and I ask for forgiveness for what happened to our people," visiting LRA spokesman Martin Ojul told a local radio station...
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7080735.stm.
Australian Aboriginal Leaders: "Only a Formal Apology will Suffice"
Many Aboriginal leaders have already criticised the speech in Sydney, saying that tinkering with the constitution means nothing and that only a formal apology will suffice...
Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7039823.stm.
Mattel Sorry for 'Design Flaws'
Mattel says it was mainly to blame
Mattel has admitted that most of the toys recalled in recent safety scares had "design flaws" and that Chinese manufacturers were not to blame.
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7006599.stm.
Japan PM Apology on Sex Slaves
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has apologised in parliament for the country's use of women as sex slaves during World War II.
The apology comes after Mr Abe was criticised by Asian neighbours for previous comments casting doubt on whether the women were coerced.
Mr Abe told parliament: "I apologise here and now as prime minister."
This appears to be part of a concerted bid to reduce the fall-out of earlier comments, a BBC correspondent says.
Mr Abe said, during a debate in parliament's upper house, that he stood by an official 1993 statement in which Japan acknowledged the imperial army set up and ran brothels for its troops during the war.
"As I frequently say, I feel sympathy for the people who underwent hardships, and I apologise for the fact that they were placed in this situation at the time," he said.
His statement has gone a little further than similar attempts to clarify his position two weeks ago, but is unlikely to satisfy all his critics abroad, the BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says.
The row over his comments have compounded the difficulties facing Mr Abe. His six-month premiership has already been rocked by a series of scandals and gaffes.
An opinion poll on Monday found public support for him - Japan's youngest ever prime minister - had shrunk to just 35%....
Read the entire text at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6495115.stm.
Japan Refuses Sex Slave Apology
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says Japan will not issue another apology for its World War II military brothels.
Mr Abe said none of the testimony in recent US Congress hearings showed solid proof prostitutes were abused. Elaborating on comments he made last week, he said he would not go beyond a 1993 apology on the issue, even if Washington asked for one. Many historians say Japan compelled up to 200,000 women, mostly Chinese and Korean, to become sex slaves. But some Japanese scholars deny that force was used to round up the women, blaming private contractors for any abuses...
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6418337.stm.
Blair 'Sorrow' Over Slave Trade
Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he feels "deep sorrow" for Britain's role in the slave trade.
In an article for the New Nation newspaper, the prime minister said it had been "profoundly shameful".
But Mr Blair stopped short of issuing a full apology, which some commentators have demanded...
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk_politics/6185176.stm.
MoD seeks 300 WWI soldier pardons
The Ministry of Defence is to seek pardons for more than 300 soldiers who were shot for military offences during World War I.
Defence Secretary Des Browne said he would be seeking a group pardon, approved by Parliament, for the men.
It is thought 306 British soldiers were shot for cowardice, desertion or other offences in the 1914-1918 war.
Among them was Private Harry Farr, shot for cowardice in 1916 aged 25. His family said they were "overwhelmed".
They have been campaigning for years for him to be pardoned, arguing that he was suffering from shell-shock and should not have been sent back to the trenches.
Please see the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4796579.stm.
France Remembers Slavery Victims
A French envoy has said her country did profit from slavery as it officially commemorates the victims of the trade for the first time. "It profited from the commerce in human beings... ripped from the African homeland," Junior Co-operation Minister Brigitte Girardin said in Senegal. She was visiting a notorious slave island off the coast of Senegal. In Paris, President Jacques Chirac said facing up to the colonial past was a "key to national cohesion". He opened an art exhibition in Paris's Luxembourg Gardens while other cities and venues around France held their own ceremonies for Slavery Remembrance Day - the first such event in an EU state. Wednesday's day of commemoration was ordered by Mr Chirac, on the fifth anniversary of the passing of a law by the French Senate recognising slavery as a crime against humanity. Hundreds of thousands of slaves were taken by French ships from Africa to plantations in the Caribbean before France banned the practice in 1848.
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4756635.stm.
Kenya Church Makes Aids Apology
Kenya's Anglican Church has issued a public apology for previously shunning those with HIV/Aids. "Our earlier approach in fighting Aids was misplaced, since we likened it to a disease for sinners and a curse from God," said Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi. He was speaking to a group of HIV positive Christian and Muslim clergy. The BBC's Gladys Njoroge in Kenya says there has been lots of church discrimination against those with HIV - some have been excommunicated.
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4814022.stm.
Church Apologises for Slave Trade
The Church of England has voted to apologise to the descendents of victims of the slave trade. An amendment "recognising the damage done" to those enslaved was backed overwhelmingly by the General Synod. Debating the motion, Rev Simon Bessant, from Pleckgate, Blackburn, described the Church's involvement in the trade, saying: "We were at the heart of it." The amendment was supported by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Archbishop of York John Sentamu. Dr Williams said the apology was "necessary". He said: "The body of Christ is not just a body that exists at any one time, it exists across history and we therefore share the shame and the sinfulness of our predecessors and part of what we can do, with them and for them in the body of Christ, is prayer for acknowledgement of the failure that is part of us not just of some distant 'them'."
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4694896.stm.
Jaruzelski Says Sorry for 1968
Former Polish President Wojciech Jaruzelski has apologised for the first time for the role he played in the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Gen Jaruzelski, 82, said he was still "tormented" by the decision to send in Polish troops to crush a pro-democracy movement, known as the "Prague Spring".
He made the apology on the 37th anniversary of the invasion on the Czech television.
Gen Jaruzelski was Poland's minister of defence at the time.
"It was a stupid political act," he said during a TV debate on the issue.
"Today I deeply regret it but at the time I could not act otherwise. It was a political decision.
"But, in 1968, I was the defence minister implementing a political decision, convinced that there were grounds for that on the basis of the information available to us then," Gen Jaruzelski said. Please read the entire text here.
Veterans Reject Japanese 'Sorrow' (26th May 1998)
Emperor Akihito of Japan has spoken of his "deep sorrow and pain" over the suffering inflicted by his country during World War II, but did not apologise for the treatment of prisoners in work camps.
Addressing a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, attended by the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Mother and 11 other senior Royals, the Emperor said he could "never forget" the many kinds of suffering experienced by so many...
Please read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/26/newsid_2502000/2502547.stm.
