EUROPE INSIGHT
Can the Past change the Future ?
A sociological reflection about what memory public policies actually do
Sarah Gensburger Research Professor in Social Sciences , French National Center for Scientific Research , author of Beyond Memory . Can we really learn from the past ?, Palgrave , 2020 ( co-written with S . Lefranc )
Following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer on 25May 2020 , and the widespread uprising against institutionalised racism it triggered , June 2020 was marked all over the world by demands for changes to the way the past is remembered in the public space . These demands include pulling down statues , modifying plaques in the street , and renaming buildings . On 19 June , the European Parliament adopted a resolution to call “ for the EU institutions and the Member States to officially acknowledge past injustices and crimes against humanity committed against black people , people of colour and Roma ; declare slavery a crime against humanity and call for 2 December to be designated the European Day commemorating the Abolition of the Slave Trade ; encourage the Member States to make the history of black people , people of colour and Roma part of their school curricula .” In this context , the transmission of the past , whether by the implementation of a commemoration or de-commemoration ( in the form of dismantling statues ) are presented as a way to fight against racial discrimination and to bring about social change . These recent events are a powerful example of the memorial paradigm that has been established over the last twenty years both at the European level and internationally . It also simultaneously sheds light on the fact that the exponential development of memory policies to fight against racism and anti-Semitism have very clearly fallen short of their goal . This article sets out to explore this observation and draw lessons from it . To what extent can memory be considered a democratic value and an efficient tool to build peaceful , inclusive , and tolerant European societies ?
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Observing Memories ISSUE 4