Knowledge and Acknowledgement

Paul Van Zyl is a South African who has spent his career working with human rights issues. In the presentation he gave recently at the Pop Tech! conference, he speaks eloquently about why Americans should undertake a proper and public reckoning about the torture and other forms of abuse carried out in the name of the global war on terror by the Bush administration.



The presentation is not a presentation, as much as, it is a moving speech that convincingly and, at times, beautifully articulates how South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission enabled this country to move forward into democracy after years of apartheid.

So much of what he says moved me to tears, here is just on quote of his speech,

“It was through this process of testimony and revelation that our country began to move from knowledge to acknowledgement. It is one thing to know that crimes occurred, it’s quite different to acknowledge that they were wrongful and to promise never to allow them to happen again.”