Download Theme Song World Cup 2010 HOW usable is our past? Not very, if the weekend's Sharpeville commemorations are a guide. But they may not be a guide: our past may be far more of an asset than we seem to think.
Theme Song World Cup 2010 A "usable past" is a term coined by a historian almost a century ago. It tells us that our past can be an important resource: it can offer a sense of belonging, inspire us, guide our values, and unite us as we seek to address the challenges of the present. But not all pasts are usable in this way. The past can divide us or be used by the powerful to lord it over the powerless. Whether societies are able to use their past as an asset can decide whether they progress or decline.
Like most of our commemorations over the past decade-and-a-half, the 50th anniversary of the Sharpeville killings gave no cause for confidence that we are using our past effectively. What could have been a moving and inspiring remembrance of an event that symbolised resistance to apartheid and triggered it throughout the world descended into a lacklustre reminder of our divisions -- and our apparent inability to be inspired.
The day was marked by Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) claims that the African National Congress (ANC) had hijacked the day; some events were marred by tensions within the PAC and the ANC. The events were ignored by most citizens, who treated the day like another holiday. And the complaint that whites never attend events that remember the fight against racism was not far from the surface. The overriding theme seemed to be that our past has little use for us now.
Some might argue that this has less to do with lost opportunities than with the fact that our past is one of division, not unity. Harping on it , therefore, is likely to highlight what sets us apart and so make it harder for us to progress. The evidence that we can remember our past in useful ways comes from an unlikely source.
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