Storytelling is very important. It is through context and relations that we understand the importance of human dignity. The concept means nothing as an abstraction. It's important for us to understand why people do the things they do, including the monsters - the suicide bomber and the war criminal. Understanding is not acceptance. Understanding is exploring the human psyche. If we want to put an end to violence, we need to have the sort of conversation I had with the teenage suicide bomber.
When we deconstruct how radical evil occurs we realize that it is anything but spontaneous combustion. You need pyromaniacs. - Payam Akhavan
When we deconstruct how radical evil occurs we realize that it is anything but spontaneous combustion. You need pyromaniacs.
- Payam Akhavan
When I joined the UN War Crimes Tribunal, it was a realization of the dream of justice, that finally after Nuremberg, the UN is going to put the accu… - Payam Akhavan
When I joined the UN War Crimes Tribunal, it was a realization of the dream of justice, that finally after Nuremberg, the UN is going to put the accu…
Storytelling is very important. It is through context and relations that we understand the importance of human dignity. The concept means nothing as … - Payam Akhavan
Storytelling is very important. It is through context and relations that we understand the importance of human dignity. The concept means nothing as …
There are realities that one needs to deal with, but very often what we are told is political reality is merely cynicism. One could equally say that … - Payam Akhavan
There are realities that one needs to deal with, but very often what we are told is political reality is merely cynicism. One could equally say that …
In Yugoslavia we were told we were not only naive idealists in wanting war criminals to be prosecuted but that we were actually standing in the way o… - Payam Akhavan
In Yugoslavia we were told we were not only naive idealists in wanting war criminals to be prosecuted but that we were actually standing in the way o…
Helping survivors of residential schools in Canada is not the same as the UN sending in peacekeepers to prevent the genocide in Rwanda. But both are … - Payam Akhavan
Helping survivors of residential schools in Canada is not the same as the UN sending in peacekeepers to prevent the genocide in Rwanda. But both are …
Criminal trials are fundamentally about individual accountability whereas truth commissions are less about the guilt of the perpetrator and more abou… - Payam Akhavan
Criminal trials are fundamentally about individual accountability whereas truth commissions are less about the guilt of the perpetrator and more abou…
We need to sacrifice something. And this is what I find lacking. We want to construct an image of ourselves as virtuous but we don't want to suffer f… - Payam Akhavan
We need to sacrifice something. And this is what I find lacking. We want to construct an image of ourselves as virtuous but we don't want to suffer f…
The reason why the war ended in Bosnia was not because of amnesty but because a combined Croat-Bosnian offensive defeated the Serbs on the battlefiel… - Payam Akhavan
The reason why the war ended in Bosnia was not because of amnesty but because a combined Croat-Bosnian offensive defeated the Serbs on the battlefiel…
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