WORLD SOCIAL SUMMIT 2008
'WSS: Bourke, fear may induce to commit mistakes'

"Fear and anxiety may annihilate ego". Joanna Bourke, historian and history teacher at the Birkbeck College, London University, opened her speech with these words during the World Social Summit held in Rome until tomorrow.

The professor bears witness of a British soldier: "Mom, I'm not good at writing, as I'm not good at fighting". This way the individual is presented to the public. "This terrorizes us" continues Bourke "and we could make mistakes, such as homicides, wars, attacks. They tell us not to have fear and react in modern society, but at the same time they scare us in different ways".

Compared to the past, according to the historian born in New Zealand, "we no longer turn to organizations and communities to find relief for our fears. A more and more individual behavior is present".

Talking about her subject, she invites to meditate on the "global dangerous approach. A subject of universal suffering outside history is created. In case of women and violence for example, the real point of the story was no longer the woman, but her trauma. The historian must specify who and where, in order to avoid the inevitable and apocalyptic visions".

In conclusion, Joanna Bourke invites to "forge a more ethic society. Millions of people should say no to the murdering techniques proposed by governments".