Opinion Not quite an apology

A good political apology has several characteristics: it acknowledges the facts of the event,expresses sorrow and remorse,takes responsibility for the harm done,and promises non-repetition. Cameron acknowledged the massacre and expressed sorrow by using the word “shameful”. He did not,however,take responsibility for the harm done,implying that the UK government of the time had done so,condemning the massacre in 1920 and dismissing General Dyer. Nor did he promise non-repetition,which is unnecessary. In a full political apology,though,Cameron would have used words such as “sorry” or “I apologise.” And the British government would have negotiated the words of the apology with the Indian government ahead of time.

A good political apology also contains symbolic,ceremonial and ritual elements that show sincerity. Cameron’s words and actions seemed sincere. He was the first sitting British PM to visit the site of the massacre,a symbolic event in itself. As a mark of respect,he adopted partial Sikh dress for the occasion,appearing in a turban and shawl. He laid a wreath on the memorial and observed a minute of silence — both Western symbols of mourning. Some reports said he got down on his knees. To kneel is a powerful act in Western culture,as shown when German Chancellor Willy Brandt went down on his knees at the Warsaw ghetto in 1970,where Polish Jews had been held by the Nazis before being transported to extermination camps.

No doubt Cameron chose his words carefully before he arrived at Amritsar. Someone must have found the 1920 quote from Winston Churchill,describing the massacre as monstrous. And because there are still living descendants of the victims at Amritsar,Cameron and his government might have been afraid they would ask for compensation if he actually offered an apology. Recently,a group representing the Kenyan “Mau Mau” nationalist victims of the British in the 1950s were granted the right to pursue their claims for reparations in British courts. This might be why Cameron said he saw no point in reaching back in time to apologise for distant events that had occurred,in the case of Amritsar,long before he was born. His message was probably carefully calibrated to avoid legal liability.

Some reports suggested that the real reason Cameron expressed sorrow was to help the Conservative party gain votes from the 8,00,000-strong British Sikh community. The Sikh vote is particularly important in marginal ridings in London and Leicester. If this was one of his motives,it is similar to an “apology” that Canadian PM Stephen Harper delivered to Indo-Canadians in 2008. In May 1914,376 Sikh would-be immigrants arrived in Vancouver on the ship the Komagata Maru. The Canadian authorities refused to allow the passengers to land and they were returned to India,where 38 people were killed and more were imprisoned or transported. Many commentators thought Harper offered this apology because he was wooing the Indo-Canadian vote. In any event,his remarks seemed off-hand. Some felt he should have apologised from the floor of the house of parliament,as in 2008 when he apologised to aboriginal Canadians.

Cameron’s words were more than the Queen said when she visited Amritsar,merely calling the massacre a “distressing” episode. Like Cameron,the Queen must choose her words carefully. When she visited South Africa,another former colony,in 1999,she said “we should remember with sadness the loss of life and suffering” of both blacks and whites during the Boer War. This might be seen as a form of acknowledgement or even regret,but it was certainly not an apology for the British war against the Dutch-origin Boers; moreover,the Queen did not go so far as to apologise for British conquest and maltreatment of black South Africans. So Cameron’s remarks and gestures weren’t quite an apology. They are probably as close as India and Sikhs worldwide will get to an apology,though.

The writer,Canada Research Chair in International Human Rights at Wilfrid Laurier University,maintains a website on political apologies and reparations

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