Page 272 - Hrobat Virloget, Katja. 2021. V tišini spomina: "eksodus" in Istra. Koper, Trst: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Založništvo tržaškega tiska
P. 272
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the Slovenianisation of Istrian personal names. Consequently, people were
caught once again in coercive national identifications in the framework of
the changing state and political systems that left no room for fluid, hybrid
and indeterminable identities.
The last deliberation touches on the issues of national discourse in
countries where population transfers occurred and where authorities at-
tempted to remove any traces of migrants’ presence. The latter was not
quite possible in Istria given the existence of the Italian minority. The
tendency to Slovenianise still continues today, with examples of nearly
pathologic endeavours to protect the Slovenian language in this offi-
cially declared bilingual area. Such conflicts sooner or later end up in self-
victimisation, collective criminalisation of the ‘others’ as well as black-and-
white victim/perpetrator dichotomies. Can this strong feeling of being
threatened be ascribed to unsettled memory?
The burden of a difficult and unprocessed past is still haunting our
present and future. Finally, the question emerges of how to live today with
all of these negative legacies of the past. The answer lies in listening to the
‘others’ with empathy and in looking at one’s own responsibility for the
past. Or, as Jacques Derrida (2014) would say: How to live today together
with our living and dead? By recognising and forgiving the unforgivable.
Are we mature enough as a society for this?
The purpose of this book was to give voice to people. Those people who
remained in the silence of their memory because neither one national
memory nor the other had accepted them. Those people who stayed and
those who arrived. Let us listen to each other and take responsibility for
the burdens of our common past. There is no need for our memories to
correspond, it only matters that they are heard. Until we do this, we will
live with an unsettled memory, not only in Istria but on national levels as
well. It’s time to hear the silence!
Translated by Nives Mahne Čehovin
Copy edited by Murray Bales
270
the Slovenianisation of Istrian personal names. Consequently, people were
caught once again in coercive national identifications in the framework of
the changing state and political systems that left no room for fluid, hybrid
and indeterminable identities.
The last deliberation touches on the issues of national discourse in
countries where population transfers occurred and where authorities at-
tempted to remove any traces of migrants’ presence. The latter was not
quite possible in Istria given the existence of the Italian minority. The
tendency to Slovenianise still continues today, with examples of nearly
pathologic endeavours to protect the Slovenian language in this offi-
cially declared bilingual area. Such conflicts sooner or later end up in self-
victimisation, collective criminalisation of the ‘others’ as well as black-and-
white victim/perpetrator dichotomies. Can this strong feeling of being
threatened be ascribed to unsettled memory?
The burden of a difficult and unprocessed past is still haunting our
present and future. Finally, the question emerges of how to live today with
all of these negative legacies of the past. The answer lies in listening to the
‘others’ with empathy and in looking at one’s own responsibility for the
past. Or, as Jacques Derrida (2014) would say: How to live today together
with our living and dead? By recognising and forgiving the unforgivable.
Are we mature enough as a society for this?
The purpose of this book was to give voice to people. Those people who
remained in the silence of their memory because neither one national
memory nor the other had accepted them. Those people who stayed and
those who arrived. Let us listen to each other and take responsibility for
the burdens of our common past. There is no need for our memories to
correspond, it only matters that they are heard. Until we do this, we will
live with an unsettled memory, not only in Istria but on national levels as
well. It’s time to hear the silence!
Translated by Nives Mahne Čehovin
Copy edited by Murray Bales
270
