Mirroring Truths: How liberal democracies are challenging their foundational narratives

Long-established liberal democracies are having foundational narratives challenged historically in different ways. This is particularly the case of settler colonial states. In Canada, the treatment of Indigenous people has been the object of continuous inquiries, including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2009-2015), which examined human rights violations that occurred in indigenous residential schools over the period 1874–1996; or the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls (2016-2019). In the United States, slavery and racism are being re-examined in light of ongoing structural violence against black people. Grassroots truth-seeking initiatives are mushrooming to confront a past of gross violations of human rights. In Australia, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1995-1997), investigated the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families and the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission has examined the impact of European colonization on the Aboriginal communities of Victoria State (2021). In Scandinavia, the Greenlandic Reconciliation Commission (2014-2017) has investigated the policies of dispossession and assimilation suffered by indigenous peoples. Others include the Commission to Investigate the Norwegianization Policy and Injustice against the Sámi and Kven/Norwegian Finnish Peoples (2018 to date); or the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the Tornedalians, Kvens and Lantalaiset in Sweden (2020 to date). This re-examining foundational narratives mirrors what other countries emerging from armed conflict or authoritarian rule are also doing to come to terms with a recent past of violations. These countries have also established truth-seeking and other mechanisms to deal with their pasts and to establish the conditions for sustainable and inclusive peace, so that these violations do not happen again. Over forty truth commissions have been established in the last forty years to establish an accepted narrative of what happened and to deal with a past of recent violations. Notwithstanding these violations were committed long time ago, or rather more recently, what both contexts show are ongoing violations. In postconflict or post authoritarian regimes, these violations are very present mostly in terms of violations to physical rights. In long-established liberal democracies, attention should be given to the effects of the colonial enterprise, most visible today in terms of discrimination against indigenous groups and failure to fulfil basic social rights. Experts have highlighted the important role of history education, among other measures, in transitional justice processes. Interestingly, history education remains contentious or has not adequately incorporated an understanding of past violence and atrocities. We argue that this is in part because of the extent to which a recognition of past and present injustices fundamentally challenges core aspects of national identity that education plays a central role in fostering. Experiences of colonial and racial violence, exclusion and dispossession are difficult to integrate into well-established narratives that are structured around a relatively consistent adherence to core liberal values. Yet, we maintain, integrating these experiences and recognizing continuities between past and present forms of injustice is essential if these values and their emphasis on equality, rights and justice are to be realized.