The attrition of morality: ethics, morality and futures

This article argues that the significant and wide-ranging work that has been carried out in India in compiling oral testimonies of survivors of the genocidal violence against religious minorities after the rise of organised fascist politics in the country, and especially after the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992, has profound implications for the understanding of the experience and workings of all forms of violence, including daily violence. It takes the genocide of Muslim citizens that took place in Gujarat in 2002 as a starting point to develop the concept of attrition of memories. It argues that the contestation around these memories cannot be seen in isolation, and that a method and form of understanding needs to be developed that relates the significance of this event (and the experience and memories of this) to all other memories. It explores the relationship of the attrition of memories to the subversion of ethical principles. It emphasises the importance of oral history in safe-guarding the experience of the survivors of the genocide and in ensuring that the movement for gaining redressal and restitution is continued. It concludes that it is important to understand the ways in which the memories of fascist terror overlay the memories of ordinary, everyday violence