Sustainable Development Versus Human-Made Atrocities—Never Again

Abstract

The humanities, social and political sciences are sometimes accused of not being ‘applied enough’ with smart ‘products’ for the consumer. In education and Geography, getting the skills-competencies balance—along with reflection is vital for sustainable development including approaches to spaces of memory. Human rights abuse and conflict is the corollary of the democracy ideal and sustainability. Preservation of sites of shame or conscience enhances the duty, responsibility and right to remember. These sites embody the inherent political dangers faced by humanity and must be recognized as still existing today at another scale with use of social media by extremists promoting hate speech and terrorism, and by groups justifying themselves with spurious reference to history and sites of memory. With this in mind, the Counter Extremism Project, a non-profit NGO combats dangerous groups “by pressuring financial support networks, countering the narrative of extremists and their online recruitment, and advocating for strong laws, policies and regulations”. Extremist groups can attempt to erase or else promote sites or memory with their own corrupted narratives. Danger exists for those who cannot remember, or at lease empathize with the victims of past political constructs and aberrations. WWI witnessed the clash of the major imperial powers, a prelude to WWII and creation of the UN in 1945, and subsequent founding of UNESCO promoting World Heritage Sites (WHS) and sites of conscience.

Counter Extremism Project https://www.counterextremism.com/.

1941–18 Online—International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Memory of the War: Popular Memory 1918–45, 1945–Present. By Susanne Brandt. 24 May 2017. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/memory_of_the_war_popular_memory_1918-1945_1945_to_the_present.