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with contributions from Jane Lampman, Jonn A. Szada

The power of ordinary people

MARTHA MINOW , a Harvard University professor and author of Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History after Genocide and Mass Violence, says this century has not been especially noteworthy in the number of atrocities that have been committed. But what has made a difference "is the creation of a movement for human rights. And that movement... depends on the consciousness of ordinary people ... their ideas, ideals, and commitments."

Citing ways in which dictators and others are being held more accountable for their actions, she says that people today "look at a situation ... and say, 'There is something you could be doing to bring the facts... light, to call perpetrators to account,... to never let such things happen again.' "

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