It has been five years since the terrorist incident at Beslan school in Russia. There is an excellant piece on the BBC following the children who survived the incident in which 334 hostages were killed, 186 of which were children, hundreds more were wounded. Beslan is in the North Oseetia-Alania region, relevant now to the brief war with Georgia earlier.
What I find most remarkable is how each child had become so much older so quickly. Watching death ended their childhood. 12 year olds were discussing what death, terrorism, the government and mortality mean to them now in a way that would be difficult to many adults unaccostumed to violence. Some of them could even understand why the terrorists had done what they had done, although not excuse it. Knowing that the Russian army had killed many Chechen children suggested that the anger they felt must be reciprocated by the terrorists who had committed the act.
Five years on and only one man has been convicted, and despite numerous botched intelligence warnings and a widely critized use of military force and crisis handling, no government official has faced any consequences. However, the children have largely absorbed all of this better than the adults. They remain as ambitious about life as ever. One small boy said point blank that he would fix this as President, it was not a matter of if but when.
No comments:
Post a Comment