Response to Five Theses on Torture

The Five Theses on Torture by Idelber Avelar focuses on the representation of torture by names, the connection between torture and the voice of those who are involved, understanding the narratives of the victims of torture, the relationship between torture and confession, and torture and truth. The first thesis about the naming of torturous "events" was incredibly interesting to me. I've never thought about the importance of naming in relation to torture in the sense that a name like Apartheid implies that it was a singular event of racism and that now that it is over, large-scale racism is over. While this realization made me uncomfortable, I do see the logic in that Apartheid is taught as history instead of an example of an ongoing issue. We've talked about the importance of a name and language in relation to torture throughout the class, but all of it has been more individualistic or the opposite, very broad, but this was interesting because names like Apartheid and the Holocaust are so embedded into education. However, I wish the author had proposed a solution to this issue. I can understand the author's point about why the naming of a series of torture makes it into a singular event which has negative events, but I can't imagine how else society could cohesively discuss the series without a name.