What does it mean to move on from violence when memory itself is a site of conflict? In Gujarat, the legacy of the 2002 pogrom has been carefully, even violently, curated into the official memory of the state, one that erases as much as it remembers. What remains is not reconciliation, but a selective memorisation that excludes the lived trauma of the Muslim community.
Third spaces can very organically turn into civic spaces, as civic spaces are the environments that “enable civil society to play a role in the political, economic, and social well-being of our societies, particularly by contributing to policy-making that affects their lives”, according to the OHCHR. The nature of third spaces encourages free-flowing discussion, including that of politics, making them de facto civic spaces.
