State of Fear: The Truth About Terrorism

State of Fear: The Truth About Terrorism. 94 minutes. 2005. Yates. Skylight Pictures. Available from New Day Films. 190 Route 17M, P.O. Box 1084, Harriman, NY 10926. Phone: [phone].www.newday.com. DVD, Rental $75.00; purchase $300.00.

Since 1974, 27 national commissions of truth and reconciliation (TRC) have been created. Beginning with Uganda, these include South Africa in 1998, and more recently in the former Yugoslavia, East Timor, Sierra Leone and Ghana, where work is on-going. In 2000, the Peruvian government established a Comision de la Verdad y Reconciliacion (CVR).

These commissions are attempts to "investigate all serious human rights violations" and "heal wounds" (Klaiber 2004, p. 178), to reckon with the past, and an effort at collective memory. The primary function of a TRC is to collect testimonies from as many victims, perpetrators, witnesses, and institutional representatives, among others, to clarify "the truth" of what happened during a specific episode of a country's history.

In the latter part of the 20th century revolutionary movements attempted to overthrow the government of Peru and, in the goal of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) to completely destroy existing society, its institutions and representatives, and, through the selective use of violence, to intimidate the population. The response of the government, after recognizing the seriousness of the threat, was...