In Denktagebuch (Thought diary, 1950-73), Hannah Arendt wrote that acts which cannot be forgiven are beyond punishment and hence cannot be reconciled to. In this essay, I draw from Arendt to further theorize and extend the concept of irreconciliation. I draw together ethnographic material, historical material, documents, media reports, and reviews during this era of irreconcilability which includes Black Lives Matter; the memorialization debates on the removal of statues of enslavers; the history of slavery in the United Kingdom; and the ‘harmony ideology’ experienced by BAME (Black, Asian, and minority ethnic) academics within UK organizations linked to long-term discrimination. I argue for the concept of irreconciliation as a bulwark against impunity, against a ‘window-dressed’, symbolic performance of redress, and to be able to echo Arendt's words that ‘this’ – any original cause of injustice – ‘ought never to have happened’.

中文翻译：

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不可调和的时代

在Denktagebuch (思想日记, 1950-73)，汉娜·阿伦特写道，不能被宽恕的行为超出了惩罚，因此无法和解。在这篇文章中，我借鉴了阿伦特的观点，对不和解的概念进行了进一步的理论化和扩展。在这个不可调和的时代，我收集了民族志资料、历史资料、文件、媒体报道和评论，其中包括黑人的命也是命；关于拆除奴隶雕像的纪念辩论；英国奴隶制的历史；英国组织内的 BAME（黑人、亚裔和少数族裔）学者所经历的“和谐意识形态”与长期歧视有关。我主张不和解的概念是反对有罪不罚的堡垒，反对“穿窗装”，象征性的补救，并能够呼应阿伦特