Oh Sorry!

In recent years, the apology has become an important feature of politics. States are asking their own citizens or the citizens of other countries for forgiveness. ''Oh, sorry that we rounded up people in West Africa, shipped them across the Atlantic and sold them as slaves''. ''Oh, sorry that we convicted homosexuals as criminals.'' ''Oh, sorry that we burnt so many women as witches.'' Sometimes the issue arises as a demand for an apology. Thus, Lopez Obrador, the Mexican president, has asked the Spanish government to apologise for the conquista. The zapatistas, on the other hand, said of their recent trip to Spain that they were not going to ask for an apology. How do we understand the rise of the public apology and how do we relate to it politically? In a moment of severe social crisis, the institutional acts of apology and forgiveness could be theorised as a specific type of ritual which aims to respond to public anger and to reestablish social cohesion. In doing so, the state legitimise