Caring for Memories, Preserving Memories

“Even though my memories are fading, there is still something left.
Like a small seed that might grow again if it rains.
And if the memories disappear completely, there is still something left in the heart.
A pang of joy or pain, a spark of happiness, a teardrop.”

Yoko Ogawa in The Memory Police: The Memory Police

On an unnamed island, almost everyone is able to forget everything, including memories of what was lost. We are certainly quite familiar, or not unfamiliar, with stamps, perfume, emeralds, and bells. However, on the island most of the population does not know the shape and name of these objects.

In The Memory Police: The Memory Police, we find that the tragedy of loss after loss was the will of the island’s leaders. Although the long series of losses did not occur naturally, the majority of the population considered it otherwise. Furthermore, Yoko Ogawa writes: “No one made any effort to find out. Whatever happened, it was considered a mere misfortune. Moreover, even talking about it could put you in danger” (p. 73).

From the explanation of the Japanese author, we know that the islanders were dealing with the psychology of fear. At this point, they did not have the courage to sue, including asking questions about, what was happening on the island. It is not surprising that the loss was eventually considered something common and natural.

Even though the island's leaders try to erase everything, there are still people who are able to retain memories. They can think of something that has been (lost), and eventually manage to refuse to participate in collective amnesia. However, their fates, including the mother of the main character of the novel, tend to end tragically. The Memory Police hunt them down and then take them to a place that no one knows.

As if swallowed by the earth, those who could still hold onto their memories disappeared without a trace. Unfortunately, the rest of the population could not take any action. Therefore, the Memory Police were always able to complete their task: “making sure that everything that was lost remained lost” (p. 19).

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What Yoko Ogawa presents suggests the power of an oppressive regime in erasing memories. These days, such stories can at least be found in political reality. In China, for example, the government tried to erase the Tiananmen tragedy from the collective memory of its people in order to strengthen its grip on power. In the end, whether they like it or not, the people in that country tend not to be able to avoid such actions.

The world can be said to be far from the collapse of the democratic regime realized by many countries. However, there are at least two phenomena that need to be considered regarding the practice of democracy at the global level. First, recently anti-elite demagogues have emerged in various countries. Like heroes, they offer solutions to various issues. The problem is, the solutions proposed are too simple in answering such complex problems. Regarding this, we can mention a number of names, such as Modi, Orban, and Bolsonaro.

Second, as mentioned by Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk (2016) in The Danger of Deconsolidation: The Democratic Disconnect, the appeal of democracy is diminishing in a number of countries with established democracies. This is because people over 30 years old appreciate democracy more than young people under 30 years old. The bitter experience after World War II is the reason why people over 30 years old feel that democracy is a better political system than other political systems.

In the end, like any dystopian novel, The Memory Police: The Memory Policegives a warning signal that democracy always contains vulnerabilities within itself. If we agree that democracy provides space for groups that are extremely inconsistent with us, inevitably their rights to express themselves and assemble should be protected. Even if the political power wants to overturn democracy itself, as long as it is done without violence, their rights to express themselves and assemble feel important.

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In the next section, Yoko Ogawa wrote that the situation on the unnamed island was getting worse and worse. The actions of the Memory Police were getting more and more violent. If previously they had disappeared objects secretly, recently their actions have become more blatant.
After the objects disappeared, the memories of those objects also disappeared, all parts of the residents' bodies disappeared one by one, from the left leg to the right arm, from the ears to the throat, from the eyebrows to the spine.

“The hands that wrote the story, the eyes filled with tears, and the cheeks where the tears flowed—all disappeared, and in the end, all that remained was the voice.” (p. 290).

Even though all tangible things are gone, Yoko Ogawa shows that the Memory Police cannot eliminate voices. Through various means, including violence, the Memory Police try to eliminate everything. However, the people on the island are not completely defeated. Because, their voices still float on the nameless island.