I strongly relate to what Louis de Bernieres says. I was also sent to a boarding school when I was 8. Even before you consider the horrific things that happened in those places, the abuse began with the act of separation. theguardian.com/books/2021/mar…
This system of institutional abuse inflicted immense harm not only on the children put through it, but also on the country they grew up to dominate. monbiot.com/2019/11/11/the…
In my experience, the most damaged people are those who loudly proclaim "it never did me any harm" or "it made me the man I am". Processing what happened and finding peace takes years of work and brutal honesty. In some ways it's like recovering from addiction.
A powerful omerta surrounded what happened in those schools. Anyone who spoke out was a "sneak". That has remained the case, until very recently. We were taught to lie, to deny, to put the institution and its culture above everything, even our own welfare.
But something has changed, and it feels wonderful. When I first wrote about this issue, many years ago, the response was almost universal denial and derision. Today, scarcely any. At last it's being taken seriously. Revealing any form of abuse seems to follow a similar trajectory
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