"Genocide - the dark mark of humanity" (best 20 essays)

Editors:

Taras Alberda

Andrew Petryk

Taras Repytskyi

The essay competition was organized by Society Initiatives Institute (Lviv,

Ukraine). For any inquiries, comments or partnership offers please write to

[email protected]

SOCIETY INITIATIVES INSTITUTE (LVIV,UKRAINE) / FIRST INTERNATIONAL ESSAY CONTEST IN MEMORY OF R. LEMKIN 2

Welcome word for the participants of the I International Essay Contest in

memory of Raphael Lemkin "Genocide - dark mark of humanity"

We, Ukrainian public non-governmental organization "Society Initiatives

Institute ", decided to join the popularization of research of the history of

the Holocaust and genocide and launched the First International Essay

Contest in memory of Raphael Lemkin “Genocide - dark mark of humanity”.

This competition differs qualitatively from the other alike events. Firstly, by

drawing the attention of the general public to unfairly forgotten figure of

scholar, international lawyer, creator of the term "genocide", who comes

from Ukraine - Raphael Lemkin, whose alma mater was Lviv University.

Secondly, focusing on understanding of the Ukrainian Holodomor, which,

famous Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko, rightly called the

anthropological disaster of Ukrainian people and - nota bene! – the

pioneering research of which was done by Lemkin, defining crimes against

Stalinist communism as Ukrainian genocide in the context of international

law in his speech in 1953 "Soviet Genocide in Ukraine" to the three

thousand audience in New York "Manhattan Center".

The competition has caused considerable resonance in many parts of the

world - we received more than 300 works from Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan,

Georgia, Romania, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, India, Tanzania,

Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Serbia, Armenia, Bangladesh, Poland, Rwanda and

Montenegro, Denmark, Kosovo, Ghana, Slovakia, Macedonia, the

Philippines, Colombia - and the list is not yet complete. We express our

sincere gratitude to all the participants for their attention to the initiatives

of our NGO. Let this collection of 20 best works of participants of our

International Competition, serve as one of the visible expressions of the

gratitude.

Horror of genocidal practices in historical context was the fact that all

autocratic regimes sought to turn people into numbers. If history of these

massacres carries a general lesson, than it is to avoid the development of

privileged, as well as attempts of state to implement economic expansion

at the expense of victims and motivation of welfare by mortality. The task

of the state is to ethically commit to an individual, where every person is

valued alive, not dead. But our task is to not forget, under any

circumstances, the countless victims of genocides, the memory of which

has to always bubble up in our hearts, like the mythological ashes of Klaas.

Organizing committee


Вітальне слово до учасників I Міжнародного конкурсу пам’яті

Рафаеля Лемкіна «Геноцид – темне тавро людства»

Ми, українська громадська неурядова організація «Інститут суспільних

ініціатив», вирішили долучитися до популяризації досліджень про

історію Голокосту й геноциду і започаткували І Міжнародний конкурс

пам’яті Рафаеля Лемкіна «Геноцид – темне тавро людства». Цей

конкурс якісно вирізняється на тлі подібних заходів, по-перше,

приверненням уваги широкої публіки до невиправдано забутої постаті

ученого, юриста-міжнародника, творця терміну «геноцид» родом із

України – Рафаеля Лемкіна, чиїм alma mater став Львівський

університет; по-друге, акцентуванням на осмисленні українського

Голодомору, який відома українська письменниця Оксана Забужко

цілком слушно називає антропологічною катастрофою українського

народу і – nota bene! – піонером наукового дослідження якого став

Лемкін, визначивши злочини сталінського комуністичного режиму

проти українців як геноцид у контексті міжнародного права в своєму

зверненні 1953 року «Радянський геноцид в Україні» до трьохтисячної

аудиторії нью-йоркського «Манхеттен Центру».

Конкурс викликав неабиякий резонанс в багатьох куточках світу – ми

отримали понад 300 робіт учасників з України, Російської Федерації,

Азербайджану, Грузії, Румунії, Угорщини, Боснії і Герцеговини, Індії,

Танзанії, Зімбабве, Нігерії, Сербії, Вірменії, Бангладеш, Польщі, Руанди,

Чорногорії, Данії, Косово, Гани, Словаччини, Македонії, Філіппін,

Колумбії – і цей список ще не повний. Ми висловлюємо сердечну

вдячність усім учасникам конкурсу за увагу до ініціативи нашої

громадської організації. І нехай цей збірник із 20 найкращих робіт

учасників І Міжнародного конкурсу імені Рафаеля Лемкіна слугуватиме

одним із зримих проявів цієї вдячності.

Жах геноцидних практик в історичному розрізі полягав у тому, що всі

автократичні режими прагнули перетворити людей на числа. Якщо

історія масових убивств несе загальний урок, то він полягає у відмові

від упривілейованого розвитку – спроб держави здійснити економічну

експансію коштом жертв та мотивації добробуту смертністю. Завдання

держави – етична відданість окремій особі, коли вона (особа) цінується

живою, а не мертвою. Наше ж завдання – ніколи й за жодних обставин

не забувати незліченних жертв геноциду, пам'ять про яких має завжди

клекотіти в наших серцях, мов міфологічний попіл Клааса.

Організаційний комітет


Приветственное слово к участникам I Международного конкурса

памяти Рафаэля Лемкина «Геноцид - темное клеймо человечества»

Мы, украинская общественная неправительственная организация

«Институт общественных инициатив», решили приобщиться к

популяризации исследований истории Холокоста и геноцида, и

учредили Международный конкурс эссе памяти Рафаэля Лемкина под

названием «Геноцид - темное клеймо человечества». Этот конкурс

качественно выделяется на фоне подобных мероприятий, во-первых,

привлечением внимания широкой публики к неоправданно забытой

фигуры ученого, юриста-международника, создателя термина

«геноцид» родом из Украины - Рафаэля Лемкина, alma mater которого

был Львовский университет; во-вторых, акцентом на осмыслении

украинского Голодомора, который известная украинская

писательница Оксана Забужко справедливо называет

антропологической катастрофой украинского народа и - nota bene! -

пионером научного исследования которого стал Лемкин, определив

преступления сталинского коммунистического режима против

украинского как геноцид в контексте международного права в своем

обращении в 1953 году «Советский геноцид в Украине» к трехтысячной

аудитории нью-йоркского «Манхэттен Центра».

Конкурс вызвал большой резонанс во многих уголках мира - мы

получили более 300 работ участников из Украины, Российской

Федерации, Азербайджана, Грузии, Румынии, Венгрии, Боснии и

Герцеговины, Индии, Танзании, Зимбабве, Нигерии, Сербии, Армении,

Бангладеш, Польши, Руанды , Черногории, Дании, Косово, Ганы,

Словакии, Македонии, Филиппин, Колумбии - и этот список далеко не

полный. Мы выражаем сердечную благодарность всем участникам

конкурса за внимание к инициативе нашей общественной

организации. И пусть этот сборник из 20 лучших работ участников I

Международного конкурса имени Рафаэля Лемкина будет служить

одним из зримых проявлений этой благодарности.

Ужас геноцидных практик в историческом разрезе заключался в том,

что все автократические режимы стремились превратить людей в

числа. Если история массовых убийств несет общий урок, то он

заключается в отказе от привилегированное развития - попыток

государства осуществить экономическую экспансию за счет жертв и

мотивации благосостояния смертностью. Задача государства -

этическая преданность отдельному лицу, когда она (личность) ценится

живой, а не мертвой. Наша же задача - никогда и ни при каких

обстоятельствах не забывать бесчисленных жертв геноцида, память о

которых должна всегда клокотать в наших сердцах, как

мифологический пепел Клааса.

Организационный комитет


Best authors Adebisi Samuel Tunmise (Nigeria) ............................................................... 5

Akshay Maheshwari (India) ......................................................................... 7

Dzejlana Gledo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) .................................................. 9

Edwin Arinze John (Nigeria) ...................................................................... 11

I Gede Putu Eka Putra Jayantara (Indonesia) ............................................ 13

Emmanuel Ugokwe (Ghana) ...................................................................... 15

Idham Raharfian (Indonesia) ..................................................................... 17

Isah Babayo (Nigeria)................................................................................. 20

Loke Bisbjerg Nielsen (Denmark) .............................................................. 22

Mahoro Jean Claude Geofrey (Rwanda) ................................................... 25

Milan Balaban (Bosnia and Herzegovina) .................................................. 27

Mohnaa Shrivastava (India) ....................................................................... 29

Olga A. Ambrosiewicz (Spain) .................................................................... 31

Sourjya Das (Indonesia) ............................................................................. 33

Vishaka Siva (India) .................................................................................... 35

Карагяур Ксения (Украина) ..................................................................... 37

Низов Владимир (Россия) ....................................................................... 40

Рожкова Ксения (Россия) ........................................................................ 42

Свенцицкая Элина (Украина) .................................................................. 45

Шабайкович Ірина (Україна) ................................................................... 47

GENOCIDE: THE DARK MARK OF HUMANITY

Essay by

Adebisi Samuel Tunmise (Nigeria)

The world has been ravaged by different types of violence along

history. Genocide is regarded as the worst form of violence. Raphael

Lemkin who coined the word from the Greek words “Geno” meaning

race and “Cide” meaning killing defined it as “the destruction of a

nation or an ethnic group”. Beyond the political legacy, genocide

leaves a much problematic economic legacy whose impact may be

more worrisome.

Genocide on a general note often starts with common hatred of a

particular race or nation. It was evident in Adolf Hitler’s repeatedly

blaming the Jews for Germany’s defeat in WW1 and for their

subsequent economic hardship. He went further to develop racial

theories asserting that particular Germans were the supreme form of

human. His racial theories put the Jews as the racial opposite. This is

the starting point of the greatest act of violence in history lane.

Genocide just like terrorism is the expression of hatred and can

sometimes be a political weapon but its economic impact runs deep.

Beyond the destruction of lives and properties as the case may be, it

lays its dark mark on human resources, social capital, and more

importantly, institutions that are necessary for the efficiency of

market. This lays a dark mark on general economic performance of

victim nations.

Malthusian hypothesis states that mass killing can raise living

standard by reducing population size and redistributing assets. A

study confirmed through the Rwandan genocide that households in

villages that experienced higher level of violence had higher living


standard six years after the genocide. They own more assets in

livestock, land and durable goods. There was increased output per

capita due to higher capital intensity and redistribution of assets. This

can be economically seen as a positive however the darker impact of

reduced population on a broader perspective is greater.

The immediate effect of political mass killing is the destruction of

human capital. Genocide has in all its happenings affected population

significantly. The holocaust killed approximately 11,000,000 people

including 1,000,000 Jewish children and a total of about 6,000,000

Jews alone by the Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler. In fact, two-third

of European Jews living in Europe was killed in the violence. It is the

largest genocide of the 20th century. The Rwandan genocide killed

between 500,000 to 1,000,000 people. The Armenian genocide, the

first of the 20th century killed about 2,000,000 Armenians living in

Turkey. In all these happenings, population as an important economic

variable that reflects potential productivity was adversely affected.

Decrease in population leads to reduced productivity of the affected

region and subsequent economic hardship of that region if it is able to

survive the violence. This economic productivity is measured as GDP.

This fall in GDP figure often places its direct effect on inflation by

raising inflation data. Inflation here generally occurs due to the

constraint that reduced population places on output. Fall in economic

output leads much money left by the decreased and inherited by

survivors or as other cases may be to chase few goods. The Rwandan

genocide fell economic growth by 50% and raised inflation to a

whopping 64%. The victim nation is faced with the problem of

growing its economy again. As physical and human capital crumbles

in the face of this violence, the economy follows suit.

The Holocaust had the largest impact on political and economic

outcomes of cities intensely affected. Before the event, Russian Jews

were the predominant holders of white collar jobs and they were

regarded as the middle class. The holocaust therefore wiped out the

most productive, educated and intelligent people in Russia. Data then

showed that 67% of Russian Jews held white collar jobs while only

15% of non-Jews were in such class of job. The same goes for other

areas too where 70% of high skilled jobs and education was

dominated by Jews. These data coupled with the fact that the Jews

were dominant in key economic areas of the countries they lived in,

the economic effect of the holocaust in these areas cannot be

overemphasized.

Nations inflicted with Genocide have been battling with the dark

impact of the violence on their economy. They have been trying to

grow their economy albeit from near scratch. Since 1994, Rwandan

economy has been growing on an average of 8% growth a year. This

growth is a reflection of two divergent points; the achievements in this

growth and the departure from what its GDP would have been without

the 1994 event. In the midst of this growth, two-third of its population

lives below the poverty line. The economy has been struggling to

rebuild its institution and build new institutions that would help its

market operate efficiently. This has recklessly abandoned the country

to rely heavily on foreign funds. Rwanda recently has been trying to

reduce their heavy reliance on foreign fund. There is however doubt

on the ability of the country to generate enough revenue internally for

triggering inclusive growth.

Genocide also depresses investments and savings when inflicted on a

particular region or nation. Due to inflationary effect of this violence,

the real value of people’s savings reduces greatly. The 64% inflation

rate recorded in Rwanda after the genocide is an example of this. In

the same vein, it leads to capital outflow. In a bid for survival, people

flee the inflicted country with their savings. At the same time,

investors consider it risky to invest in such economy and would only

do when the nation starts recovering from the violence politically and


economically. Fall in investment coupled with savings flight from

Rwanda among others is the reason for the 50% fall in output of the

economy after the 1994 violence.

The pain is beyond the death but also the hardship on the survivors.

The economic trauma nations face in the long run after this cannot be

overemphasized. Genocide therefore places a dark mark on economic

conditions of man which is an essential part of humanity as a whole.

References

1. Chase,Jon.”A rippling effect of the Holocaust”. In Russian

areas most devastated, economic growth has lagged. Harvard

Gazette, 2010.

2. Gahuma,Alphouse. “the socio-economic impact of Genocide

and current development in Rwanda”. University of KwaZulu-

Natal, Westville, 2008.

www.researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/xm/ui/handle/10423/1/42. 20

October 2014.

3. Rogall,Thorsten and David Yanagizawa-Drott. “The Legacy

of Political Mass Killing, Evidence from the Rwandan

Genocide”.2013. 24 October 2014.

4. Ryan,Orla. “Rwanda’s struggle to rebuild economy”.

BBCNews.2004. news.bbc.co.uk/z/hi/business/3586851.stm.

20 October 2014.

5. “Did the holocaust lower economic growth in Russia?”14 June

2010. www.chrisblattman.com/2010/06/14/did-the-

holocaust-lower-economic-growth-in-Russia/. 27 October

2014.

1 Article 2 of Genocide Convention prescribes five categories of acts:(i) Killing members of the group (ii) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group (iii) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to

GENOCIDE: AN UNSPEAKABLE HORROR

Essay by

Akshay Maheshwari (India)

Frequently called the ‘crime of crimes’ in contemporary international

criminal law cases, genocide is infamous because of its association

with the Shoah, translated into English as ‘Holocaust’. What gives

genocide its particular odiousness is its dolus specialis (special intent

element also referred to as genocidal intent); the specific intent to

destroy a national, racial, religious or ethnical group as such, in whole

or in part, through one of five listed categories of criminal conduct1.

When mass slaughter targeting a racial, religious or ethnical group

flares, there is often a legal and political battle over whether the term

genocide applies because the label conveys deep condemnation and

particular expressive force. Contemporary adjudicated cases of

genocide such as mass slaughter of more than half a million Rwanda

Tutsis in 1994 and the mass killing of more than 7,000 men and boys

in Srebrenica, Bosnia in 1995 demonstrate the attempts to eradicate

groups of people need not be on the vase, sustained and systematic

scale of Shoah to be termed genocide.

Genocide was a ‘crime without a name’ as Winston Churchill put it in

describing the Nazi Final Solution until Polish lawyer Raphael

Lemkin, a refugee fleeing the Nazi occupation of his homeland ,

coined the term genocide. The term merges the ancient Greek word

genos, meaning race or tribe, and caedre, the Latin word for killing.

bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part (iv) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group (iv) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.


The term was meant to capture the grave offence of extinguishing a

group, thereby robbing the world of group and future contributions.

The rapid ascension of the newly coined term in treaty law did not

occur until after the prototypical contemporary genocide and the main

World War II- era adjudication. Under the Charter of the International

Military Tribunal, large scale slaughter of ethnic, racial or religious

groups was encompassed in the definition of crimes against the

humanity, which included murder, extermination and persecution on

political, racial or religious grounds among other crimes. In analyzing

the crime of persecution, the International Military Tribunal referred

to the extermination of Jews. Some of the subsequent military tribunal

prosecution discussed extermination of Jews as crimes against

humanity. In two later judgments of a US Military Tribunal, Alstotter

et al. in 1947, and Greifelt et al. in 1948, the word ‘genocide’ was

used but the contour of the term were not fleshed out as distinct crime.

The UN Genocide Convention defining and outlawing genocide as a

specific crime was not adopted by the General Assembly until 9

December 1948. Now widely viewed as expressing the customary

law, at least in its main provisions, the Genocide Convention provides

for the criminal responsibility of individuals and States for acts of

genocide and imposes on Contracting States the duty to and repress

genocide. The Convention has been influential and widely subscribed

to, with 137 State parties. The definition of genocide in Article 2 of

the Convention has been incorporated into the statutes of the ad-hoc

tribunal- the ICTY and ICTR- as well as, in part, in the ICCSt.

The five well defined underlying acts of genocide reflect a focus on

physical destruction. The drafters of the Genocide Convention

rejected the idea of cultural genocide- the destruction of the language

and culture of a group- because the vagueness and malleability of the

concept. The only vestige of the notion of cultural genocide is the

recognition that the forced transfer of children might be an underlying

act of genocide. The interpretation of what conduct falls into the

underlying acts of genocide must therefore be seen through the lens

of the focus on physical or biological destruction.

Genocidal intent-also called dolus specialis, special intent and

specific intent in the jurisprudence-is frequently the most complex

issue in a case of alleged genocide. The specific intent to destroy a

national, racial, religious or ethnic group as such is hallmark of

genocide and gives the crime its particular gravity. Discerning

genocidal intent can be difficult. Mass killing often takes many hands.

Some may harbor the intent to destroy a group as such, and some may

lack the special intent element; aiming instead to kill for such

manifold reasons as revenge, to obey orders, or out of generalized

hatred and sadism short of genocidal intent.

Some may also contribute to the commission of genocide without

sharing the intent to destroy the group. Because, there is rarely direct

evidence of genocidal intent, it is often hard to discern such intent

absent a policy or plan of genocide. Moreover, even when there is a

policy in place, in cases of modern-day ethnic cleansing the goal may

be to displace, rather than destroy a group. Acts of violence and

intimidation aimed at displacement may be deemed to fall short of

intent to destroy the group, in which case the conduct constitutes

crimes against humanity rather than genocide.

For decades after its enactment the Genocide convention remained

dormant in terms of enforcement until events in the Balkans and

Rwanda-belatedly and largely in the aftermath- galvanized the

international community to action. The duty to prevent genocide is

less well fleshed out in the Convention than the obligation to punish.

Punishment is often conceived as a deterrent to future such crimes.

More muscular forms of prevention, however, include intervention,


which the international community has historically proved loath to

undertake. Few critiques have termed the Genocide Convention

‘greatest failure’. The politics of intervention are complicated and

often hinder efforts to prevent genocide. As a matter of legal design,

moreover the enforcement mechanism of the Genocide Convention is

subject to critique. Article VI of the Convention leaves enforcement

to the courts of the State where the genocide has occurred, the flaw

being the officials of the State are likely to have a strong interest in

non-prosecution.

GENOCIDE – THE DARK MARK OF HUMANITY

Essay by

Dzejlana Gledo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Dear grandmother,

It has been quite a long time since my fingertips touched this dusty

old technologically improved typewriter called my soul; and it has

been quite a long time since my thoughts have been touched my dark

memory of atrocities that had happened over a decade ago in our

country. I have missed talking to you during those hardships we went

through while you were preparing to pray, washing your old, wrinkled

body-and me pouring water from smashed and bumpy canister. The

sound of something horrendous interrupts us. It sounds like a dragon

whistling and hovering over our numb bodies. And then a crash like

the earth has swallowed us. Shelling starts again. We hug and stand

still; touching our limbs making sure they are still warm and

functioning. We run towards the shelter of our rusty old apartment

building- another sleepless night, another injection of fear flowing

through our mind body and soul.

Who can do that? What kind of animal may decide it can take lives of

innocent human beings? Help me understand, help me not hate them?

News arrive every second about thousand people being slaughtered,

mutilated and killed- tossed away like puppets into wet and ruined

land; their bodies unrecognizable to anyone. Years go by and I still

cannot bear the thought of the past and history labeling my country,

my people and myself. Why have allowed that? Why has Srebrenica

happen? Who is responsible? Are we humans?


The world has existed due to man's ability to build, o create to improve

our homeland, our Milky Way. And when have we turned into greedy,

heartless vultures?

We used to be the kindest species among God's creatures. Some of us

had had big, curiously honest eyes that immersed and absorbed all the

beauty surrounding them, gazing and watching each drop, each sun

ray, each landing of the autumn leaf, each snowflake falling on the

ground with such care, attention and anticipation that each upcoming

vision and epiphany caused them to feel naïve and youthful while

sharing this joy that was extremely visible in their pupils. Some had

long arms with elegant and soft fingers that danced and fondled freely

and gently those harnessed and fastened strings of acoustic guitar,

harp, caterwauling and wistful violin during an Indian summer

accompanied by a light breeze. They were playing and creating the

gentlest and the loudest melody followed by the sweet and sorrowful

song of a nightingale and the little owl. Some had big heads inhabited

by constellations of witty puns, assertive ideas and some frequencies

that directed them towards clear and practical manifestation and

application.

Their brain was a conglomerate spectrum of different vibrations along

the galaxy of their thoughts. They were experienced in finding and

understanding colors, temperatures, clouds and storms, weather

changes and seasons. Natural weather surrounded and dressed the

planet into limitless blue sky, thick and dark clouds creating warm

tears. They transformed themselves into sad and lonely water reaction

called rain drops that were falling from the sky. Dry ground accepted

and welcomed these tears, absorbing each and every drop preventing

them to vanish into air of some other world. The ground turned the

rain into a heard and stiff substance, a crop that grew into the most

amazing flower. And the flower became a part of this planet; it

became a constituent part and member of the family. It decorated

nothingness and empty space and it soon started to spread its authentic

and unique smell waking the smiles of those whose noses it touched

and their breaths fulfilled. Some had long and strong legs. They stood

firmly on the ground and were able to walk along white ground during

harsh but protecting winter. The cold whiteness protected that flower

and its fellow citizens by putting them into a winter sleep and cover.

Their legs could bare and stand the power of winds and storms

painting clear and strong Achilles footprints of their own existence.

But we slowly turned into our worse enemies. We became slaves of

our own existence; we are sitting on torn and ragged carpets of

nothingness, lying naked under shades of skeleton trees craving for

their lungs. We are choking on our own words with the hope we will

spot at least an ant to give us a piece of their own well-earned bread.

Now we sit alone like wolves in our stuffy rooms of bottomless space

of our broken promises living on no man’s islands. Animal world has

outdistanced and outdid us with their organized and disciplined

cohabitation. Now we are caught in nervous pursuit, running for the

Golden Fleece. Our lifeless bodies are bitten by the tooth of time, our

suits and clothes no longer smell like roses and daffodils, our faces

express nothing but grayish memory of once proud and unified

mankind. Our bodies stoop while walking, with no posture and

Achilles steps.

Why have we allowed this?

It all happened because we stopped loving Love- our essence, our

birthmother and our protector. We searched for the essence of life

through false wealth and global madness. We have not realized that

love itself is the most powerful and the strongest force we need in

order to complete ourselves and our lives. We stopped spreading it,

courting it and smiling with it.


Do you believe in our healing dear reader?

I do. I believe that neither in the moment of our final breath when the

last sparkle of that dying star stops shining nor in the moment of our

darkest hour will death destroy our golden dreams because pure love

will never light out not even if buried alive.

Perhaps we have lost ourselves and love, but love has not given up on

us yet.

It is indestructible!!! I forgive Them, I forgive.

GENOCIDE - THE DARK MARK OF HUMANITY

Essay by

Edwin Arinze John (Nigeria)

Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially

those of particular ethnic group or nation. It is also a deliberate

infliction on group conditions of life calculated to bring about its

physical destruction in whole or in parts. Genocide, and the crime

against humanity of persecution, is unique crimes because the victim

is victimized specifically because they belong to a particular group.

Genocide, the intent to destroy a group, requires a particular mindset.

Therefore, genocide is not possible without dehumanization of the

group and, has extension, the individual belonging to this group.

Certain major factors may be present in allowing leaders to

dehumanize the group and incite violence. The factors may include

economic and political inequalities, crisis [economic recession or

political collapse] and a history of conflict between groups. These root

factors may combine with other psychological influences such as

disobedience to authority and group pressure to increase the

likelihood of violence. It must be noted that among most people, there

is a great reluctance to commit atrocities, which contravene values

taught in the family, religious teachings and perhaps even instinct

itself.

Ethnics and cultural distinctions often in the formation of “in-group”

and “out-group” thinking where members of different races, religions,

or cultures view each other as separate ,alien, and “different”. Identity

group are formed from such thinking. In many regions, members of

different identity groups, for mutual advantage, develop conflict


prevention methods. Yet, where resources are limited, or where

pressures are placed on societies because of political or economic

instability, relations may degrade. This can lead one group to be

convinced that many of its problems are the fault of another group,

and that all those problems would be solved if only the other group no

longer existed.

Another main reason for large-scale massacre was the desire for

revenge. This is less subject to purely rational cost-benefit analysis.

We find in many of the notorious cases in history that the passions of

war provoke bitter resentment against enemies who fought too hard

or who presumed to be guilty of having done wrong.

Some other causes of genocide are fear, fanaticism and irrational

hatred. If the enemy is presumed to be so dangerous that it threatens

us with extinction, it might be a wise policy to exterminate all of them

first, should the occasion arise. Some of the major genocides in history

have resulted from such a sense of impending doom for ruling elites.

Nevertheless, despite the reasonable expectation that the defeated

enemies might strike back and threaten the very existence of the

victors, the combination of the circumstance leading to such

slaughters is relatively unusual. The collapse of empires, kingdoms,

and other political units have occurred thousands of times, and have

usually been associated with war and killings, but most of these have

not involve the attempt to murder all the nations, tribes, religious

groups, clan or towns and villages involved in these wars. Combining

fear and desire for revenge provoked by the death and destruction that

normally accompanies violent conflicts; we should expect mass

slaughter of vanquished community to be very common. The question

here is what usually limits such killing? The reason for this need to be

examined more closely because they lie at the heart of the traditional

methods used to mitigate the effect of such conflicts. Sometimes the

very existence on earth of an enemy community is considered so

polluting, so offensive and so unnatural that harmony cannot be

reestablished until every last one of this group has been eliminated.

Genocide, like any morally relevant actions, can be supported,

denounced, or view with apathy. One’s moral convictions will result

in varying responses to genocidal acts. Perpetrators of genocide often

feel completely justified in their actions, and may draw on local

cultural and political values to curry favor. This can lead to a response

of support, thereby furthering the criminal act. Others, while not

participating in the acts directly, may support them by financial or

political means. The international community, following the

international law, sometimes attempts to stop genocide before it

happens or while it is in process. Often, however, the ability to do

effective is minimal.

The effects of genocide are conspicuous tragedy. For instance, land

and property rights disputes can be very difficult to resolve, especially

in transitional societies where land ownership is murky. Often two (or

more people) say they own a particular pieces of land, and all the

evidence of ownership has been destroyed. People on opposite side of

a long-running genocide tend to distrust or even hate each other. This

takes an emotional toll on both parties and prevents them from

working together in the future. Genocide can cause people to flee an

era, either because of intolerable living conditions or forceful

expulsion. Such situations can lead to more conflict when refugees try

to return home.

Preventing act of genocide has become an important topic in peace

research. Preventing genocide implies understanding how genocidal

motivations start and how group become powerful enough to impose

their plans on victims. This involves the ability to recognize how

ethnic and political values mesh in potential dangerous ways and how

elite organizers of genocide obtain state power. Since civil war itself


is one of the predisposing conditions which can give rise to genocide,

polices which effectively prevent civil war should also contribute to

the prevention of genocide. In political realm, a critical requirement

for the prevention of genocide is that governments are inclusive in

multiethnic and multireligious societies. This sounds a very obvious

and common sense requirement.

The fact is that most genocide is directly or indirectly sponsored by

political leaders. In other to prevent genocide, creation of international

mass movement is necessary in other to abolish genocide.

Organize civil society and human right groups.

Mobilize religious leaders of churches, mosques, synagogues, temples

etc.

Put genocide education in curricular of every college and university

in the world.

Hold political leaders accountable. If they fail to act or stop genocide,

vote them out of office.

INDONESIA’S MAY 1998 TRAGEDY

Essay by

I Gede Putu Eka Putra Jayantara (Indonesia)

My Grandma told me that a child should not go out past 7 in the

evening or a ghost may come and get us. She also told me that I have

to finish my food or a cock would jump up and finish it. For me, those

were the silliest thoughts I’ve ever heard. But one day she told me,

Bali was the safest island for Chinese in Indonesia. Little did I know

– she really meant it.

Our family moved to Bali in 1990. Grandma said we were not wanted

in Solo (East Java, Indonesia). The natives of Solo made it hard for us

to do business. Every time she tried to sell something, they refused to

buy. They preferred to buy lesser-quality products from another native

than from a “Cina” (Indonesian native called Chinese people “Cina”.

The word “Cina” is an insult for Chinese, just like African-American

with Nigger). Bad business forced us to move far from our hometown,

in search for a better place. She said people in Bali were more

accepting than those in Solo. So we moved.

I remember when I was 8 years old (1998) my grandma held me in

her arms so tight. We were watching the evening news. The TV

showed lots of Chinese buildings burnt down. We saw people looting

from Chinese shops, taking out everything they liked. The news also

said Chinese were killed and the women, raped. The riots happened

not only in the Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, but also in Solo. I was

too young to understand the news. But I understood the expression on

my grandmother’s face. She looked terrified and seeing that from a


brave woman like my grandma for the very first time, I became

terrified too.

For an 8-year old like I was, burnt buildings are burnt buildings, looted

goods are looted goods, but I did not care much, because I did not

really understood the meaning of it all. But I am 24 now and I feel I

have an obligation to know. I browsed on the internet and learned

about the tragedy.

The tragedy was triggered by the monetary crisis engulfing Indonesia

in early 1998. The first riots started in Jakarta on the 12th of May. The

Jakarta riots continued until the 15th of May and riots started

elsewhere in the country, particularly in other cities in Java.

For many Chinese, hell had broken loose. Native Indonesians trapped

Chinese in apartment buildings and set the buildings on fire. They

locked the entry doors, so the people inside died, suffocated by smoke

or burnt alive. Those who managed to escape were caught. The men

were beheaded and the women were raped by dozens of Muslims. The

Chinese couldn’t do anything at all. They were desperate, helpless,

hopeless, tormented. They were prisoners of fate.

No.

Not prisoners,

They were victims of fate.

“Catch all Cina-pigs and burn them! Allahu Akbar! In the name of our

God we have to kill them all!”,

When hunting down the Chinese, native Indonesians did so in the

name of their Allah. But is it only a matter of differences in ethnicity

and religion that caused them to act so cruelly? Grandma said that

Indonesians had a grudge against the Chinese long before the 1998

riots. We were suspected of corrupting government money and were

believed to have caused the monetary crisis. Some Chinese may have

assisted government officials corrupting public funds, but many hard

working Chinese had nothing to do with this! Why the innocent felt

the brunt of the aggression most?

But nobody dared talking back. Most of our survivors moved to

Singapore or Batam. Some from Central and East Java moved to Bali.

We tried our best to survive.

I remembered when I was on the sixth grade (2002) the school gave

us new subject to learn: Budi Pekerti (Moral Science). The subject

taught us to be kind to all people regardless of their racial or religious

background. The book had pictures of smiling Javanese, Sundanese,

Balinese, Chinese and other races of Indonesia holding hands together

as one. Budi Pekerti was taught in all schools and universities as a

compulsory subject. The government made a serious effort to instill

the value that everyone is equal and although there are differences; all

Indonesian citizens can live together in peace. Unity in Diversity -

Bhinekka Tunggal Ika.

Genocide in 1998 was caused by Chinese-stereotype as corruptors.

This stereotype went for years and rooted inside their minds. From

then they started to blame Chinese for whatever happened to them. In

1998, the natives couldn’t take it anymore so they attacked, burned,

and looted whatever they could. They raped our kin, killed our people

in the hope that the Chinese would go away.

But Budi Pekerti made the mind of the natives mellow. Budi Pekerti

challenges racial and religious stereotypes by teaching people to

tolerate differences. People had started to realize that what had

happened in 1998 was morally wrong. The result of was amazing. In

2012, Chinese Indonesian citizens could apply and were accepted as

government officials!


The most popular Chinese government official today is Mr. Basuki

“Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama who was recently installed as Governor of

Jakarta. To end the stereotype, Mr. Ahok supported an act to change

the term “Cina” to “Tionghoa”!

What happened towards the Tionghoa in 1998 was awful, but

Indonesia has learned from it. Indonesia may have lots of economic

and political issues now, but not even slightest issues with the

Tionghoa.

Recently I visited my Grandma and reminded her of what she once

said, “Bali was the safest island for Chinese in Indonesia”. I told her

while showing a picture of Ahok on my mobile phone: “Everywhere

in Indonesia is now safe for us, Grannie”. She hugged me and smiled

with optimism.

HISTORY DOES NOT LIE

Essay by

Emmanuel Ugokwe (Ghana)

Genocide is defined as ‘the systematic and planned extermination of

an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group’. This century has

seen so many outbursts of hatred. Since the end of World War II, there

have been over 50 documented incidents of genocide and politically

motivated mass murder. During the latter half of the 20th century, up

to 2.2 million people were murdered in Cambodia for political

reasons. Ethnic hatred in Rwanda led to the deaths of more than

800,000 men, women, and children. Religiously and politically

motivated murders in Bosnia resulted in over 200,000 deaths and it

reads on and on.

In 2004 in Iraq, civilians were massacred in cold blood, while relief

workers, journalists and other non-combatants were also taken

hostage and put to death in the most barbarous fashion. In Darfur, a

whole population were displaced, and their homes destroyed, while

rape was used as a deliberate strategy. In northern Uganda, many

children were mutilated and forced to take part in acts of unspeakable

cruelty and in Beslan, many children were taken hostage and brutally

massacred.

This essay sets to discuss the pains and hard past of Rwanda as a

country. The tiny country of Rwanda has experienced appalling

violence. Hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children were

brutally slaughtered in one of the worst genocides seen in modern

times. Shocking scenes of unbridled violence were broadcast earth

wide, causing many to be horrified by man’s inhumanity to man. How

did it begin?


On Wednesday evening, April 6, a plane was shot down, and it burst

into flames near Kigali. On board were the presidents of Rwanda and

Burundi. All lives were lost. Few people were aware of the crash that

evening; the official radio station made no announcement.

In the early morning of April 7, we awoke to the sounds of gunfire

and explosions of hand grenades. This was not unusual because in

recent months the political situation in the country had become

extremely unstable. The local radio station had announced the death

of the two presidents in the plane crash. The Ministry of Defense

warned everyone in Kigali not to leave their homes.

About nine o’clock in the morning, looters smash into home. Soon

soldiers and looters got to homes. The sound of automatic weapons

firing and of explosions continued all around; there was no possibility

of trying to leave. Gunfire was loud and near.

Gradually the war intensified as the invading army (the Rwandan

Patriotic Front) made further advances on the capital, Kigali. This

spurred the desperate Interahamwe militiamen to carry out more

killings.

Roadblocks manned by soldiers and armed Interahamwe militiamen

along with local residents were set up throughout the town and at all

road junctions. All able-bodied men were forced to man the

roadblocks with the Interahamwe, night and day. The purpose of the

roadblocks was to identify and murder Tutsi.

Within 100 days, a million died. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda

represents one of the clearest cases of genocide in modern history.

From early April 1994 through mid-July 1994, members of the small

Central African state’s majority Hutu ethnic group systematically

slaughtered members of the Tutsi ethnic minority. An extremist Hutu

regime, fearing the loss of its power in the face of a democracy

movement and a civil war, made plans for the elimination of all

those—moderate Hutu as well as Tutsi—it perceived as threats to its

authority.

The genocide ended only when a mostly Tutsi rebel army occupied

the country and drove the genocidal regime into exile. Over a period

of only one hundred days, as many as one million people lost their

lives in the genocide and war—making the Rwandan slaughter one of

the most intense waves of killing in recorded history.

Organizers of the genocide exploited the historic concept of sanctuary

to lure tens of thousands of Tutsi into church buildings with false

promises of protection; then Hutu militia and soldiers systematically

slaughtered the unfortunate people who had sought refuge, firing guns

and tossing grenades into the crowds gathered in church sanctuaries

and school buildings, and methodically finishing off survivors with

machetes, pruning hooks, and knives. . . . The involvement of the

churches, however, went far beyond the passive use of church

buildings as death chambers.

In some communities, clergy, catechists, and other church employees

used their knowledge of the local population to identify Tutsi for

elimination. In other cases, church personnel actively participated in

the killing. Too bad to tell.

The main allegation concerning the [Catholic] Church is that it

switched its allegiance from the Tutsi elite to the creation of a Hutu-

led revolution, thereby assisting in Habyarimana’s subsequent rise to

power in a majority Hutu state. In terms of the actual genocide, critics

once again hold the Church directly responsible for inciting hatred,

sheltering perpetrators, and failing to protect those who sought refuge

within its walls. There are also those who believe that, as the spiritual

leader of the majority population in Rwanda, the Church is morally

responsible for failing to take all available measures to end the killing.


In a way of summary, we have seen that genocide repeats the old

story. The civilized people today know more about killing than living,

more about war than peace. Yet the inborn desire of man is for life,

not death; for peace, not war. How can we explain this topsy-turvy

condition? Yes, and how can we explain the fact that man’s many

avenues of hope for peace all lead to the dead end of war? These

questions demand a logical answer. But first the heart cheering,

irrepressible news: there is a sure hope for permanent world peace. It

is not a pipe dream. It is a reality. This generation can experience its

blessings. We need to say yes to peace and mean it and say no to wars

and killings and mean it.

Notes

Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity, Christianity

and Genocide in Rwanda.

2 UN Convention

EAST TIMORESE GENOCIDE: A STRONG CONVICTION

AMONG VAGUENESS

Essay by

Idham Raharfian (Indonesia)

Introduction

In the wake of East Timorese referendum in 1999, there is ample of

argued opinions over the parameters to decide whether what happened

prior to 1999 was categorized as a genocidal practice or not. The

complexity of this event has become more complicated with the

embroilment of a hegemonic state signaling its capricious deeds and

biased political attitudes, specifically in during the realm of Cold War.

According to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment

of the Crime of Genocide that was adopted by Resolution 260 (III) A

of the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948 article

2, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to

destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious

group. 2The perpetrator shall be punished once they are proven guilty

for doing conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement

to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide, and complicity in

genocide (art.3), in which all these following acts have been done by

the Indonesian military and the allegedly U.S. Therefore, this essay

attempts to reveal the transparency of East Timorese genocide from

1975 to 1999.

A Well-Systematized Plan


Genocide does have a lot to do with the well-systematized plan

prepared by actors standing behind the scene. Subsequent to the fall

of Sukarno’s regime, the proximity between Jakarta and Washington

D.C. became more intense and frequent – it gives a glimpse of who

voluntarily devotes to be the main actors. Somewhat, the U.S. –

Indonesia idiosyncrasy in terms of ruling a state with no presence of

communism was highly prioritized in which U.S. might implicitly

guide Indonesia upon the East Timor annexation in accordance with

destroying the root of the communist movements. In late 1975, Ford

and Kissinger communicated with Suharto that they responded the

needs of U.S. assistances for Jakarta to begin the occupation and

operation in East Timor.3Within a couple days, paratroopers had

landed in Dili and the nightmare commenced. In this regard, U.S. can

be considered as one of the western countries that authorizes the green

light given to Jakarta. U.S. intervention were also obvious when 90%

of the weapons used by Indonesian military during the annexation

were from the U.S.4 Nevertheless, all of the tragedy remains a mystery

since both U.S. and Indonesia do not ratify yet the Rome Statute that

the ICC has no territorial jurisdiction to have a trial. 5

The Chosen Victims

Pushed by the fear that the local Chinese might be the initiators of

communism in East Timor and the possibility of them being neutral

or leftist once they become a sovereign nation and join the United

2 Kiernan, B., War, “Genocide, and Resistance in East Timor, 1975–99: Comparative Reflections on Cambodia”, 15 July 2003, accessed from http://www.yale.edu/gsp/east_timor/03-263_Ch_09.pdf on November 1 2014 at 08.02. GMT+7, p. 200 4 Amy Godman, “Ask Kissinger about East Timor” 11 July 1995 accessed from http://etan.org/news/kissinger/ask.htm on November 28 2014 5 Casey, L., & Rivkin, D., “The International Criminal Court vs. the American People”, 1999, accessed from

Nation, the deal might refer to the U.S. agenda to diminish its most

durable revenge – the communism. It was no doubt that U.S. wanted

to make sure that communism could be clearly swept out in East

Timor as it is geographically located near to Indonesia, thus adopting

communism means it can be a political-economic threat for U.S. in

accordance with its relation to Indonesia. When the Indonesian

occupation was in force, they persisted seizing several areas in East

Timor so that disputes were vibrant and inevitable. On the other hand,

the seek for power simultaneously attempted by three main political

parties such as Apodeti (pro-Indonesia), UDT (right-wing), and surely

Fretilin (left-wing), was able to confiscate U.S. attention – Indonesia,

through the U.S. mandatory, tried igniting a chaotic situation among

these parties. Consequently, an order instructed to Jakarta to secure

the eastern region (the base of Fretilin) came to a reality when

hundreds of human beings above 3 year-old were killed, specifically

the destructive forces towards the prominence of strong ethnic

Chinese minority that amounted to 2.000 Chinese peoples. Other than

that, the data excerpted from Amnesty International shows that the

total death toll from military action and starvation begun in 1975 to

1999 is approximately 200.000 people, consisting Chinese minority

and indigenous people. 6Nonetheless, the process of obtaining the

mentioned number was not as easy as collecting a data like the

earthquake victims – the manipulation of data comprising the

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1999/02/the-international-criminal-court-vs-the-american-people on November 28 2014 at 20.11 GMT+7 6 Amnesty International, "Indonesia: Power and Impunity: Human Rights under the New Order" 1 September 1994, ASA 21/017/1994, accessed from http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3ae6a9b9c.html on November 28 2014 at 21.17 GMT+7


population growth, mortality number, and also death toll conflicted

among two polarized authorities.

Annexing half of a Tiny Island: A Media upon State’s Interests

When the balance of power among states is unable to achieve, one of

the consequences is the actualization of annexation – explaining a

circumstance when there is one state considerably more powerful

compared to the other. Historically, there was a few evidences

describing how a state annexed another one by massacring the

indigenous dwellers; instead of importing their peoples into the

annexed territory. Hence, this may raise a question if referring to the

annexation of Portuguese East Timor to Indonesia in 1975 in which

the Indonesian military forces slaughtered, tortured, and arrested

thousands of Timorese. Several facts reveal that attacks were meant

to abolish racial people, including Chinese minority. In their first

arrival in Dili, Indonesian troops killed five hundred Chinese in a day.

The day after, the number increased to seven hundreds Chinese. They

were shot down for displaying Fretilin flags on their houses,

strengthened the fact that they were pro-communism. Within the

period from 1981 to 1983, hundreds of people including men, women,

and children were burnt and bulldozed to death at Malim Luro near

south coast that of East Timor’s 20.000 strong ethnic Chinese

minority, the survivors were a mere of a few thousands in 1985. 7

Conclusion

The sorrow tragedy of genocide in East Timor somewhat existed. The

factors underlying the event comprise, first of all, the systematic plan

strategized by Washington D.C. and Jakarta upon the realization of

annexing the Portuguese East Timor to Indonesia in 1975. Second of

7 Kiernan, B., War, “Genocide, and Resistance in East Timor, 1975–99: Comparative Reflections on Cambodia”, 15 July 2003, accessed from

all, there are evidences of killing certain racial people, mostly the

strong Chinese minority, in the base of communist party. Lastly, it is

deemed obvious to perceive that the process of annexing the territory

was all about the tactic behind a state’s interest.

Bibliography

1. Amnesty International, "Indonesia: Power and Impunity:

Human Rights under the New Order" 1 September 1994, ASA

21/017/1994, accessed from

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3ae6a9b9c.html on

November 28 2014 at 21.17 GMT+7

2. Casey, L., & Rivkin, D., “The International Criminal Court vs.

the American People”, 1999, accessed from

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1999/02/the-

international-criminal-court-vs-the-american-people on


3. ETAN, “Ask Kissinger About East Timor”, accessed from

http://etan.org/news/kissinger/ask.htm on November 27 2014

at 16.54 GMT+7

4. Fernandes, C., Denial of the East Timor Genocide, accessed

from

http://hass.unsw.adfa.edu.au/timor_companion/politics_of_st

arvation/denial.php

5. Godman, A., “Ask Kissinger about East Timor” 11 July 1995

accessed from http://etan.org/news/kissinger/ask.htm on

November 28 2014

6. Kiernan, B., War, “Genocide, and Resistance in East Timor,

1975–99: Comparative Reflections on Cambodia”, 15 July

http://www.yale.edu/gsp/east_timor/03-263_Ch_09.pdf on November 1 2014 at 09.29 GMT+7, p. 221.


2003, accessed from http://www.yale.edu/gsp/east_timor/03-

263_Ch_09.pdf on November 1 2014 at 09.29 GMT+7

7. The Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA),

“Background on Timor-Leste (East Timor)”, accessed from

http://www.cja.org/article.php?list=type&type=198 on


8. USAID, The Asia Foundation, and Standford Law School,

“Introduction to the Laws of Timor-Leste: Legal History and

the Rule of Law in Timor-Leste”, accessed from

http://web.stanford.edu/group/tllep/cgi-bin/wordpress/wp-

content/uploads/2013/09/Legal-History-and-the-Rule-of-

Law-in-Timor-Leste.pdf on November 28 2014 at 19.41

GMT+7


Essay by

Isah Babayo (Nigeria)

Nigerian's population is a complex mixture of different ethnic

backgrounds and religions (Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo). In the context

of modern Nigeria, many are ignorant of the fact that a clear,

organized and established pattern of mass murder-

genocide started specifically in Jos, northern Nigeria in 1945 in

which several people were killed, several others wounded and

property destroyed. Said to have been a protest against the

amalgamation of the north and the south, this single act in 1945,

pioneered acts of organized violence against other ethno-religious

groups without precedent anywhere in Africa and became the

beginning of a routine campaign of targeted mass murders since

seven decades that has since metamorphosed into Boko Haram in

northern Nigeria. In 1953, following the call for independence by

Anthony Enahoro in the federal parliament in Lagos, northern leaders

who stridently opposed the independence call by the

south, organized deadly riots in Kano that killed scores of

people, injured several others and destroyed numerous properties.

The only reason for this mass killing was the opposition of the north

to independence. Thus from 1945 and subsequently in 1953,

northern leaders had begun the now routine pattern of organized mass

killings of other ethno-religious groups whenever it suited their

sectional calculations. In the years leading up to 1966, census

rigging, election rigging, Tiv riots, thuggery, arson, violence in the

western region (wetie) and other acts of corruption and lawlessness

occasioned a bloody coup by restive officers. The anti-corruption


essence of the coup was quickly lost as Nigeria’s ethnic contradictions

dressed the coup in tribal garments. The north already well

entrenched in a culture of organized mass killings made good use of

the tribalisation of the coup and in carefully planned

attacks launched Africa’s first genocide in a secessionist counter

coup (araba). By the time the dust settled, over 50,000 innocent

civilians including women and children had been brutally maimed,

raped and slaughtered for a political coup in which they had no hand.

Thus, the arrival of Boko Haram and other terrorist organizations

linked to Al Qaeda and operating with the same as al Qaeda with near

daily suicide bombings of churches and other public places is only a

graduation of a culture of mass killing that has since been cultivated

and nurtured in the north since 1945. Boko Haram killed more than

5,000 civilians between July 2009 and June 2014, including at least

2,000 in the first half of 2014, in attacks occurring mainly in northeast,

north central and central states. Corruption in the security services and

human rights abuses committed by them has hampered efforts to

counter the unrest. 650,000 people fled the conflict zone by august

2014, an increase of 200,000 since May. The mass killing of innocents

in a bus park in Kano is a familiar pattern of seven decades of

genocide and it has remained a dark mark of humanity. Mass killing

has for so long become embedded in the culture of the north that there

can be no end to it. The only and final solution is the convocation of

a sovereign national conference and a separation between the Muslim

north and the south.

Genocidal destruction in the northern will continue for the anticipated

future. The resources to halt massive, ethnically targeted destruction-

of lives and livelihoods-are nowhere in scene. The consequences of

this destruction, now extending over almost more than five years, will

be evident for years-in villages that have been burned to the ground,

in poisoned water sources, in the mean impoverishment of people who

have lost everything, in deaths that will continue to mount

relentlessly. There is currently no evidence that the international

community is prepared to deploy adequate protection for either

Nigerian’s vulnerable civilian populations or endangered

humanitarian operations. The relief materials, as transport of food and

other critical supplies became mired in an effected areas riverbeds and

blocked by severed road arteries. At the same time, waterborne

diseases, along with malaria and a wide range of communicable

diseases, will take huge numbers of lives. These diseases will be

particularly potent killers because so much of the civilian population

of northern has been seriously weakened by malnutrition. Famine

conditions have already been identified in parts of the north eastern

Nigeria and the UN’s world food program estimates that 3.5 million

people will need food assistance in the near future.

However, there is no sign that normal agricultural production will

resume any time in the near future. There is no sign that the insecurity

confining people to camps for the displaced or villages under siege

will be alleviated, even with the currently planned deployment of

additional African union personnel. There is no sign that the

international community intends to fund humanitarian efforts in

Nigeria at an appropriate level. There is no sign that peace

negotiations in Abuja, Nigeria will yield more than the unclearly. And

there is no sign of the international humanitarian intervention that

might stop the genocide. And so, despite the long odds against an

intervention actually taking place, it is our obligation to say with

conviction and understanding the most urgent truth: in the absence of

humanitarian intervention, Nigeria’s civilian population, as well as

humanitarian workers, will be consigned to pervasive, deadly

insecurity; displaced persons will remain trapped in camps that are

hotbeds of disease; agricultural production will remain at a standstill,


leaving millions of people dependent on international food assistance

for the anticipated future; aid workers will continue to fall prey to

targeted and opportunistic violence.

In conclusion, Nigeria’s Boko Haram violence is an example of a

state’s inability to protect civilians from organized killings conducted

by a non-state group. Furthermore, a refugee crisis is ensuing, regional

forces have been compiled across the sub-Saharan area, the media and

world powers have increased their attention, and the Nigerian state

has already sought external assistance to protect its population. In

other words, the genocide is a dark mark of humanity in Nigeria.

We can stop it. We are simply choosing not to.

8 Power, 2007: p. xii 9 For a helpful introduction to the history of genocide see: Kiernan, Ben. Blood and soil: A world history of genocide and extermination from Sparta to Darfur. Yale University Press, 2007.


Essay by

Loke Bisbjerg Nielsen (Denmark)

The American Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, noted in 1993

that genocide is a ’problem from hell’8. Although religious and

metaphysical language is often evoked 1 to add severity to our words

when we face seemingly extraordinary events, a grave recognition

escapes such conceptualizations of atrocities like genocide: they do

not stem from dark forces beyond our control; they stem from

humanity itself.

From barbarism to genocide

Genocide has accompanied human history from ancient times. The

Old Testament speaks of rootand-branch extermination of tribes like

the Amalekites and the Midianites. The Roman conquest of Gaul, its

destruction of Carthage, the Japanese conquest of Korea (Diet Viet),

the destruction wrought by the Mongolian horde – the list goes on. In

modern times, European colonial expansion brought extreme horrors

to the global scene9. Before these horrors recoiled to the European

continent10, one man had understood the gravity of this dark mark of

humanity: the polish lawyer, Raphael Lemkin.

10 For elaborations on the connection between colonialism and especially World War II and the Nazi crimes, see: Arendt, Hannah. ’Imperialism’. In: The origin of totalitarianism. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1968. Zimmerer, Jürgen. ‘Colonialism and the holocaust - Towards an archeology of genocide.’ Revisiting the heart of darkness - Explorations into genocide and other forms of mass violence (2007):

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/14/nigeria-boko-haram-attacks-cause-humanitarian-crisis

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/156947-exclusive-nigeria-france-cameroon-three-other-countries-sign-deal-on-massive-joint-offensive-against-boko-haram.html

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/156947-exclusive-nigeria-france-cameroon-three-other-countries-sign-deal-on-massive-joint-offensive-against-boko-haram.html

http://allafrica.com/stories/201403111059.html


It all began when he first heard about the slaughter of the Armenians:

why, wondered Lemkin, was piracy punishable by death, when the

attempt to destroy whole groups of people went almost ignored?

There was an inherent contradiction in international law, and Lemkin

sought to correct it: state-sovereignty should not be a cloak for mass

killers to hide behind. But although Lemkin spent an immense time

advocating for a law against such barbarism, no one was willing to

listen to him. But then Europe descended into horror.

Lemkin, who was of Jewish descend, had foreseen the Holocaust

happening11, and had fled Poland before its outbreak. Unfortunately

his family did not follow him, and many perished under Nazi rule.

Lemkin’s realization of a specific kind of crime had become a

personal experience. In the 1940’ies he had coined a name for it:

genocide. Combining the Greek word for people (genos) with the

Latin word for killing (cidere12) the word captured the specific nature

of this crime: the intended destruction of a group of people and

therefore a unique modus of humanity: culture, language, traditions

etc. For Lemkin genocide was not just about numbers13.

95. Madley, Benjamin. ‘From Africa to Auschwitz: How German South West Africa incubated ideas and methods adopted and developed by the Nazis in Eastern Europe.’ European History Quarterly 35.3 (2005): 429-464. Zimmerer, Jürgen. ‘The birth of the Ostland out of the spirit of colonialism: a postcolonial perspective on the Nazi policy of conquest and extermination.’ Patterns of Prejudice 39.2 (2005): 197-219. 11 Power, 2007: p. 23 12 The root of the word is ’caedere', meaning “to kill“, and ’cidere’ is its combination form. 13 Power, 2007: p. 43 14 Known as Holodomor. For a comprehensive description of the plight of the Ukrainians during both Stalin’s exterminatory campaigns and the Nazi occupation, see Snyder, Timothy. Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin.

The legacy of the Holocaust

When discussing the mass starvation of Ukrainians in 1932-33,

Joseph Stalin 14 purportedly said: the death of one man is a tragedy,

the death of millions merely statistics. Although there is a menacing

truth to this statement, the Holocaust challenged its universality. The

organized killing of around six million Jews could not go unnoticed,

and people started to take Lemkin seriously. As the German

philosopher, Theodor Adorno, wrote, Hitler had imposed a new moral

imperative on the world15: Never again must this happen! In this

atmosphere the Genocide Convention was adopted in 194816. A dark

aspect of humanity had been given a name. Yet it would not spell its

end.

The full scale of the Nazi crimes has still to be recognized. The

Holocaust remains the most brutal campaign of extermination in

history, but added to it is the millions of people killed as „degenerates“

and the Slavic peoples killed in Generalplan Ost17. Lemkin’s

convention was born at the dawn of our understanding of the crime

and the period of its most ruthless manifestation, and it remained

Random House, 2011. Especially the chapters: ’Introduction: Hilter and Stalin’ & ’Chapter 1: The Soviet Famine’. 15 Adorno, Theodor: Negative Dialectics. Trans. EB Ashton, Continuum, New York, 1973: p. 365 16 The ‘Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide’ was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December the 9, 1948. 17 There is a controversy whether the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes should be separated, but in most cases, the word Holocaust refers to the persecution of Jews only. But the Nazis also persecuted and killed Homosexuals, people with cognitive disabilities, Roma people and political opponents. See: Jones, Adam. Genocide: A comprehensive introduction. Routledge, 2011: pp. 263-277. Generalplan Ost was a plan to clear Eastern Europe of slavic people to create a colonial style land from where the Nazi Reich could be supported with agriculture and industries. The plan involved the extermination of people through direct


bound to the specific experience of the Holocaust. Although millions

were killed in Russia, China, Cambodia, Latin America and Africa,

the Convention was followed by decades of silence.

To intervene, or not to intervene

The collapse of the bilateral power-system in 1989 created a sense of

responsibility for the world’s new superpower: the United States.

Military interventions were now given a humanitarian edge:

Operation Provide Comfort was successfully launched in 1991 to help

Kurds in northern Iraq against attacks from Sadam Hussein. But in

1993 in the collapsed state of Somalia, US troops defied UN orders

and attacked a Somali Army safe house, which resulted in the death

of 18 US rangers. Intervening had proven more difficult than

expected.

The world’s superpower retreated, as did the rest of the world.

Meanwhile in Sierra Leone women had babies torn from their

wombs18 by drugged child soldiers. In neighboring Liberia limbs were

cut off and soldiers seeking mortality in voodoo rituals drank the

blood of infants19. In Bosnia women were systematically raped in

killing and forced labour, and millions of Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Serbs and other slavic people died as a result. See: Gerwarth, Robert, and Stephan Malinowski. ’Der Holocaust als »kolonialer Genozid«? Europäische Kolonialgewalt und nationalsozialistischer Vernichtungskrieg.’ Geschichte und Gesellschaft 33.3 (2007): pp. 439-466. 18 Doherty, Teresa. ‘Developments in the Prosecution of Gender-Based Crimes-The Special Court for Sierra Leone Experience.’ Am. UJ Gender Soc. Pol'y & L. 17 (2009): p. 327 19 As witnessed by the notorious Joshua Milton Blahyi (nom de guerre: General Butt Naked) in the documentary ‚The cannibal warlords of Liberia‘ by Vice News. 20 After WWII the allies established the Nüremberg Tribunals for Nazi crimes Tokyo tribunals for Japanese crimes. In connection with the war in the former Yugoslavia the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

campaigns of ethnic cleansing, and in 1994 the world watched as a

million people got slaughtered in a course of hundred days in Rwanda.

Intervention had proven difficult – not intervening: fatal.

In both Bosnia and Rwanda UN soldiers had passively watched the

killings restrained by mandates demanding non-involvement. Like

after of WWII the world felt guilty for not reacting, and again the

world responded by establishing tribunals20. Lemkin’s convention

appeared 13 for the first time in 1998, fifty years after its adoption,

when Jean-Paul Akayesu was convicted of genocide for his

involvement in the Rwandan genocide. For the first time in history a

person had been held accountable for aiding and abetting the

destruction of a group of people.

The beacon of world peace

Genocide is often conceptualized as something extraordinary and

demonic, but its history seems to testify to its humanity. It is a political

tool used to homogenize populations and create political and social

stability: Slaughter often wins over collaboration. As a wide range of

testimonies from and scholarly works on genocides suggest21. Not

was established in 1993 in the Dutch town, Den Haag, and in 1994 the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was established in Arusha, Tanzania, to document and prosecute crimes in connection with the Rwandan genocide. 21 For considerations about perpetrators and bystanders of genociede, see: Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem. Penguin, 1963. Browning, Christopher R. Ordinary men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the final solution in Poland. Vol. 1998. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Waller, James. Becoming evil: How ordinary people commit genocide and mass killing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Vetlesen, Arne Johan. Evil and human agency: Understanding collective evildoing. Cambridge University Press, 2005. Hatzfeld, Jean. Machete season: The killers in Rwanda speak. Macmillan, 2005. Bhavnani, Ravi. ‘Ethnic norms and interethnic


even the involvement in or experience of genocide is necessarily out

of place. Genocides often happen in the context of political turmoil,

wars, lack of resources, economic instability and other uncertainties,

which fundamentally alters human behavior. Our moral compass

points in the right direction when anchored in an objective reality

supporting collaboration. But when the system collapses and violence

becomes the norm, the poles shift and the compass points in new

direction.

The struggle for a safer world therefore rests on an unstable

foundation. But Lemkin proved that one person could solidify it. He

stands as an inspiration to scholars and activist around the world. The

intellectual depth of his works and the passion of his endeavors shine

like a beacon in the human darkness, and guide us to a more peaceful

world.

violence: Accounting for mass participation in the Rwandan genocide.’ Journal of Peace Research 43.6 (2006): pp. 651-669. 22 http://legal.un.org/avl/ha/cppcg/cppcg.html


Essay by

Mahoro Jean Claude Geofrey (Rwanda)

Since last centuries, the world has gone through murkiness in which

genocide is an extraordinary evil. Genocide refers to the coordinated

and planned devastation of a group of people. In the context of

International Law, genocide is the greatest international crime that

threatens the people’s values and national integrity for it has a direct

attack on universal human right values, in particular, right to life22. A

term genocide which did not exist before the Holocaust was coined by

a Polish Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin and latter contextualized by

the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of

Genocide (1948) known as “Lemkin’s Law”23.

At present, the world counts around seven genocides including;

Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923, Ukrainian Genocide/Famine-

Holodomor of 1932-1933, Holocaust genocide of 1941-1945,

Cambodian Genocide of 1975-1979, Bosnian Genocide of 1992-1995,

Rwandan Genocide of 1994 and Darfurian Genocide of 200424. All of

these atrocities have similarities for they developed in the same way.

But not all of them were qualified by UN as genocide.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of

Genocide defines genocide as “any of the following acts committed

with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial

or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; causing

23 https://ip-journal.dgap.org/en/article/getFullPDF/21921 accessed on October, 10th 2014 24 Motria Melnyk, A Curriculum Guide for Teaching Genocides with a focus on the Holodomor, the Famine Genocide in Ukraine, January 2011, p.10-24


serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately

inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its

physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended

to prevent births within the group or forcibly transferring children of

the group to another group”25.

The following acts are genocidal once committed as part of a strategy

to terminate a group; killing members of a particular group either

directly or inflicting actions causing them to die, causing serious

bodily or mental harm by causing trauma on members of the group

through torture, rape, sexual violence, forced or coerced use of drugs,

and mutilation, deliberately inflicting conditions of life intended to

devastate a group by depriving them from physical survival resources

such as clean water, food, clothing, shelter or medical services or

depriving them from means to sustain life through confiscation of

harvests, blockade of foodstuffs, detention in camps, forcible

expulsion into deserts, prevention of births which includes

involuntary sterilization, forced abortion, prohibition of marriage, and

long-term separation of men and women intended to prevent

procreation and lastly, forcible transfer of children that may be

imposed by direct force or by fear of violence, duress, detention,

psychological oppression or other methods of coercion26. Genocide is

a systematic crime for it is prepared through ten steps including;

25 Art. 2 of The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide available at <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007043> 26 Op. cit 2 27 Genocide Watch, The International Alliance to End Genocide (2013), The Ten Stages of Genocide , Gregory H. Stanton available at <http://www.genocidewatch.org/10stagesofgenocide.ppt> 28 “Genocide is a crime with a double mental element, i.e. a general intent as to the underlying acts, and an ulterior intent with regard to the ultimate aim of the destruction of the group.” by ICRC in the review No 876 December 2009

classification, symbolization, discrimination, dehumanization,

organization, polarization, preparation, persecution, extermination

and denial27.

The difference between genocide and other humanity atrocities is

based on the intention (mens rea). For genocide, to be victimized

implies to belong to a particular group which is not the case for other

atrocities28. The intent of destroying a group is required to qualify

genocide rather a crime against humanity as it is its specific intent

(dolus specialis)29. Furthermore, incitement to crimes against

humanity is punishable only if it occurs or attempted whereas

incitement to genocide is punishable regardless of the crime’s actual

occurrence or attempt30.

Pursuant to the International Criminal Tribunals statutes, the liability

for genocide encompasses to these who planned, ordered, committed

or otherwise abetted in planning, preparation or execution31 for

example, basing on the ICTY statute, both public and private

individuals are punishable thus, leaders can be held accountable for

the criminal actions of their subordinates if they knew or should have

known about the actions and failed to prevent or punish them.32 To

respond to genocide, different legal instruments either municipal or

29 Akayesu, ICTR, Trial Judgment § 521, p.133 available at <http://www.unictr.org/Portals/0/Case/English/Akayesu/judgement/akay001.pdf>accessed on October, 12th 2014 30 http://www.genocidewatch.org/genocide/whatisit.html accessed on October 13th 2014 31 http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/genocide retrieved on October, 10th 2014 32 art.7(2) of the ICTY statute


international have been enacted to hold individuals criminally

responsible for the violation of International Law. In

addition, UN in its preventive mechanisms created Ad hoc criminal

tribunals courts such as; International Tribunal for Crimes in former

Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993, International Criminal Tribunal for

Rwanda (ICTR) in 1994 and international tribunal to try the Khmer

Rouge in Cambodia33. Furthermore, UN recalls the early warning

(EW) on the prevention of genocide34. As a result, various states have

established “Never Again” strategies.

In a nutshell, genocide is a dark mark of humanity in the sense that

the world loses unidentified social, cultural and spiritual values of

humanity. For that, there must be enforcement on the international

action stressing on norms and institutions to promote strong global

standards against genocide. Nevertheless, international and regional

institutions should be put in place to be vehicles for the effective

prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. To achieve that, different

governments would enhance early warning (EW) on the prevention of

genocide as well as good leadership and politics. Therefore,

international criminal courts would be enforced to try all violations of

International law.

33 http://www.ushmm.org/confront-genocide/justice-and-accountability accessed on October, 9th 2014

DAYS WHEN THE WORLD STANDS STILL

Essay by

Milan Balaban (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

“Homo homini lupus est” - Man is man’s wolf, Plautus wrote in 195

BC. It is utterly stunning how our society and mentality has changed

relatively little during past few millennia. The world is still divided

by war, atrocities and counter-points of closed minds that allow no

space for other ideas or people. However, there is a new weapon of

peace on the horizon - social media. The sheer potential that social

media toolkit offers is virtually limitless. Every voice is once again

heard. Every voice is counted. At the end of the day - do tools win

wars, or do people?

We are at war. Constantly. There are two types of wars - a war for and

a war against. A war for territory is what we usually think as war.

However, countless people waging their own “for” war, be that for

money, their future or just a war to survive. Other people are at war

“against”: the war against poverty, war against personal demons and

war against diseases. All of these are just different sides of the same

coin. The necessities that underlie the constant struggle are also

predictable and well explained. Most times, those necessities turn into

sins by the exponential intensity they are assigned. One necessity is

the biggest sin of them all - necessity to always feel protected -

differently called cowardice. Precisely the need for protection is what

has been a root of genocide throughout human history: Armenians,

Assyrians, Jews just to name a few. Blaming means giving power. To

blame just those who committed genocide is not enough. The whole

34 former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at Stockholm International Forum on Preventing Genocide: Threats and Responsibilities, January 2004


world is to blame. There was never a necessary critical mass to get

involved. Even during the modern times, when there are (or rather

should be) peacekeepers, Rwanda has paid a dire price. Million lives

lost in a blink of an eye. Countless bodies are being dug up and they

all tell the same story - “there was nobody to protect us”. Cowardice

has two main causes: Firstly, the need to feel protected and secondly

the “distance”. It is both the perceived distance and the real distance.

We do not feel the same for someone who lives ten thousand

kilometers away as we feel for our neighbor. Their suffering is almost

unreal, fictional - we often do not live it. “It happens to someone else”

- is the excuse most often heard. However, when the trouble knocks

at our door, there are people who are ready to act. Leaders. Warriors.

People who are not content with status quo and who are not afraid to

voice their opinion. With the invention of internet and fast transport,

the whole world has become our own background. We have the need

and the duty to protect our neighbors even if they live on the opposite

side of the Earth. Perhaps, even more importantly, for the first time

we have all the necessary tools to serve and protect. Despite the fact

that tools are just tools and they do not win a war, imagine going to a

war where you have a tank and your enemy has a stick? Sounds crazy?

Not anymore. Social media is the tank we now have. Almost forty

percent of total world population is currently connected to the internet.

Every day more people join the world online tribe. The power comes

with numbers. The pressure that can be exerted has almost

unimaginable dimensions: in a single day it can ruin or rebuild a

country. We have witnessed the power of social media in revolution.

Genocide must never happen (again). It is the holy duty of every

human being to protect their own kind, no matter the enemy. Power

has shifted from the chosen few to chosen many. There are tools to

fight and protect. The only thing standing in our way is our own fear.

The fear created by cowardice. Power and responsibility go hand in

hand. People have been handled a lot of power, which brings a lot of

responsibility. Many are not ready for the amount of responsibility

that has been placed on their shoulder. Even more are not even aware

that the power is actually theirs.

However, there is reason for mild optimism. World has always stood

up against atrocities, albeit often a moment too late. Human mentality

is slowly shifting. We are teaching our children to be proactive instead

of reactive. With the tools at their hands, the fearlessness that young

age brings and the proactive mentality, they will surely lead better

than we ever imagined. Man is man’s wolf - but even the wolves are

eventually tamed.


CULT OF PERSONALITY, MILITIA AND GENOCIDE

Essay By

Mohnaa Shrivastava (India)

“By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a

people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as

paradise.”

–Hitler

The aforetime instances of genocide and mass atrocities outline a

pattern in behavior of perpetrators, giving us a few indicators of an

imminent genocide. The foremost trait is the alienation of a particular

group. Alienation is further followed by a number of discriminatory

acts by the perpetrator. Another chief feature is the suppression of the

right to free speech. Massive use of propaganda to amplify the

personality of one single leader is an important factor that has been

observed to facilitate a genocidal condition. The use of private militia

or a paramilitary organization is another common trait that has been

observed in a number of cases. The Chetniks killed the Bosniaks35,

Interahamwe killed the Tutsis36, Janjaweed killed the Nuba37,

Mugabe’s Fifth Brigade killed in the Ndebele regions, Musaveni’s

35 Human Rights Watch, The Unindicted: Reaping the Rewards of "Ethnic Cleansing" in Prijedor, 1 January 1997, Ed Vulliamy of The Guardian was one of the first reporters to obtain access and give an account of what happened at these concentration camps. 36 Human Rights Watch, and Federation Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l'Homme, Shattered Lives: Sexual Violence during the Rwandan Genocide and its Aftermath, September 1996.

National Resistance Army tormented the Ugandans, Mugabe used

ZANLA and the Shabiha serves as Bashar Al-Assad’s death squad38.

This is followed by the inability of the target group to protect itself,

reminding us of our terrors through death tolls.

We often find ourselves calling someone the father of the nation, our

protector, the great communicator, the great emancipator and our

savior. Humans tend to worship a personality with unquestioning

faith, wrapping him in a bubble of undying reverence. The idealism

created around the leader, lead to circumstances granting him a

frightening ease of committing unspeakable crimes that forever haunt

the conscience of mankind. From bygone or present examples, we can

explain how a person glorifies himself to a stage that gives him the

audacity to think and plan unthinkable mass murders and genocide.

Hitler and Stalin are such examples from the past. Hitler was aware of

the mass detest towards the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles and

he relentlessly used it to gain influence over the people. He gave

himself the title of the ‘Supreme Judge of People’39. After the

occupation of Greece in 1941, Hitler was given the title of ‘High

Protector of the Holy Mountain’40. His Propaganda Ministry called

him the ‘Greatest Military leader of all times’. He used films,

magazines, comics, radio and posters, to impose the idea of Jewish

extermination from Europe upon the masses. Stalin’s personality was

strongly imposed as that of a father to the Soviet population. The press

37 Ted Dagne, Specialist in African Affairs, Sudan: The Crisis in Darfur and Status of the North-South Peace Agreement, June 1, 2011. 38 HARRIET ALEXANDER, and Ruth Sherlock, The Shabiha: Inside Assad's death squads, The Telegraph, Beirut, 2 Jun 2012. 39 Benton L. Bradberry, The Myth of German Villainy, Author House, 2012, p 228; Oberster Richter des Deutschen Volkes 40 Däh, jetz ham mer den Kriech (Band 1), Bernhard Josef Neumann, Books on Demand, 2010, p. 401


steadily used religion in myriad ways to shift the earnestness of

masses from Church to Stalin41.

In recent times, Radovan Karadzic who orchestrated diabolic military

campaigns42 is still called holy and considered a living saint43. Robert

Mugabe, who annihilated thousands in Gukurahundi genocide44,

swore that only God could remove him from office45. His followers

consider him a messenger of God, the one who is close to Christ and

has been sent to liberate the Zimbabweans46. Apart from those who

have committed genocides, there are those known for committing

grave atrocities against humanity in the garb of their cult of

personality. Teodoro Obiang has an unbreakable faith that he is the

ultimate protector of people and has a direct connection with God47.

He runs one of the most torturous prisons in the world where he

personally invigilates the systematic torture of inmates. Than Shwe of

Burma was called ‘Aba Gyi’ or the ‘Great Father’48. The world knows

of his inhuman gulags where one could only pray for a dignified death

if not life.

The cult of personality created through propaganda gives an ease of

access to the perpetrator. The impact of the glorified personality helps

in legitimizing the thought of genocide in the minds of the cultivated

followers who show a pervasive, lunatic devotion towards the

perpetrator. The use of militia gives the perpetrator a far-reaching

weapon that organizes his inhuman acts and gives him speedy results

41 VICTORIA E. BONNELL, The Iconography of Power: Soviet Political Posters Under Lenin and Stalin (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 165. 42 Beverly Allen, Rape Warfare: The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, U of Minnesota Press, 1996, p. 7 and p. 47. 43 CHRISTINE SPOLAR, New Cult of Personality Deifies Ousted Karadzic, The Moscow Times, July 26, 1996. 44 PETER STIFF, Cry Zimbabwe: Independence - Twenty Years On, Galago, 2004. 45 JOSEPH WINTER, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, BBC News, August 16, 2013.

without the restrictions of law. He gains the power to thwart any

resistance or rebellion and also uses it as a scapegoat in evading

liability. History, repeating itself, teaches us that psychological impact

of a cult personality can alter the perceptions of people, fooling them

into killing their own kind. Genocide happens when humanity fails; it

ascertains not who is right, but who is left with memories of

excruciating death.

46 LLOYD MBIBA, Mugabe messenger of God: Nzuwah, Daily News, March 17, 2014. 47 Equatorial Guinea's "God", BBC News, July 26, 2003; "He can decide to kill without anyone calling him to account and without going to hell because it is God himself, with whom he is in permanent contact, and who gives him this strength.” 48 RICHARD LLOYD, Defector tells of Burmese atrocity, Parry The Australian, June 9, 2008


FOR LACK OF A BETTER WORD. COINAGE OF THE

TERM GENOCIDE AND NEW HOPES FOR ITS

PREVENTION IN THE FUTURE.

Essay by

Olga A. Ambrosiewicz (Spain)

This essay looks at the importance of the coinage of the word genocide

and its addition to our vocabulary. It also touches upon modern

technological advances and their potential for battling genocide.

Oxford English Dictionary periodically announces its new word

additions on its website. One of the employees of this widely

renowned dictionary brand claims a new word can only be added to

the volumes after a careful assessment and the confirmation of the

word’s “currency”.49 That is of course to denote the utility of such

word to the English language and also naturally- to ascertain whether

said word is universally used amongst English speakers. It is fair to

say no such concerns were behind Raphael Lemkin’s energies to add

the word of his own creation to the existing volumes. Thanks to his

continued efforts genocide joined the infamous killer family of other

“cides” containing other words such as suicide, deicide or homicide.

Some biographies have a paramount impact on the rest of the world.

As it happens, some ideas and concepts make us understand the world

we live in with all of its stories, its flaws and events all better. It can

be argued that communication is at the core of the human existence.

But what happens where there just simply is no mutual understanding

of crucial matters?

49 28 August 2013: Oxford Dictionaries Online quarterly update: new words added to oxforddictionaries.com today < http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/august-2013-update/> last accessed 25th October 2014 50 Holocaust Encyclopedia: What is Genocide?

It is clear to us today that a new term after the experiences of WWII

was much needed. Lemkin, a witness of history saw, that the term

mass murder did not encompass the full extent of the crimes

committed by the Nazis during WWII. He had the unique ability to

use his knowledge and experience effectively and dedicated his life to

law. He wished to embed the ethnic aspect within the word to clearly

state the intentional and deliberate character of such a heinous crime

committed against a selected population (Lemkin 1946). Lemkin like

a good physician provided us with the diagnosis of the phenomenon

that had been present throughout history. He, without a doubt was a

man with a clear goal and a personal agenda who sacrificed his time,

health and used his legal expertise to accomplish this goal. The

undeniable clarity and ingenuity built in this eight- letter word made

it resonate with the involved parties during the Convention on the

Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.50

It has now been a hundred years since the beginning of World War I.

This gruesome international conflict was shortly followed by World

War II. As of 2014 various and often remote parts of the planet are

tormented by a variety of local conflicts leaving countless people

without means for survival and without future prospects. In one of

Wisława Szymborska’s poems51 the author describes a situation

where the journalists have left the scene, where the cleanup after every

war “photogenic it’s not, and takes years, all the cameras have left

for another war” therefore the information about the crimes can no

longer be accessed, as the media have moved on to report on other

stories and clearly lost their interest. The crime of ignorance yet again

triumphs.

<http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=1000704>last accessed 28th November 2014 51 The End and the Beginning Wisława Szymborska <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/237694> last accessed 26th November 2014

http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/august-2013-update/

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/237694


Buzzing noise emitted by electronic devices accompanies us

everywhere in 2014. The Internet has become an obvious addition to

our work, studies, research and a good place for socializing. Cell

phones, tablets, and other portable devices fit neatly in our pockets

and in our lives. Information and technology are bound together not

unlike Foucault´s ideas on power and knowledge. Everything must be

recorded, catalogued and shared with others. We should use the

existing technology to our advantage in every possible area of life.

Every individual is now a data collector and a potential source of

valuable information on a variety of topics. The technological

potential for the prevention of genocide and atrocities was discussed

by the panelists during the 2013 Lemkin Seminar held in Arusha,

Tanzania.52 It should be noted that the use of technology in this case

has been brought up on numerous occasions before. Especially the use

GIS- Geographic Information Systems Technology and its potential

to monitor alarming activities.53 There is much work to be done by the

world leaders, researchers, innovators, international organizations and

NGOs. Today, more than ever we should utilize the tools we possess

in order to prevent gruesome events from happening again.

Organizations monitoring the situation on the ground must be heard

and aided accordingly. As recent events in Syria, Iraq and Ukraine

show, the UN and the international community have to engage much

more.

To conclude, it is crucial to commemorate silent heroes such as

Raphael Lemkin and acknowledge their contributions to mankind.

Both his cause and he himself deserve to be remembered. Education

52 Best Practices and New Opportunities in Genocide Prevention: Governmental Action, Technology and Regional Contexts- Global Raphael Lemkin Seminar Series Alumni Meeting Arusha International Conference Center, Arusha Tanzania, May 27-28, 2013 can be accessed at: <http://www.auschwitzinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/arusha-report.pdf> last accessed 29th November 2014

of the general public on the issue of genocide is of paramount

importance. Twentieth century had been an unwilling witness to some

of the most unthinkable crimes recorded to date. Twenty-first century

has been a witness of terrorist attacks in many locations around the

globe. Making the most of modern technological tools in prevention

of heinous crimes from happening should be an obvious choice and a

responsibility of the international community. Lemkin’s

accomplishment can be put in the same category as the one of the

famous Olympian Jessie Owens who won four gold medals in 1936

Berlin Olympic Games. For with an athletic strength, focus and

determination against many odds this Polish lawyer pursued his goal.

Now, during the difficult times for many states we shall not forget the

immense importance of his message. We shall hope that genocide as

a crime will perish and that it will remain solely on the pages of history

books and legal documents. It simply belongs in the past and is not to

be repeated ever again.

Bibliography

1. Lemkin, Raphael, Genocide, American Scholar (1946), Vol.

15 No. 2, 227- 230.

2. Power, Samantha, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age

of Genocide, New York: Perennial/Harper Collins, 2002.

3. Sayapin, Sergey, Raphael Lemkin: A Tribute, EJIL (2009),

Vol. 20 No. 4, 1157– 1162.

4. Springer, Jane, Genocide, Groundwood Books Ltd., 2014.

53 GIS Technology for Genocide Prevention <http://irevolution.net/2009/02/08/gis-genocide-prevention/>last accessed 28th November 2014


REWEIGHING ‘GENOCIDE’ ON AN INTERNATIONAL

LEGAL SCALE

Essay by

Sourjya Das (Indonesia)

Introduction

“The oxen dribble bloody spittle;

The men pass blood in their piss.

Our stinking regiment halts, a horde of perspiring savages,

Adding our aroma to death’s repulsive stench”

The above lines are Miklós Radnóti’s penultimate54 utterances.

Through this postcard, he had portrayed his hopelessness in having

witnessed how low mankind could stoop. Raphael Lemkin’s war was

so long that to describe the word ‘Genocide’ in short would just mean

a casual complement to his distinguished and celebrated efforts. So I

should assume, the reader is familiar with the basic meaning of this

word. Raphael Lemkin, in his article55, uses the following excerpt

from an address by Marshal von Rundstedt in the Reich War Academy

in Berlin in 1943 –

"One of the great mistakes of 1918 was to spare the civil life of the

enemy countries, for it is necessary for us Germans to be always at

least double the numbers of the peoples of the contiguous countries.

We are therefore obliged to destroy at least a third of their

54 Postcard 3 by Miklós Radnóti written on October 24, 1944 near Mohacs, Hungary,

translated by Michael R. Burch

inhabitants. The only means is organized underfeeding which in this

case is better than machine guns."

On analysing the psychology behind the above words, it can be well

deciphered that Rundstedt had just expressed the Nazi Party’s

hypocritical intention of torturing the Jews and giving them a slow

death than merely performing a mass shooting. Article II of the

Genocide Convention, hence, holds a wide perimeter in defining the

scope of ‘Genocide’ pertaining to mens rea and Article III covers the

portion involving actus reus. But these are just established words of

the law. Hereafter, we shall examine, on a case to case basis, to what

extent is these laws implemented to punish the perpetrators and bring

justice to the victims.

Arguments

The Nuremberg Trials being the backbone of this whole idea of

international criminal justice, I would like to talk about the law in

relation to the recent developments in this field that are very based on

the judgements at Nuremberg. I have two arguments in my essay to

focus on – one being faster delivery of justice and the other being the

issue of jurisdiction in trying genocide cases.

On Faster Delivery of Justice

The Rwandan Genocide case is one of the most shocking and

devastating among all. This had just proved to the world the fact that

the holocaust has indeed left its echoes and when they do sound, they

sound loud enough and when it comes to these acts of mass

55 Raphael Lemkin, Genocide – A Modern Crime, VOL. 4 FREE WORLD, APRIL,

1945 at 39-43.


destruction of life, delivery of justice becomes quite a tough

challenge. Genocide is an organised crime. It can never contain one

person. Yes, the idea or the power to take decisions might be held by

a supreme leader (someone like Adolf Hitler or Idi Amin) but the law

cannot leave out the ones who had complied with the wrong decision

despite knowing it to be wrong. So the number of supposed

perpetrators being vast, it causes hindrance to smoother delivery of

justice. The aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide was the

imprisonment of too many people who were supposed to be the

accused. An impressive step taken by Rwanda to bring justice to its

victims was the establishment of Gacaca Courts whose aim became

not only to deliver justice, but to unveil the truth regarding the

genocide to the people and subsequently, to the world. These courts

had started functioning since 2005 till their closure in 2012 while the

genocide had taken place in the year 1994 and since the end of 1994

the prisoners had been serving in prisons. Several Human Rights

Watch reports say that many were taken arbitrarily into custody. In

such cases, in countries where crimes against humanity are ongoing

or countries where such dreadful acts are imminent, the International

Criminal Court should have its wings established to try on such

matters as fast as required and not to allow conventional courts to

handle such matters, thus ensuring due process and avoiding

unwanted legislative interference.

On Jurisdiction

56 The Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the

Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v Serbia and Montenegro), [2007] ICJ

2 57 ‘Disputes between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation,

application or fulfilment of the present Convention, including those relating to the

In this argument, the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and

Montenegro56, the ICJ has dealt with the issue of jurisdiction in

relation to Article IX57 of the Genocide Convention. The court

recognizes the dispute in the interpretation and scope of the expression

‘Contracting Parties’ in the Article – whether the duties of the parties

are merely to legislate and prosecute or whether they hold a higher

moral obligation not to commit genocide under the definition in

Article III. The court said that Article I as talks about preventing and

punishing, prima facie creates obligations which they owe erga omnes

and that there can be no derogation to this respective interpretation,

that is, it is jus cogens or peremptory norm, as fundamental as

compelling. Article IX should extend its perimeters to include state

responsibility too as the Court, in this case, held that it has jurisdiction

to hold a State responsible if the State, through its organs, had

committed genocide under Article III. I concur to this decision of the

court and I think the issue of State responsibility, though not

recognized in International Law should be included under the scope

of Article IX, that is, the Article should be read keeping this factor in

mind that the State can be questioned of its obligations under the

Convention.

Conclusion

A country is helpless when genocide is ongoing in itself. Flipping

back pages of dark history we find numerous examples. And it still

goes on – civil wars and sometimes misuse of humanitarian

intervention arising out of economic greed. And what about a human

responsibility of a State for genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in Article

3, shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the request of any of the

parties to the dispute.’


being’s fight for justice? Raphael Lemkin’s war? Well, it is not over.

Every wrongful act of genocide is a blow to the pillar of justice this

person had tried to erect. So let us hope to join hands and uplift that

honest dream.

References

1. Raphael Lemkin, Genocide – A Modern Crime, VOL. 4 FREE

WORLD, APRIL, 1945.

2. William A. Schabas, Genocide in International Law – The

Crime of Crimes, 2nd Edn., Cambridge University Press.

3. John B. Quigley, The Genocide Convention – An International

Law Analysis, Ashgate Publishing Company.

4. Caroline Fournet, The Crime of Destruction and The Law of

Genocide – Their impact on Collective Memory, Ashgate

Publishing Company.

5. http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/91/13687.pdf

6. http://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/rwanda/about/bgjustic

e.shtml

7. http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/2014_

March_Rwanda_0.pdf

8. http://www.hrw.org/node/99177/section/2

9. http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html


Essay by

Vishaka Siva (India)

Introduction

Genocides are one of the dirtiest spots in the entire of our recorded

human history. Why do we hate, be intolerant, racist and get polarized

to a propaganda that transits us to this bestial level of insanity? Did

we evolve to become genocidal? Why do people reach this level

where they lose their logic and slaughter innocents including children

with mindless hate? According to CPPCG (Convention on the

Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide), Genocide is a

major crime in International law during both peace and war. Let us

explore the reasons and perhaps possible solutions for effective

prevention of genocide in future.

History

These criminal tragedies existed throughout history. Some of the

dreadful genocides prior the First World War is the butchering of

several million Native Americans, Aborigines’ elimination in

Australia, Dzungar genocide in the Qing Empire and the Circassians’

ethnic cleansing by the Russian Tsarist Empire. Post 1918, the

holocaust comes first to our mind. Estimates suggest that about 5.9

million people were killed in the holocaust by the Nazis. It is followed

by the Armenian genocide and the Nanking massacre. Most recent

genocides include chemical poisoning of Kurds, Bosnian genocide,

killings of Bangladeshis, Rwandan killings, the genocide of Tamils in

Sri Lanka etc. These are some of the most tragic crimes as their

intensities are very incomparable in level of their ruthless insanities.

http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/91/13687.pdf

http://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/rwanda/about/bgjustice.shtml

http://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/rwanda/about/bgjustice.shtml

http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/2014_March_Rwanda_0.pdf

http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/related_material/2014_March_Rwanda_0.pdf

http://www.hrw.org/node/99177/section/2

http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html


Root cause

The elements of hate, bigotry and racism play a major part behind

these cruel crimes. But what drives people to this insurmountable

level of cruelty that they end up eliminating their own species? A

prime factor is fear. Fear of a new tradition/culture which is different

from theirs, fear of skin color different from theirs, fear of a language

different from theirs etc. It leads people to ignorance and hate as they

forget the value of a life. The power hungry Heads of States, Military

leaders, Kings and Queens polarize ignorant humans by driving them

with fury and hate against the subjected population to genocide. All

these factors are interrelated and act like chain reaction leading to the

massacre.

Human Evolution

Did evolution make us genocidal? Human brain is known as the triune

brain which comprises of three complexes: reptilian complex,

paleomammalian complex or limbic lobe and neomammalian

complex known as the neo cortex. The most primitive part is our

reptilian cortex which controls the non-thought bodily functions like

breathing, hunger, mating urges and territorial behavior, while the

limbic lobe articulates human social bonding and the neo cortex is the

reason behind our decision making abilities. When a human feels

threatened, the reptilian cortex reacts and since it is primitive and

animal like, the reaction is violent. So is this natural and no crime?

No. There is a bigger picture associated with genocide (or any killing).

Any massacre as mentioned above is committed due to hate, greed

and confirmatory bias. These are complex theories formulated by our

decision making sector, therefore these large scale crimes are done

within our conscious awareness. Conclusion is, we evolved enough

for interspecies killing through our primitive brain, but our neo cortex

has the power to override this wiring and make it necessary only for

defensive measures, therefore this makes genocide as a full scale

criminal and inhumane activity.

Remedies and Conclusion

Public anger is of two types – positive and negative. Positive is the

French revolution, Arab spring etc, where people rose against

dictatorship, oppression and tyranny. The negative is people

harboring hate for some sections of their society due to the

misconceptions such as Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and

homophobia.

Our history is riddled with dirt but it is our duty to analyze and learn

from those tragic crimes. In those times people were ignorant, but now

media is becoming more and more transcendent, therefore we can

amplify our reaction to these crimes. There is also adverse to this

conduct since media has the power to disguise even the worst calamity

to a magical bliss. We see ignorant hate comments in every section of

the internet; sometimes the state or paid media brings out false

propaganda with the intent of hiding their crimes or for personal gains,

keeping their populace unaware so that they rule without any trouble.

Corrupt leaders with their personal agenda distorted and justified

genocide as war for justice and presented it as a situation where they

have to strike first or else get killed. To overcome these problems the

basic humane rule that killing is wrong unless it is done after thorough

trial should be propagated. Therefore a larger and a more amplified

way of preventing genocide, is to start a more powerful global peace

watch dog by the United Nations. The target must be the power

influencing speakers, religious heads and leaders. They must also

track hateful or racist trends so that they don’t induce or spew any

hateful or genocidal ideas. This does not include snooping but keeping

a check on their actions in a public platform.


Genocide sows seeds for another. It is detrimental for humanity, as it

is for environment. We have seen shameful death tolls, stupid and

digressive reasons used for justifying them. In future we must work

together peacefully and as mentioned above we must set up a peace

watchdog for a more boosting approach in preventing those future

genocidal crimes. I conclude by stating that our human race must live

peacefully and evolve as a better race for the future.

ГЕНОЦИД – ТЕМНОЕ ПЯТНО ЧЕЛОВЕЧЕСТВА

Эссе написала

Карагяур Ксения (Украина)

Человеком с большой буквы мы привыкли называть того, кому

удалось совершить что-либо ценное для общества. Обычно люди

высочайших моральных принципов необыкновенно

требовательны к себе, особенно в профессиональной

деятельности. Таковым был Рафаэль Лемкин. За время своей

карьерной деятельности ему удалось не только заставить весь

мир запретить и преследовать геноцид, он сумел показать ужасы

преступлений прошлого – он развернул историю варварства

перед современниками и сделал так, что каждый политик и

дипломат почувствовал кровь на своих руках, даже если её там

не было. Он сам стал лицом жертвы и ознаменовал своей жизнью

порыв к очищению всеобщего человеческого греха, в котором в

XX веке – веке революций и новых цивилизаций – уже были

замешаны преступные правительства и тысячи преступных душ.

Писатель Р.Грин сказал: «Человек, который хочет что-то

доказать, свернёт для вас горы». У каждого есть желание что-

либо доказать, и наши замыслы бывают так горячи, чисты... Но

самым сильным человеческий крик бывает от утери, и чем

больше мы теряем, тем сильнее кричим.


Жизнь человека признана мировым сообществом наивысшей

социальной ценностью58. Конституции многих стран и Украины

также провозгласили этот принцип59. Исходя из названия самой

Конвенции о предупреждении преступления геноцида и

наказании за него, целью разработки данного международного

инструмента является «предупреждение». Один из учебников

криминологии в Украине определяет термин «предупреждение

преступности» как направление деятельности государства и

общества в борьбе с этим социально негативным явлением60. Так,

Конвенцией предусмотрена ответственность не только за

содеянное преступление, но и такие действия как заговор с целью

совершения геноцида, прямое и публичное подстрекательство к

совершению геноцида, покушение на совершение геноцида.

Конвенция была подписана 130 государствами, большинство из

них установило уголовную ответственность за геноцид в

национальном законодательстве61. Казалось бы, всё так просто:

вот Конвенция; вот подписавшиеся стороны – работайте! Статья

VI Конвенции гласит, что обвиняемые должны быть судимы

компетентным судом того государства, на территории которого

было совершено это деяние, или таким международным

уголовным судом, который может иметь юрисдикцию в

отношении сторон настоящей Конвенции, признавших

58 Протокол № 13 к Конвенции о защите прав человека и основных свобод относительно отмены смертной казни в любых обстоятельствах, Вильнюс, 3.V.2002 г., - http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_RUS.pdf 59 Ст. 4 Конституции Армении, ст. 13 Конституции Азербайджана, ст. 2

Конституции Беларуси, ст. 3 Конституции Украины - Конституционное

право зарубежных стран СНГ - Н.А. Михалева, http://udik.com.ua/books/book-1627/; Ст. 2 Конституции РФ - http://www.constitution.ru/10003000/10003000-3.htm

юрисдикцию такого суда, то есть Международным уголовным

судом.

Но реально ли, в самом деле, привлечь к ответственности

человека, который публично призывает к геноциду группы или

нации? В едином судебном реестре Украины нет ни единого дела

о геноциде. Во Франции национальный суд в Париже сейчас

ведет одно дело в отношении гражданина из Руанды, который

причастен к геноциду в 1994 году62. Другой пример, в Голландии

в 2005 году за геноцид курдов в Ираке судили гражданина, тоже

вследствие уже массовых убийств63. А кто ведет дела о

подстрекательстве геноцида, от которого еще никто не

пострадал? Каждый думает: разве стоит привлекать к уголовной

ответственности кого-то, кто случайно что-то сказал, не подумав,

один раз? Мы живем в цивилизованном мире, а геноцид – это

всего лишь прошлое.

Так ли это?

Агрессия между «тутси» и «хуту» в Руанде имела историческую

подоплеку и нарастала медленно и невинно. Доказано, что

геноцид всегда является следствием субъективных причин

материального (экономического, финансового), религиозного

либо идеологического (политического) характера или

60 Кримінологія: Курс лекцій (Александров Ю.В., Гель А.П., Семаков Г.С.), http://textbooks.net.ua/content/view/3638/11/ 61 Геноцид: поняття та ознаки злочину в міжнародному та національному праві (порівняльний аналіз), І. І. Строкова 62 Во Франции судят обвиняемого в причастности к геноциду в Руанде, http://ru.euronews.com/2014/02/04/rwandan-army-officer-in-french-landmark-trial-over-genocide/ 63 За геноцид в Ираке судят голландца, http://www.utro.ru/articles/2005/03/18/418993.shtml

http://ru.euronews.com/2014/02/04/rwandan-army-officer-in-french-landmark-trial-over-genocide/


нескольких одновременно64. Логично, в таком случае, что

каждое государство, в том числе развитое и демократическое,

при тех или иных обстоятельствах, может претерпеть геноцид со

стороны одной группы по отношению к другой. Что может

случиться, когда власти недооценивают социально-этнические

разногласия в государстве?

Радио в Руанде было единственным вещательным средством в

стране, то есть его слушали все65. Не секрет, что СМИ и сегодня

имеют значительное влияние на общество. Русский

исследователь Е.В. Перов пишет: «На уровне массового сознания

стереотипы создаются и поддерживаются средствами массовой

информации. Усилению стереотипов способствует создание

«образа врага»66. Так или иначе, напряжение в массах должно

всегда сниматься пропагандой прав человека, в особенности,

если мы говорим о демократическом государстве. Ведь Устав

ООН закрепил одним из базовых принципов международного

права – принцип уважение прав человека. А когда мы забываем

об уважении друг к другу, случается непоправимое. И если не

предотвратить это на государственном уровне, то и

международные механизмы не всегда смогут помочь.

Геноцид в Руанде является ярким примером допущения

страшной ошибки на местном уровне. Примечательно, что

Руанда подписала Конвенцию о предупреждении преступления

геноцида и наказании за него до наступления страшной трагедии.

64 Геноцид: криминологическое исследование – часть 3, http://www.pandia.ru/467014/ 65 Подстрекательство к геноциду, http://www.africana.ru/news/pain/war/Tutsi/brakeman.htm

Незаметно общественность раскололась на 2 фланга, которые

увидели врага друг в друге.

А что сказал бы Р.Лемкин, если бы узнал о том, что после

принятия Конвенции случилось огромное количество

преступлений? Важно понять, наконец, что геноцид никогда не

станет уделом прошлого, как и сущность человеческой

греховной природы. В тот или иной момент кто-то возненавидит

кого-то и не почувствует преград к осуществлению своего

преступного замысла.

На встрече «Launch of the Raphael Lemkin International Prize for

the Prevention of Mass Atrocities 8» в Будапеште в 2013 году

специалисты, занимающиеся геноцидом, говорили о вкладе

Р.Лемкина и желании вселить его энтузиазм в ученых нашего

времени67. Неужели для такого энтузиазма необходимо потерять

столько, сколько он потерял в свое время? Неужели мы не

осознаем важность эффективной системы предупреждения

геноцида? А, может, ужасы чьей-то агрессии касаются кого-то

сейчас, прямо в данную минуту? И мы осудим преступников, и

они понесут наказание, а нам останется лишь хоронить людей...

памятники устанавливать...

Основной посыл этой работы – желание побудить

общественность стран насторожиться и подумать о том, как в их

стране работает статья о предупреждении геноцида. Услышать

друг друга, а не увидеть друг в друге врага, найти компромисс, а

не схватиться за «мачете», уважать человека, уважать права

66 Теория и анализ социальной конфликтогенности общества, http://e-notabene.ru/nb/article_2308.html 67 Launch of the Raphael Lemkin International Prize for the Prevention of Mass Atrocities 8, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFxS8DHjmV0


человека, ведь мы к этому шли тысячи лет. И все мы разных

национальностей. Нас более семи миллиардов, но это ж не

значит, что можно убивать друг друга. Не пора ли выйти на еще

более высокий уровень и забыть о таком понятии как война,

убийство, ненависть? Ведь ненависть никому никогда ничего

хорошего не принесла в итоге...

Агрессию сложно остановить, когда она на лице каждого. Но

возможно ее предупредить – не дать ключевым факторам в

обществе разрушить отношения групп, национальностей, семей.

Когда братья ссорятся, семьи разъезжаются, браки распадаются

на социально-этнической, политической основе. Нельзя

забывать, что мир - это самое ценное, что есть у людей и его

всегда можно сохранить.

ГЕНОЦИД, КАК ТРАГЕДИЯ И СОБЛАЗН

Эссе написал

Низов Владимир (Россия)

Человечество на пути своего развития сталкивалось с массой

проблем. Все проблемы человечество за раз никогда не решало:

место решенной проблемы занимали новые вызовы. В

современном мире также существует немало этих вызовов.

Список проблем, с которыми предстоит столкнуться

человечеству в 21 веке, довольно обширный. Это и голод, и

истощение природных ресурсов, и новый кризис управления.

Возможно, многие старые проблемы будут большой редкостью в

будущем. Они не будут так опасны как, кажем, чума, которая

унесла миллионы жизней в средние века, а сейчас не

представляет угрозы. Тем не менее, некоторые явления, которые

несут в себе большую опасность, пронизывают историю

человечества и идут с ним нога в ногу. Это такие явления как

война, ксенофобия, убийства. Довольно часто следствием этих

явлений становится геноцид. В последние десятилетия феномен

геноцида стал довольно популярным в словах мировых и

национальных политиков. Чем вызвана подобная популярность?

Перед тем как выяснить это, необходимо понять, что

подразумевается под словом геноцид. Генеральная ассамблея

ООН в своей резолюции от 1948 года приняла Конвенцию о

предупреждении преступления геноцида и наказании за него,

чем подтвердила, что геноцид является преступлением

международного характера. Более того, конвенция закрепила

перечень деяний, которые подпадают под определение

«геноцид». Это действия, совершаемые с намерением

уничтожить, полностью или частично, какую-либо


национальную, этническую, расовую или религиозную группу

как таковую:

а) убийство членов такой группы;

b) причинение серьезных телесных повреждений или

умственного расстройства членам такой группы;

с) предумышленное создание для какой-либо группы

таких жизненных условий, которые рассчитаны на полное или

частичное физическое уничтожение ее;

d) меры, рассчитанные на предотвращение деторождения

в среде такой группы;

e) насильственная передача детей из одной человеческой

группы в другую.

По моему мнению, данное толкование этого понятия является

наиболее верным: ни сужать, ни расширять значение этого слова

не стоит. Действительно, при разработке проекта данной

резолюции были предложения расширить круг деяний

попадающих под это определение. Скажем, против

формулировки «мер, направленных на принуждение членов

какой-либо группы покидать свои дома, с тем, чтобы избежать

возникающей в противном случае угрозы жестокого обращения»

выступали даже разработчики данной резолюции. И в этом есть

здравый смысл, ведь определение международного

преступления не должно иметь широкое толкование. К тому же,

ложная трактовка деяний и подведение их под понятие геноцид

может стать опасной практикой. Попытка некоторых стран (или

отдельных групп людей в данных странах) покопаться в

прошлом и найти в ней геноцид своего народа не может вызывать

одобрения. Безусловно, историю необходимо знать и помнить,

но использование трагедии людей для политических игр как

внутри страны, так и на международной арене, кроме как

манипуляцией, по-другому назвать нельзя. Международные

нормы в первую очередь направлены на предотвращение

геноцида в будущем, а не нахождения геноцида в прошлом.

Более того, соблазн «сорвать куш» на этой теме с другого

государства (которое является ответственным за деяния в

прошлом) только способствует оппортунистическому подходу к

теме геноцида.

К сожалению, уже сегодня участились подобные случаи. Я

попытаюсь на одном из примеров показать абсурдность таких

затей. К примеру, Украина официально (согласно закону

Украины «О Голодоморе 1932-1933 годов в Украине») признает

голод в 1932-1933 годах геноцидом украинского народа и

отдельные политические деятели настаивают на том, что

Российская Федерация должна финансово ответить за этот

геноцид, так как является правопреемницей СССР. В свою

очередь к Украине могут возникнуть такие же претензии со

стороны Польши, которая признает «Волынскую резню» 1943

года «антипольской акцией обладавшей признаками геноцида»

(согласно постановлению Сейма Польши от 15 июля 2009 года).

Россия же потенциально может предъявить претензии Польше по

вопросу об издевательствах над русскими красноармейцами в

Польше 1920-1921 годов (например, в лагере Тухоли). На

примере этого треугольника, как было сказано выше, можно

понять всю абсурдность ситуации, а ведь это далеко не самый

тяжелый пример. Часто стороны могут обвинять друг друга в

геноциде (на примере армяно-азербайджанского конфликта) или

обвинять страну по национальной принадлежности карателей

(тот же голод в Украине 1932-1933 годов, где преобладающее


количество сотрудников ГПУ УССР было еврейского

происхождения (по данным СБУ)). С таким подходом довольно

много государств может стать потенциальными ответчиками (все

бывшие колониальные метрополии уж точно), и это только

обострит международные противоречия между странами и вряд

ли позволить наладить продуктивный диалог.

Именно поэтому в 21 веке политики во всех странах мира

должны отказаться от расшатывания международной обстановки

путем поиска черных пятен в своей истории. Безусловно, я не

призываю народы отказываться чтить память погибшим и

осуждать политику виновной стороны, но «возложение

ответственности на детей за грехи своих отцов» выглядит

довольно таки несправедливо. Изучение темных страниц в

мировой истории: как более известных (истребление армянского

населения в 1915 или Холокоста) так и менее (создание Австро-

Венгрией концентрационных лагерей в Терезине и Талергофе в

1914), - достаточно важное направление в науке. Тем не менее,

это должно оставаться направлением в науке, плоды которой

доступны общественности: не больше, но и не меньше.

Этим эссе я попытался рассмотреть проблему геноцида немного

с другой стороны. Большинство подходов призывают наказывать

виновников сего преступления и искать геноцид на страницах

истории каждого народа, а так же подчеркивают

бесчеловечность преступников. Все это, безусловно, правда. Я

лишь хотел добавить то, что жертва геноцида не должна

превращаться в реваншиста: это ни к чему хорошему не

приводит. Главное, что бы люди оставались людьми, даже после

такой трагедии…

ПРАВОВОЕ ПРОТИВОСТОЯНИЕ ГЕНОЦИДУ КАК

ГАРАНТИЯ СТАБИЛЬНОЙ И СПРАВЕДЛИВОЙ

ИСТОРИИ НАРОДОВ


Рожкова Ксения (Россия)

История человечества насчитывает многовековую историю.

Человек эволюционировал и развивался, взаимодействовал с

подобными себе существами и окружающим миром и природой,

создавал общества, государства и целые цивилизации. Однако,

зачастую образование могущественных империй

сопровождалось не только положительными результатами,

такими как развитие великих культур, социальных и правовых

систем, но и крайне негативными моментами. Ни одна великая

цивилизация прошлого, да и настоящего, не может похвастаться

тем, что в ее истории отсутствуют такие значимые и трагические

события, как войны. Неизменно, рано или поздно перед лицом

любого развивающегося государства вставали вопросы нехватки

биологических ресурсов, престижа и мирового господства и

влияния, и многие другие, решение которым находилось через

развязывание военного конфликта. Конечно же, в условиях

современного миропорядка, когда в большинстве стран мира

соблюдаются и уважаются гуманистические ценности и понятия,

естественные и позитивные права человека и гражданина, а

взаимодействие и сотрудничество стран в рамках всемирной

глобализации становится одним из основных условий их

существования, государственные лидеры и правительства

отдают предпочтение не открытым военным конфликтам, а

мирным переговорам, правовому регулированию и


компромиссу. Но не стоит забывать, что так было далеко не

всегда.

На определенных этапах развития человечества, до недавнего

времени, войны были естественными событиями, которые

воспринимались как средство достижения определенных

экономических, социальных, идеологических и иных целей, а в

ряде случаев они даже были результатами тщеславия отдельных

людей. Достаточно вспомнить такие значимые исторические

события, как противостояние Спарты и Афин, стремление

Александра Македонского построить величайшую империю из

когда-либо существовавших, многовековые Крестовые походы,

причины Второй Мировой войны. Даже такой короткий список

наглядно иллюстрирует многообразие причин противостояний и

кровопролитий. Не смотря на то, что цели и мотивы ведения войн

были различны, их результаты, как правило, были одинаковы в

том плане, что конфликты заканчивались победой одной

стороны, которой покорялась другая. Даже если стороны

приходили к мирному соглашению, его условия не могли быть

одинаково выгодны для всех. Одна сторона неизменно ставила

другую в зависимое состояние, подчиняла ее себе. Степени

такого подчинения могли быть различны, а учитывая

знаменитые выражения «на войне все средства хороши» и «цель

оправдывает средства», мы можем с уверенностью говорить о

том, что победители, не задумываясь о способах достижения

цели, стремились к полному подчинению побежденных. Для

некоторых народов противостояния заканчивались весьма

плачевно, так как народ просто переставал существовать,

безжалостно истреблялся завоевателями. Именно так поступили

европейские колонизаторы с местными жителями Америки,

коренными индейцами: некоторых обратили в рабов, некоторые

умерли в результате привезенных конкистадорами болезней,

однако большую часть просто истребили за оказание

сопротивления, нежелание перейти в католическую веру и по

многим другим причинам. На тот момент, начиная с XV века

нашей эры, и вплоть до XIX века нашей эры, такое обращение с

другими народами хоть и не отвечало принципам гуманности, но

все же было законно. Было оно законно и ранее, и до нашей эры,

и позднее, просто потому, что в общем мировом правовом

пространстве, да и в законодательствах отдельных стран,

отсутствовало понятие, обозначающее массовое истребление

одного народа другим, а также иные действия, результат которых

приводил к полному или практически полному исчезновению

определенной этнической группы с лица земли. Соответственно,

отсутствовало и правовое закрепление противоправности таких

деяний, вследствие чего они не могли считаться преступлением,

а, следовательно, отсутствовали и санкции. Виновники массовых

убийств оставались безнаказанными, нарушались принципы

возмездия и ответственности, признаваемые практически во всех

обществах мира, начиная с первобытных народов, у которых

присутствовал принцип талиона, часто условно формулируемый

как «око за око, зуб за зуб», суть которого сводилась к тому, что

наказание преступника приравнивалось к причиненному им

ущербу, в результате чего восстанавливалась социальная

справедливость.

Столь необходимый термин «геноцид» был введен в правовое

употребление лишь в 1943 году ученым еврейского

происхождения Рафаэлем Лемкиным, и лишь в 1948 году был

установлен его мировой статус, с принятием Конвенции ООН о

предупреждении преступления геноцида и наказания за него.

XX век отмечен в истории человечества разрушительными

войнами. В начале столетия прошла Первая мировая война.

Позже началась Вторая мировая война, агрессорами в которой

выступили страны нацистского блока, среди которых особенно


стоит выделить Германию, Третий Рейх, под руководством

Адольфа Гитлера. Вторая мировая война оказалась еще более

кровопролитной, нежели Первая. Большое значение имел ее

идеологический уклон, а именно положения о превосходстве

арийской расы и о необходимости истребления «недостойных»

этнических групп, что вызвало массовое уничтожение людей. В

научной среде это явление геноцида получило название

Холокоста в широком смысле этого слова, то есть это не просто

истребление евреев на территории фашистской Германии, ее

союзников и оккупированных государств, но и истребление

поляков, советских военнопленных, больных людей и других

социальных и этнических групп. До сих пор на нашей планете

существуют остатки концентрационных лагерей, в которых

пытали и убивали тысячами и сотнями тысяч невинных людей –

немые напоминания о трагедии, которую принесла с собой

идеология фашизма и вышедший из нее геноцид. Последствия

Холокоста были плачевны не только в плане массовых убийств,

но и в плане разрушения жизненного уклада многих народов, их

культуры и жизни последующих поколений, в сознании которых

прочно закрепились события Шоа.

Безусловно, мировое сообщество не могло оставить

безнаказанной такую жестокость, в результате чего имел место

быть Нюрнбергский Процесс, а Генеральная Ассамблея

Организации Объединенных Наций 11 декабря 1946 года

объявила о том, что геноцид является преступлением,

нарушающим нормы международного права и основы

цивилизованного мира, а позже состоялась разработка

Конвенции о предупреждении преступления геноцида и

наказания за него, которая была принята 9 декабря 1948 года

резолюцией Генеральной Ассамблеи ООН и вступила в силу 12

января 1951 года. Большую роль в разработке данной конвенции

сыграл сам Рафаэль Лемкин. Данная конвенция закрепила за

геноцидом статус преступления, причем придала ему значимость

тягчайшего преступления против всего человечества (статьи 1 и

2 Конвенции). Также этот документ предусмотрел

необходимость развития института ответственности за данное

преступление в рамках национальных законодательств стран,

ратифицировавших Конвенцию (на данный момент их более

140), что дало возможность наиболее максимально пресечь

геноцид и его проявления на современном этапе истории

человечества.

Вклад Рафаэля Лемкина в установление «мира во всем мире»

сложно переоценить, учитывая его заслуги в разработке термина

«геноцида» и его правового регулирования в Международной

Конвенции ООН. Благодаря работе этого ученого

восстановилась социальная справедливость относительно уже

совершенных преступлений, а у всех социальных групп и

этносов появилась гарантия спокойного и последовательного

развития, без угрозы уничтожения.


ЧТО ЖЕ С НАМИ ПРОИСХОДИТ?


Свенцицкая Элина (Украина)

Геноцид, как и война, - явление с одной очень странной

закономерностью. Уже давно и всем понятно, что это плохо,

страшно, и ни в коем случае не должно повториться,- а между

тем снова и снова геноцид, как и война, повторяется, как будто

бы волна накатывает на людей и начисто смывает разум,

понимание, сочувствие, сострадание. Такое ощущение, что эти

сугубо человеческие качества - какая-то очень тонкая пленка,

исчезающая моментально при любом испытании.

Нет, нет, это, конечно же, не так, но… Я из Донецка, но я не буду

описывать картины военные ужасы – их слишком много в жизни.

Я о другом … Профессор Преображенский у Булгакова, помните,

сказал: «Разруха… Разруха в головах». Вот, собственно, об этом

я и думаю: что происходит в наших головах, когда мы

вовлекаемся в водоворот насилия? Что с нами происходит? Да, я

понимаю, что этот вопрос возникает каждый раз, когда мы

переживаем геноцид, что люди поумнее меня пытались дать на

него ответ – только это в дальнейшем ничему не помешало. Но я

попробую дать свой вариант ответа – не потому, что на что-то

надеюсь, а потому, что болит. Болит, понимаете, все, - но

поскольку главный мой рабочий орган – голова, то я и расскажу

о том, что в этой голове родилось.

Я из Донецка, и там сейчас идет война, которую одни называют

геноцидом власти против Восточной Украины, а другие –

геноцидом восточно-украинской мафии против остальной

Украины. Но, может, правда в том, что геноцид никогда не

направлен против кого-то конкретного. То есть, на данном

историческом промежутке так всегда кажется, и у каждой из

сторон есть аргументы, почему геноцид направлен именно

против этих людей. На самом деле геноцид, как и война, он

всегда против нас, он всегда против каждого, он всегда против

народа.

Собственно, геноцид начинается тогда, когда национальное

становится важнее народного. Ведь народ, как мне кажется, – это

многосоставное целое, состоящее из множества разных наций,

разных правд, разных голосов. Идентификация тут, прежде

всего, культурная. А национальность – целое более однородное,

идентифицируемое по цвету волос и глаз и, что самое главное,

представляемое с некоторых пор как некая совокупная

индивидуальность ( начиная с романтиков, с Гердера, например).

Собственно, в этом-то представлении и коренится основание для

любого национализма, а затем и нацизма. А последствия, по-

моему, совершенно очевидны.

Но что-то еще должно произойти, чтобы просто национально

озабоченного человека затянуло в водоворот насилия. Я думаю,

в моменты испытаний, в моменты угрозы на первый план

выходит то, что объединяет любую нацию, - общая мифология и

соответствующий тип мышления – мифологический.

Закон мифологического мышления – тождество, основанное на

взаимоотражении разнородных явлений, тождество, которое в

обыденном сознании понимается абсолютно буквально. Это

понимание проявляется, например, тогда, когда вдруг

оказывается, что все русское для украинца плохо – вследствие

неприглядного поведения российских политиков. Или вот моя

коллега, изящнейшая, милейшая дама, говорит мне: «Как

хорошо, что мы у вас забрали Крым… это символично! Мы у вас


все заберем!». Что я могу сказать в ответ? «Простите… Вы у

меня ничего не забирали…».

Геноцид имеет свой язык. Этот язык - язык ярлыков, которые

навешиваются на любое знакомое и особенно незнакомое

явление. Он выражает альтернативное мышление, которые все

богатство мира, личностей, мировоззрений, их оттенков сводит

к ложным противоположностям (или русский – или украинский,

или «сепаратист» - или «бандеровец»). Именно отсюда лозунг

«кто не с нами, тот против нас». Из этой магнитной ловушки надо

как-то выйти… Только вот как?

Еще одна наша магнитная ловушка - это проблема свободы. Мне

кажется, в нашем понимании свободы существуют две

полярности, тесно связанные между собой: «познанная

необходимость» и «произвол», то есть утверждение собственной

воли. Я не готова дать философское определение свободы, но

чувствую, что она ни то и ни другое, и очень прочно связана с

ответственностью. В культурном космосе, где люди долгое

время понимали свободу по-марксистски, вторая крайность

актуализируется с абсолютной неизбежностью и со столь же

абсолютной беспредельностью. Это так же логично, как то, что

«тварь дрожащая» порождает того, «кто право имеет» и

наоборот.

В ситуации разыгравшейся свободы тех, кто «право имеет»,

остальным людям – жертвам - естественно, хочется порядка.

Давно уже понятно, что явление геноцида связано с кризисным

временем. В такие кризисные времена действительно возникает

такая усталость от хаоса, что кажется, будто с помощью насилия,

«сильной руки» можно установить порядок. И если в этом

порядке кого-нибудь не будет – евреев, например, или людей тех

или иных взглядов, ориентаций – ну, ничего, переживем, порядок

дороже. Вот и сейчас, по-моему, именно такая ситуация. Да, да,

я знаю, что насильственно установленный порядок неизбежно

порождает хаос, а хаос – насильственное установление порядка.

Но, если честно, где-то в глубине души мне все равно, на каких

основаниях, - лишь бы перестали стрелять. Вы меня за это

осудите?

Что тут можно сделать? Чтобы выбраться из замкнутого круга,

надо чувствовать – не понимать отвлеченно, а чувствовать, - что

насилие – это только хаос, и породить оно может хаос. И еще.

Ситуация – внутренняя, культурная, в которой мы живем, -

кризисная. Было время, когда все знали, что надо думать – о себе,

о своем государстве, об окружающем мире. Сейчас – это уже

общее место – у нас нет точных ориентиров. Это и называется

ценностным вакуумом. И это состояние будет продолжаться до

тех пор, пока мы не осознаем, что нет и не может быть никакой

общей для всех системы ценностей, что она у каждого своя, что

мысль бывает только личной, выбор – только индивидуальным,

и именно потому каждый отвечает за его последствия.

И потому единственное, к чему я могу призвать, сознавая всю

утопичность, устарелость и ненужность подобных призывов, -

давайте наконец думать! Давайте думать самостоятельно!

Давайте думать ответственно!


ГЕНОЦИД – ТЕМНЕ ТАВРО ЛЮДСТВА

Есе написала

Шабайкович Ірина (Україна)

Кір, скарлатина, епідемічний паротит. Є принаймні три речі, що

об’єднують ці інфекційні захворювання? 1) Один раз

перехворівши, організм більше до них несприятливий. 2) Їх

можна попередити за допомогою вакцинації. 3) У разі

відсутності належного лікування та помочі імунітету, організму

хворого загрожують ускладнення, серйозніші ніж сама хвороба.

Не надто розуміюсь на медицині. Не є фаховим істориком. І вже

достеменно не зможу відтворити той ланцюжок роздумів, що

привів від тривожного своєю актуальністю ряду запитань до

такої дивної аналогії. Агресивні інфекційні захворювання і

геноцид. Оскільки Україна є постгеноцидною нацією (а чи

справді пост-?), об’єктивно описувати проблему геноциду

складно – одразу ж згадуєш Голодомор, а там, якщо реальні

втрати можна приблизно підрахувати, оцінювати наслідки для

нації зарано – деякі з них розгортаються на наших очах, і, мабуть,

не всі ще дали про себе знати. Аналогія не замінить логіку та

аргументи, однак відкриває інший ракурс, з якого сподіваєшся і

побачити щось більше, і більше зрозуміти.

1) Отже, імунітет. Якщо не давати словесного визначення

проблемам, вони мають властивість повторюватися. Для

прикладу, про Голокост, як найвідоміший випадок геноциду,

говорилося стільки, що сьогодні можна сказати напевно: з

євреями такого більше ніколи не трапиться. Є багато інших форм

масового безумства, які з певною періодичністю охоплюють

людей в різних локаціях (винищення язичників християнами,

спалення відьом та ін.), але проти геноциду в єврейського народу

вже точно виробився імунітет.

Однак з політикою радянського Кремля щодо України,

Казахстану чи кримських татар досі не для всіх усе очевидно. І

хоча 23 країни світу визнають голод 1932-33 рр. геноцидом,

цього не достатньо – його повинна визнати геноцидом РФ і,

головне, його одноголосно повинні визнати геноцидом усі

українці. Тому говорити про це треба доти, доки в нас теж не

виробиться імунітет, здатний на ранній стадії розпізнавати та

блокувати ворога. За останніми даними соцопитувань лише 72

% населення України вважають Голодомор геноцидом. І це в

країні-жертві! В РФ результат навряд чи сягне 10%.

2) Вакцинація. Здатність до абстрактного мислення, вміння

співчувати та ставити себе на місце іншої людини дозволяють

нам вчитися на помилках інших. Думаю, можна сказати, ті

країни, де на належному рівні навчають дітей історії, мають

щеплення від геноцидів, гендерцидів і т.п. З іншого боку, коли

коментатор новин CBS спитав Рафаеля Лемкіна, чому він

зацікавився феноменом геноциду, той дав вичерпну відповідь

вже у першому реченні: «because it happens so many times». А це

було ще до Дарфура чи Руанди. З цього можна зробити висновок,

що основні перешкоди людства на шляху до морального

прогресу – лінь та невміння адекватно проставити пріоритети в

освіті.

3) Ускладнення. Деякі ускладнення затягуються так надовго і

настільки пригнічують імунітет, що в тривалій перспективі це

приводить організм до онкології. І думаю, це можна порівняти з


тим етапом, на якому зараз перебуває Україна. В українському

випадку ускладнення вчасно не визнаного і «не подоланого»

геноциду знаходить вираження в підвалах ДНР та ЛНР, де саме

зараз за українську мову та символіку катують людей,

відправлених туди з легкої руки сусідів чи колег. (роль усіх цих

«сусідів та колег» у здійсненні геноцидів – окрема важлива в

цьому контексті тема, так добре розкрита Ханною Арендт)68. І

це повторюватиметься в різних формах, доки винищення

української нації радянським Кремлем, як наступником

Російської імперії, не буде визнано геноцидом. І Голодомор, як

влучно систематизував Р.Лемкін у своєму зверненні

«Радянський геноцид в Україні», був лише одним із чотирьох

напрямків винищення української нації: «Перший удар

спрямований на інтелігенцію – мозок нації, щоб паралізувати

решту організму[...] Поряд з атакою на інтелігенцію ішов

наступ на Церкву, священиків і церковну ієрархію – "душу"

України[...] Третє вістря радянської атаки було спрямовано

проти фермерів – великої маси незалежних селян, зберігачів

традицій, фольклору і музики, національної мови та літератури,

національного духу України. Зброя, яку вживали проти них, є,

мабуть, найстрашнішою з усіх – виморювання голодом[…]

Четвертим кроком у тому процесі стала фрагментація

українського народу шляхом поселення в Україні чужинців і

водночас розпорошення українців по цілій Східній Європі.»

До того ж, якщо довго не називати речі своїми іменами, з часом

границі їхнього смислу стираються, і рано чи пізно це

використають для підміни понять. «Геноцид русов», «геноцид

русских на Украине», «остановим украинский фашизм» – яким

68 Йдеться про книгу Х. Арендт «Банальність зла. Суд над Айхманом в Єрусалимі» (1963).

би маразмом не були подібні заголовки, треба визнати, що тільки

в українців (і то можливо у тих самих 72%) вони викликають

такий когнітивний дисонанс, який би викликала в будь-якій точці

світу фраза, напр., «єврейський геноцид німців».

При проведенні аналогій з епідеміологією не можна обійти

наступну паралель. Усі системи здорового організму працюють

злагоджено. Нейрони передають в мозок інформацію про усе

тіло. Якщо в тілі, наприклад, бракує калію, в мозок поступає

сигнал, і людина раптово згадує, що вже давно не їла бананів.

Однак коли тіло захоплене патогенами, імпульси в мозок

посилають не здорові клітини, а чужорідні агенти.

Коли українські телеканали транслюють серіали країни-агресора

(до слова в рази дорожчі ніж західні)69, а українські кіностудії

знімають спільно з РФ українофобські фільми, відмовки їхніх

продюсерів (мовляв, вони знімають/показують те, на що є попит

в українців, такі вже смаки українського телеглядача) нагадують

цей процес. Ракових клітин в організмі стало так багато, що їм

вдається переконати вражений організм (принаймні транслювати

таку думку на державному рівні), що пересмажена до чорної

скоринки картопля – це саме те, що йому зараз потрібно. Як

сформулював Анатолій Матвійчук, «наші телеканали є

резидентами чужих спецслужб».

То як лікувати пацієнта з тяжкими ускладненнями, коли здається,

що західна медицина від нього вже відмовилася? Пацієнт має

захотіти одужати сам, і так сильно, щоб терміново розпочати

69 Згідно з інформацією фейсбук-спільноти Бойкот російського кіно, «за одну серію російського серіалу українські телеканали платять $70000-$120000. Тим часом західні серіали коштують їм $5000-$10000».


діяти. Для хворого першими очевидними кроками при лікуванні

недуги мають стати:

1) детоксикація організму (і, відповідно, припинення

поступання в організм нових токсинів);

2) підвищення імунітету (шляхом правильного вітамінного

харчування, тощо).

При відповідальному підході до перших двох кроків, у половині

випадків наступні маніпуляції виявляються непотрібними –

імунітет піднімається, пацієнт одужує сам. Виробити імунітет до

геноциду для України є питанням життєво важливим… because it

happens so many times.

Date post:	06-Apr-2016
Category:	Documents
Upload:	society-initiatives-institute-
View:	216 times
Download:	2 times