Holocausts. Plural.

“Who still talks of the extermination of the Armenians?”

• 1914 – 1923• Relocation and murder

of approximately one million Christian Armenians from Turkey

• 2nd most studied case of genocide

The Armenian Genocide

• Turkey: not a result of a ‘state sponsored’ plan, but the result of inter-ethnic strife, disease, and world war turmoil + no records

• The UN & 21 other countries disagree on the record

The 21

Evidence of the time, at the time

Haunting similarities

• Armenians disarmed• Armenian leaders and

intellectuals killed• Armenians ‘deported’

to Syria and Iraq

(only 500,000 made it alive)

The Armenian Memorial• Drafted in 1965 (50 year)

• 12 slabs = 12 lost Turkish provinces

• Eternal flame in center• Along park, 100 meter

wall with names of towns and villages where massacres took place

• Museum added 1995

The Nazi Holocaust

• 1938 – 1945• 11-13 million killed

People who were Jewish, communist, gay, mentally ill, physically infirmed, political enemies,

The Nazi Holocaust

• Led by Adolf Hitler, Himmler, and Goebbels

• “Final Solution”• Victims derided,

labeled, moved to ghettoes, then camps, then murdered

The Nazi Holocaust Propaganda

Resolution?• Hitler, suicide• Mengele, fled to SA• Himmer, cyanide in jail• Goebbels, wife killed six

children with morphine/cyanide, then each other

• Nuremberg Trials for those 22 remaining-3 acquitted-12 partially acquitted-12 sentenced to be hanged October 16, 1946

UN Resolution 1948

Article 2• The following acts, to destroy

in part or whole, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group by:

• Killing members of the group;

• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

•Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s whole or partial physical destruction

•Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

•Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article 3

• The following acts shall be punishable:

• (a) Genocide; • (b) Conspiracy to commit

genocide; • (c) Direct and public

incitement to commit genocide;

• (d) Attempt to commit genocide;

• (e) Complicity in genocide.

Current Anti-Semitic Propaganda

Cambodia & Khmer Rouge

• 1975 – 1999• 1 – 3 million killed

under the leadership of Pol Pot

• 25%-30% of the country!

• Political executions, starvation, & overwork

Cambodia & Khmer Rouge• The Killing Fields• Moved ‘pro-Western’

and ‘educated’ to the countryside under guise of ‘US attacks’

• Civil servants and educated people sent to ‘re-education centers’ to embrace idealistic communist peasantry

Genocide in Cambodia

• ‘Old people’ vs. ‘New people’ would play out for decades

• Family relationships banned, no private ownership, no technology

• Forced ‘livelihood meetings’ -propaganda indoctrination

-’rat out’ enemies to the state

Cambodia & Khmer Rouge

Capital Crimes:• not working hard enough

• wearing glasses

• complaining

• stealing (for survival)

• wearing jewelry

• having sex

• grieving for lost loved ones

• practicing religion

Bosnia Herzogovina

• 1992-1995• 200,000• Serbian communist

nationalists led by Slobodan Milosevic

• Unstable area since before World War I (Archduke Francis Ferdinand)

Bosnia Herzegovina • ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ of all

Muslims from greater Serbia

• Mass executions, death marches, torture, rape camps, & displacement

• Arrested for war crimes in 2001, and tried in 2002

• Died of natural causes in his cell at The Hague while being tried for war crimes

• Over 70 villages gone, and counting.

Justice?

Rwanda

• 1994• 1 million• 1.5 million refugees• Tutsi (royal) vs. Hutu (poor)

• Key event, illustrated the ineptitude/apathy of UN, US, France from brewing through killing (“deliberate/convenient”)

Rwanda

• Hutu nationalism, anti-Tutsi propaganda of hate/fear

• Hutu amassed arms• Genocide was openly

discussed in cabinet meetings

• President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane shot down

Justice?

• UN Tribunal for big players

• Rwandan courts for smaller participants

• Led by Paul Kagame and past 10th year and relish stability

• Over 10,000 await trial in the Gacaca

Darfur, Sudan

• 1983 – present• 2 million; 2-4 million

displaced• Janjaweed from

Baggara tribes vs. rural people not from Baggara lineage (Arab vs. non-Arab)

Darfur, Sudan

• SLA (Sudan People’s Liberation

Army) was dominating, until Sudan contracted and armed the Janjaweed

• With government weapons, the Janjaweek dominated

• ER fans?

Justice for Sudan?

• Sudan has been stonewalling

• In August of 2006, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act was passed in US

• Genocide Intervention Network politician ‘score cards’

But Darfur is around the world . . .

• www.azlostboyscenter.org• Over 550 displaced

refugees from Darfur• Why ‘lost boys’?• Local center provides

English support, tutoring, events, and technology training

Eight Stages of Genocide

• Classification US vs. THEM (Nazi/Jew, Hutu/Tutsi); bipolar societies sans mixed categories more vulnerable to genocide

• Recognize and prevent:find common ground, develop institutions that bridge differences, actively educate about tolerance and promote understanding

Eight Stages of Genocide

• Symbolization

Giving names or other symbols to groups of people we’ve classified (yellow star, blue scarf, etc)

• Recognize and prevent:

Eliminate hate speech, hate symbols, and group markings

Eight Stages of Genocide

• DehumanizationDenying people their humanity, classifying them as sub-human and vilifying them . . . an essential tool for overcoming visceral revulsion to murder

• Recognize and prevent:Hate propaganda should be banned, hate violence should be punished

Eight Stages of Genocide• Organization

Genocide is always organized by a government or powerful group, and plans are made for the killing

• Recognize and prevent:Membership in such groups should be outlawed. Their leaders must be denied international travel visas. The UN should investigate suspect hostilities. Arms embargos should be established.

Eight Stages of Genocide

• PolarizationTarget moderates. Forbid intermarriage and socialization between groups. Heavy ‘black and white’ propaganda

• Recognize and prevent:Seize assets of leaders and deny visas. Security detail for moderate leaders, and human rights organizations assist

Eight Stages of Genocide

• PreparationDeath lists drawn up, people physically separated and forced to wear identification, forced into campus, ghettoes, and starvation regions

• Recognize and prevent:Call ‘genocide alert’, mobilize UN & NATO, provide armed prevention and humanitarian assistance

Eight Stages of Genocide

• Extermination (interesting word choice)

• Recognize and prevent:

Only rapid & overwhelming armed intervention can make an impact. Armed ‘safe areas’ need to be created for refugees. Long-term troops and humanitarian aid.

Humanitarian laws supercede nation rights

Eight Stages of Genocide

• DenialAttempts by perpetrators to destroy evidence, block investigations, cover-up atrocities, & blame victims

• Recognize and prevent:Punishment by international or national tribunals where evidence can be publicly heard and killers can be held accountable