Thursday, April 25, 2013
Why we must remember
We have viewed Grandma's Tattoo, read the iWitness testimonies of survivors of the Armenian Genocide, heard and seen the accounts of victims of the Holocaust. We have also discussed the reasons for commemorating these tragic and horrific deeds. Three years ago, Peter Kougasian said, "...we see that genocide recognition is not an issue of merely academic interest, one that might nicely be delegated to distinguished panels of historians. Recognition of the Armenian genocide is a vital, front-burner issue of human rights affecting the liberties and even survival of real people in the world today." Explain why you believe or do not believe recognition of genocide is a "human rights" issue. Please respond by Monday, April 29.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I believe that the Armenian genocide is a human rights issue but we must all face the fact that it was it happened. No one can deny it. Although it might not be considered lawfully a "genocide" because the term genocide was made after the Armenian holocaust. People can call it a mass killing oàqa1r a crime or a genocide but in the end it happened no matter what. I believe that we must remember the Armenian genocide because even though it happened 100 years ago it still happen. We must remember because it is important for all the people to know what happened and how to avoid it happening again in the future. People might not believe that it will happen in the future but most of the people know that it is happening right now. There might not be a mass killing but racial discrimination happens every day. Some people might not think it is a big deal but in fat is a huge deal. We must remember the armenian genocide for all the people who died. Over 1.5 million people died and their lives are equivalent to our lives. We are all humans and whst if that where to happen to us. We must remember not the Armenian genocide but all the genocides and mass killings in the world so we can learn and expand our knowledge to think of ways for a genocide to never happen again.
ReplyDeleteRIP to all the people that lost their lives in the Armenian genocide.
Hamzah abdi
I agree with Hamzah
DeleteHamzah, I like how you put the Armenian Genocide into a worldwide perspective because you are absolutely right, no one knows whether or not genocide will affect them or their group of people today, tomorrow, or even centuries from now. It is also true that discrimination between races happens every day and even though these actions aren’t classified as genocide they are still targeting people because of their beliefs or looks instead of who they are as an individual. Therefore, I too must agree with you that we need to remember the bloodshed experienced by the Armenians so that we can spread our knowledge of why genocide occurs and stop its vicious cycle before millions of people are “exterminated” by this discriminatory cancer.
DeleteBy the way, your first post far exceeds the quality of any post left by Chrisvan.
---Nick Palumbo
Nick, I agree!
DeleteI agree with Nicholas too.
DeleteSo, will all your comments be "I agree with..." and "I don't agree with..."? C'mon Chrisvan, you need to up your game!
DeleteYip the Great
I agree with Mr. Yip.
DeleteYip the Great
ReplyDeleteSeriously Chrisvan? Is that the entire comment? I agree?? I am disappointed. I'm certain Nick will have much better comment than "I agree."
Great post Hamzah!
Mr. Yip I am disappointed! I thought you knew me better than this! Clearly I was trying to act as though I had extremely poor responses to this blog in order for Nick to write a generic, less than spectacular response. In doing so, I would swoop in like a mighty hawk and pulverize the petty response that he published. But I guess you don’t know me as well as I thought. Anyways, here is my real response:
ReplyDeleteIt is constantly preached that, “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it,” (which is a very valid argument), however, one of the often overlooked reasons for remembering and acknowledging genocide is that we must do so to maintain our humanity. And not only our own humanity, but the victims of the genocide, the perpetrators, and those who were indifferent during the process. By forgetting those that died in the genocides, we are forgetting part of our human identity. We ourselves become indifferent to the people that died so innocently. The souls that perished from the Earth were dehumanized by the oppressors, who dehumanized themselves by trespassing on the basic rights of other human beings. Those who stood by and watched were just as responsible as those who committed the acts of tyranny. As humans, we have a moral duty to stand up for what is just. Failing to do so chips away at our humanity.
The only way to cure this “discriminatory cancer,” as Nicholas calls it, is through education. We must inform the world of the injustice and incivilities that have occurred and soon will occur. We must teach about how being human means showing compassion, kindness, understanding, and even forgiveness. We must admit the mistakes of our past, and correct them for our posterity. We must look to the future as the human race, not the cold, hard shell of what used to be humans. But before we can try and educate the masses, the leaders of our world must recognize these atrocities. If we move forward never truly accepting our past, we move on as humans without humanity. And at that point, are we truly humans anymore?
"In the face of 96 years of lies and denial, and yet another five years of indifference, it may seem the height of hubris to think that this small band of Armenians, who assemble once more in this corner of a vast cemetery, might somehow achieve that victory that eluded our parents and their parents before them. It might seem the height of absurdity to imagine that these people, who after nearly a century of battle, still have not won even the simplest diplomatic apology, might somehow act as a beacon to set right the horrors of a troubled world.
DeleteAnd yet, it is as Armenians that we think of a man long ago, a man weakened to the very cusp of death, who was mocked by a Roman soldier who said to him, "you who cannot save yourself, how will you save the world?"
So, yes, in the midst of despair, I can stand before you with a message of hope. With the help of great teachers of the past and present,...we will teach our children that yes, they are but a little light; and yes, the night is very long. But we will teach them as well that they are the legatees of a great miracle. And we will tell them of that miracle this way: That a light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
This was the concluding remark given by Peter Kougasian 2 years ago in Providence during the Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. It dovetails well with Chrisvan comment!
Mr. Yip
Chrisvan, Although I normally disagree with the majority of things you say I must admit that your solution of educating humans about the Armenian Genocide is the only way to ensure that human beings learn from their past mistakes. In reality, a failure to recognize such a tradegy brought upon humans by humans is a refusal to acknowledge how cruel humanity can be and if unchecked, this refusal will continue to allow genocide to expand to uncontrollable levels.
Delete---Nick Palumbo
Gilisa, I agree with you that just because the term "genocide" didnt exist until after the events took place, we should not forget about what happened to an entire group of defenseless people. In addition, if the world truly believes that ignorance to this terrible slaying of human beings is bliss then perhaps humantity is more doomed than we know...
ReplyDelete---Nick Palumbo
Recognition of genocide is a human right issue because putting a name to these horrible mass killings is the first step in stopping them in the future. Genocide at its basis ruins all life that is involved, it restricts potential for growth and for freedom for everyone. Genocide is an extreme act against civil rights. Knowing this, we must put a stop to it in order to save many lives and defend people's liberties. The first step in defeating any enemy is to fist know who your enemy is, which can be done by officially recognizing genocide.
ReplyDelete-Ian Borzain
I agree.
DeleteThroughout history humans have made mistakes or in this case, caused evil actions and this is why I believe that genocide is a human rights issue and should be recognized because we learn from it. Things that weren't meant to happen, happened but when such thing occurs we finally learn and that helps things such as genocide getting noticed and defined. Even though we didn't define genocide after the mass killings of the armenian people we as humans weren't all clueless of the action because there are people who noticed the evil and did all they could to recognize it. Though most people don't know how it felt to be the victims of genocide it seems as recognizing it will bring more people to see similar actions such as the armenian which should have been noticed as the first genocide.
ReplyDelete-Jesus Garcia
I agree.
DeleteI think we can all AGREE that chrisvan needs help
Delete---The entire class
Please do not talk about my omniscient, charming friend CHrisvan this way or else I will have to pretend arrest you with my pretend handcuffs and my pretend police personality.
Delete-Nicholas Palumbo
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on December 9, 1948 and defined genocide legally 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: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
ReplyDeleteRaphael Lemkin, who first coined the term genocide in 1948, claimed that he did so with the mass killing of the 1.5 million Armenians in mind. I believe that it is absolutely necessary to recognize genocide as a human rights issue, furthering the recognition of the Armenian genocide around the world today. Human rights are simply inalienable and inherent to all individuals; all human beings should be able to enjoy equality, the right to live, and freedom. Discrimination based upon race, sex, religion, ethnicity and color is a direct violation of human rights; therefor recognition of genocide, acts committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, is a human rights issue.
Denial that the Armenian genocide was in fact, not technically “genocide” due to the fact that the word was not coined until 1948, is extremely incongruous. Peter Kougasian stated in response to Mr. Yip’s inquiry about the need to recognize the Armenian Genocide that this was “just an example…of how the most intelligent, civilized people invoke pre-textually ‘neutral’ principles to reach an absurd result… somehow it always works to the disadvantage of recognition of the Armenian Genocide.”
Kougasian concludes his speech with this statement that I find to be particularly significant: “Our Genocide transformed a people so that they became committed to the proposition that all of God’s children deserve justice…it might seem the height of absurdity to imagine that these people, who after nearly a century of battle, still have not won even the simplest diplomatic apology, might somehow act as a beacon to set right the horrors of a troubled world.” It is our duty to recognize genocide as a human rights issue in order to help settle the Armenian people’s history, to achieve justice, to educate future generations on this forgotten genocide, to “mourn an unjust past” and finally “to imagine a just future”.
Kougasian, Peter. "2011 Genocide Educator of the Year Award." 2011. Rhode Island, Providence. 30 Apr. 2012. Speech.
UN General Assembly, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 9 December 1948, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 78, p. 277, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3ac0.html [accessed 30 April 2013]
- Jillian
The recognition of a genocide is a humans right issue. Genocide is a very touching issue for many people. There are those who believe the Armenian genocide should be recognized and those who believe it either didn't happen or is not necessary to be recognized. I believe there is nothing to gain from recognizing it. Throughout my life I've been told if we are not educated about events like this than history shall repeat itself. However,I do not find this to be true at all. If someone intends on doing something as cruel as genocide then educating them on it will not change their motive. A perfect example of this is Adolf Hitler. If he were to be educated on this he most likely still would have risen to power and did the things he did. There is nothing to gain with the United States recognizing the Armenian genocide. Those who died in it will still be dead and the Turks will not recognize it. Some may say we have a moral duty as human beings to stop genocides. However in doing this the United States becomes the worlds police, so at what point do we draw the line of what we interfere with and what we don't in other countries. Also, if you wish to stop all genocides around the world then you should be prepared for the destruction of your economy. Recognizing genocides simply is not our place and it is up for the people within the country to bring awareness about it.
ReplyDelete-Brehio
What happened to the Armenian people is a very clear and obvious reality. It happened. You know that, I know that, and most of all the Armenian people know this. The Armenian genocide was completely a human rights issue and of course was a terrible thing that happened, but due to political relations with Turkey it is better that we educate people that this happened, but we do not put our foreign relations at risk. The reason for this is that the Armenians get nothing out of this but some sort of satisfaction that it is recognized, which since they already know it happened, does it honestly do anything for them? Education about this is definitely something we need, and should be widely taught of in schools. It is a naive thought to think that we should say that it was a genocide, because in the modern day political relations rule over everything else, and putting that at risk is a huge issue. Morally, it is easy to say that we should say this was an official genocide, but realistically it is naive to believe in the good of the world and to not realize that foreign relations are a tremendous thing that the United States wants to keep, and does not want to, nor does need to, jeopardize.
ReplyDeleteNick D
I agree that the recognition Armenian genocide was a human rights issue because so many lives were lost that they deserve the recognition. When we learn from our past mistakes it can help to prevent us from making the same mistakes in the future. If we can recognize genocides that have happened in the past it could help to prevent them from happening in the future. The only way this can happen is by us recognizing the Armenian as a genocide.
ReplyDelete-Wyatt D.
I also agree that the recognition of the Armenian genocide is a human rights issue. Without proper classification of events similar to the Armenian genocide, people will twist words in order to not label it as a genocide. We need to accept that is was a genocide, pay respect to the victims and their families and move on and learn from it. There is no way to learn and prevent it if you are constantly denying that it happened. Failure to recognize its existence is failure to learn from it. Until we are able to actively recognize genocides we will not be able to prevent them.
ReplyDeleteZack Shepherd
I agree with all of they above, this is a human rights issure. But I dont think that recognizing this genoicde as a genocide is the only way to prevent it from happening again in the future. I think that it should be talked about in classes all acrosse the counrty. Open peoples minds so that our leaders of the future dont make the same mistakes and can see the warning signs. There could be very bad consequences if we were to announce this has a genocide.
ReplyDeleteTommy janicki
Recognizing genocide is a human rights issue because defining and giving a name to these heinous acts is the first step in preventing them from happening. If genocide was not a recognized term mass killings targeting a certain group of people could occur and it would not be recognized as anything more than an "ethnic cleansing." Furthermore the people who endure these horrible acts deserve to have the crimes against them recognized for what they actually are, a genocide. If they did not make this a humans right issue it would be a shame because not recognizing the term will lead to worse and worse crimes.
ReplyDelete-Sarah Kennedy
I also agree that the recognition of the Armenian genocide is a human rights issue. When we learn from our past mistakes it can help to prevent us from making the same mistakes in the future. When it comes to genocide it is very important to know about it so we can stop it and learn from it in future endevors. We have a moral duty as human beings to stop genocides that happen around the world.
ReplyDelete