Tag: genocide

Say “Never again” to genocide

Posted on by kathiemm

Today, April 8, is Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Nazi concentration camps map
Image in public domain.

Although the United Nations General Assembly chose January 27 as annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the United States Congress established its own National Days of Remembrance, which are observed this year from April 7 to 14.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has declared this year’s theme to be “Never Again: Heeding the Warning Signs.”

Please take at least a few minutes today to honor the victims and survivors of the Nazi genocide by watching the videos linked in this post. They are compelling reminders of what the U.S. and the other democracies did as the Nazis began their attack on Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and other convenient scapegoats—that is, virtually nothing.

Occasionally students wend their way into my Psychology of War and Peace class declaring that the U.S. entered World War II to rescue the Jews—waving flags emblazoned with an appalling level of misinformation. “Never again” will not be achieved by Americans invested in the mythology that their government has always been the crusader for democracy, humanity, and…liberty and justice for all.

The films are also powerful reminders that genocides, a scourge on human society for centuries, continue to plague the earth. If we want to say “never again” to genocide, to what other factors do we have to say “never again”? Racism? Poverty? Revenge? Humiliation? Send us your suggestions.

Whatever our religion, ethnicity, or skin color, we can all do more to resist the forces that push us to hate, dehumanize, blame, and scapegoat others who are identified by people in power as our enemies.

We are all related. We are all one family.

Time for Cain to stop killing Abel.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

African models for nonviolent resolution

Posted on by kathiemm

Third in a series by guest author Mbaezue Emmanuel Chukwuemeka

Indigenous African dispute resolution mechanisms, introduced in my previous post, include efforts to utilize elders in resolving disputes peacefully. In Rwanda, where the Gacaca system predominated in efforts to resolve issues relating to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, the traditional role of elders known as Iyangamugayo was emphasized.

The Iyangamugayo were men possessing great wisdom, altruism, and political and economic influence. They encouraged dialogue rather than violence among disputants. The Gacaca system, which was the only justice system in Rwanda before the days of colonialism, ensured distributive justice in society, without necessarily employing the use of violence.

Somalia, regarded by many today as one of the most dangerous places on earth, once employed a system known as Xeer Somaali for nonviolent means for resolving disputes.

Using customary laws, the Somalis, like the Rwandans, had elders (the Guurti or Ergada) who presided over the peaceful resolution of disputes among clans. This system worked particularly well during the days of the Islamic Council Union (ICU), where the role of clan elders was combined with Islamic principles to achieve stability and peace. The system eventually crumbled when Ethiopian forces overthrew the Islamic Council Union (ICU). However, some individuals still believe that the days of the ICU were the most peaceful ones Somalia has ever witnessed.

From all indications, Africa’s role models or programs for the non-violent resolution of disputes remain her precolonial indigenous dispute resolution mechanisms. I am not saying that all African cultural practices before the coming of Western civilization were good. There were some terrible cultural practices like the killing of twins, human sacrifices, and female circumcision.

The role of modernization

Nevertheless, I do suggest that using violence to resolve disputes and pursue goals in Africa actually started with “modernization.” It was “modernization” that first saw the exchange of slaves for gunpowder in colonial Africa. It was “modernization” that made possible the first-ever introduction of Africans to the weapons of the modern-day battlefield including weapons of mass destruction (Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

It was also modernization, under the guise of today’s capitalism, that overthrew the African socialist system that guaranteed the equitable distribution of resources, introducing instead a system that thrives on the exploitation of one class by another, a situation that ultimately leads to a violent confrontation.

Mbaezue Emmanuel Chukwuemeka has a Master of Science in Conflict Management and Peace Studies from University of Jos, Jos, Plateau State. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators, and works as a paralegal counsel at the Legal Aid Council for the Federal Ministry of Justice in Nigeria.

Women in a culture of violence

Posted on by kathiemm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp1-ncU2ilY

The roots of the current U.S. culture of violence extend back to the unprecedented violence unleashed on this continent by European settlers in the 17th century. With the impunity that came with access to guns, belief in a God who favored them over others, and readily available justifications for violence, the settlers undertook a genocide of the native peoples.

The heavy hand of this culture of violence has always descended more heavily on some victims than others—not just on the native peoples but always on whoever the more recent immigrants are, on people of color, on non-Christians, and on women and children.

Consider the following facts about violence against women from the “National intimate partner and sexual violence survey (2011): data on abuse by intimate partner”:

  • 32.9% of women reported physical violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime
  • 24.3% of women reported severe physical violence in their lifetime
  • 4% reported physical violence from an intimate partner within the past year
  • 40.3% reported psychological aggression
  • 10.4% reported psychological aggression in the past year

Growing up in a culture of violence, with its constant images of and justifications for violence and inhumanity, affects everyone. Children growing up in such a culture and women surviving in such a culture may respond to their experiences in ways that prolong their misery and make it easy for the more privileged segments of society to abuse them further.

Consider these facts about women in prison:

  • Over 90% have experienced violence in their lives
  • 33% report childhood sexual abuse
  • More than 50% of the abused women report rape or attempted rape

Efforts to stop violence against women, which now extend worldwide, will be considered in later posts, but for now join us in this inspiring anthem from One Billion Rising.

Join your voice with proponents of an end to violence against women, which in turn would strengthen the resistance to violence against children and other living things.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Prosecuting the perpetrators (The Khmer Rouge genocide, Part 3)

Posted on by kathiemm

[This is the third of four posts by Dr. Leakhena Nou on the legacy of the Khmer Rouge genocide.]

In the 21st century, efforts have been made to promote restorative justice and end the culture of impunity in Cambodia. For example, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, a hybrid court drawing on U.N. and Cambodian legal teams, began prosecuting senior Khmer Rouge perpetrators in February 2009.

Killing Fields bones
Killing Fields bones of children in Cambodia. Photo by Oliver Spalt used under CC Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

In Case 001,  Kaing Guek Eav (alias Duch, former S-21 Chief Commandant), was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity (murder, enslavement, torture, and other inhumane acts). When Duch appealed the verdict,  the ECCC responded by handing down a sentence of life imprisonment without parole or further appeals.

Duch’s formal apology was disseminated to the public:

“May I be permitted to apologize to the survivors of the [Khmer Rouge] regime and also the loved ones of those who died brutally during the regime […] I know that the crimes I committed against the lives of those people, including women and children, are intolerably and unforgivably serious crimes. My plea is that you leave the door open for me to seek forgiveness.”

In your view, how should Cambodians and others respond to such an apology after a genocide?

Case 002 brings to trial four other senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge including Ieng Sary (former Minister of Foreign Affairs), and his wife Ieng Thirith (former Minister of Social Affairs).

Despite current legal initiatives to end the culture of impunity and deter violence, Cambodia remains plagued by chronic, multifaceted, and evolving social problems. These include

  • Human and sex trafficking and other related human rights abuses
  • High rates of unemployment, poverty, diseases, and domestic violence
  • Widening inequalities among social groups, and
  • Lack of access to adequate education, health, and social services.

 

These shortcomings highlight and reinforce many of the social, economic, political, and structural problems and conditions that ignited the Khmer Rouge violence nearly forty years ago.

Leakhena Nou, Associate Professor of sociology at California State University at Long Beach and executive director of the Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia