“She was the sweetest of little things,” said Frau Kellermann. “Full of fun. She used to come and play with my Gisela sometimes. She was a pretty girl. Dark eyes and sleek brown hair, almost black.  She used to stare at you sometimes as if she could read your soul. You know the wisdom that little ones seem to have. As if they’ve come straight from the angels.”

“But the doll, Frau Kellermann, tell me about the doll,” said the reporter.

“My husband gave it to her,” said Frau Kellermann. “It used to be his mother’s and her mother’s before her, I think. Carved out of ivory.”

“Do you have it?” said the reporter.

“No, the Police are holding on to it,” said Frau Kellermann. “They’re keeping it as evidence. They say we can have it back after the trial.”

“Didn’t your own daughter mind that her father gave her grandmother’s doll to someone who was not a member of the family?”

“Not at all,” said Frau Kellermann. “Our Gisela is a generous girl. She had plenty of toys. She knew that the Goldbergs didn’t have much money and the family didn’t have too much time for little Emi.”

“Why was that Frau Kellermann?”

“Well, for a start, Emi had six brothers. I don’t think her parents knew how to deal with a girl. Then, of course, they were also busy working. It wasn’t easy for any of them by then, not even here.”

“Not even here?” said the reporter.

“There have always been people like the Goldbergs living here,” said Frau Kellerman. She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

“People like the Goldbergs?” said the reporter.

“Yes. You know exactly what I mean,” said Frau Kellermann.

“So you still associated with the Goldbergs? Even when the new laws came in?”

“Why wouldn’t we?” said Frau Kellermann. “They were ordinary people as far as we were concerned. I used to invite Frau Goldberg in for coffee sometimes. The poor woman was run off her feet looking after six men. Yes, the boys were big and hefty, even Eli, the youngest. He was just eleven. She was so thin. Any energy she got from what she did eat went straight into looking after her family. The only bit she got for herself was if I found a scrap of cake to go with our coffee.”

“Didn’t it worry you that you might be found out? Wasn’t it dangerous, associating with the state enemy?”

“Like I said, the Goldbergs were just people in our eyes. And anyway, who was going to tell? There were more of them than of us. That is, more of them were taken away that night than were left here afterwards.”

“So how old was Emi the last time you saw her?” said the reporter. “As a young girl, I mean.”

“She was just seven the night they came for them,” said Frau Kellermann.  

“So, what was it like, the night the Goldbergs were taken away? What happened?”

“It was a warm night,” said Frau Kellermann. “Everyone had their doors and windows open. There was a full moon too. There was a lot of light.”

“So it was easy to see exactly what was happening?”

Frau Kellermann nodded. “Many people were outside already,” she said.

“Did you get any warning anything was going to happen?”

Frau Kellermann shook her head. “Not really.  They arrived so suddenly. One minute everyone was just going about their normal business. The next minute the trucks were here and those brutal men in their grey uniforms. They had dogs as well. It all happened so quickly in the end. Ten minutes I think was all it took. From the moment they arrived until they had gone with all of the families.”

“Do you think someone might have given them away?”

Frau Kellermann laughed. “Of course not. They were our friends. All of them. Not just the Goldbergs. In a small place like this everybody knows each other and everybody looks after each other. The authorities knew exactly who lived here anyway. They knew exactly who they were looking for.”

“So, if you all look after each other,” said the reporter, “why didn’t you try to help them? The Goldbergs? Or the others?”

“How could we?” said Frau Kellermann. “The men had guns.”

“Were you afraid of them?”

“Of course we were. We were frozen to the spot.”

“Tell me what it was really like,” said the reporter.

Frau Goldberg sighed. She picked up the packet of cigarettes that was lying on the table and offered one to the reporter. He shook his head. She took out a cigarette, lit it and took a deep drag. She exhaled the smoke and tapped a little of the ash into the ashtray. “We were sitting out at the front of the house,” she said. “Gisela and Emi were playing together. Most of the other families were also outside. Then we heard the trucks arrive. It was all very sudden. The men in uniform started yelling “Scum, out!” And they started pushing people on to the trucks. Their nasty dogs were snarling at them and nipping at their ankles. There were just one or two doors that were shut. The officers hammered on those and if they weren’t opened straight away, they broke them down. In most cases the doors had been shut because nobody was home. So, they’d broken the doors for nothing. One of them kept firing his gun in the air. I’ve never heard a gun so close before. It was terrifying.” 

“What was it like, watching the Goldbergs being taken way?”

“Awful.  The worst moment in my life. They were my friends and they looked so helpless. Herr Goldberg was a strong man and so were the boys. But they looked hopeless. I thought Frau Goldberg was going to faint.”

“And you really couldn’t do anything?”

“No, it all happened much too quickly. And there were the guns and the dogs. And of course, you know how it was. But there was Emi of course.”

“Emi. Yes.  Tell me all about Emi.”  

“My husband gathered her and Gisela up and ran into the house with them. He was acting as if both girls were our daughters and he didn’t want them to see that horrible scene. Which father would?”

“Wouldn’t they have known there was a child missing?”

“Even if they did, they didn’t stop to find her. Not then at least. She wasn’t the only one to get away. They came back for the others the next day. I think they were afraid they might lose the ones they did have. They knew everybody was scared and that we wouldn’t help or hide any of the people they were after.”

“But you say your husband did help Emi?”

“Yes, he did. He took her out into to back garden and helped her over the wall and told her to run into the forest. He told her he would come and find her once the men had gone. We’re lucky that our house backs on to the forest.”

“Didn’t they see her run into the house?”

“Yes, they did. And seconds later they came looking for her.”

“What did you say?”

“I didn’t say anything. I was still more or less frozen. My husband said she’d jumped over the garden wall back into the Goldbergs’ house.”

“Did they go and look?”

“Oh yes. They ruined another good door in the process. And they took some of the Goldberg’s possessions. I saw them stuffing some of Frau Goldberg’s nice china into the cab of one of the trucks.”  

“And was the child very scared?”

Frau Kellermann took another long drag on her cigarette. “Oddly, I don’t think she was,” she said. “She seemed very calm and seemed to understand exactly what Wilhelm – that’s my husband – was telling her. She just stared at us with those angel eyes again. She clung on to that doll though.

“No, if anything Gisela was more frightened. She was jumpy for days afterwards. The slightest sound and she would cling to my legs like a toddler and bury her head in my lap.”

“And did your husband go and look for Emi like he promised?”

Frau Kellermann nodded. She stubbed out her cigarette. “Do you mind if we have a little break now?” she said. “The next part of the story is very painful. I could make us some coffee.”

The reporter put down his pad and pencil. “That would be splendid,” he said. “Could I look at the garden wall while we’re waiting?”

“That’s where he lowered her over the wall,” said Frau Kellermann.

“It was quite a long way for her to jump,” said the reporter.

“She was a brave little soul,” said Frau Kellermann.

“And this wall between the two houses has always been this low?”

“Oh, yes. The girls were jumping over it all the time.”

“And you have new neighbours now?”

“Yes. Really only for the last few weeks.  They seem nice enough and they’ve done a lot of repairs already. We tried to keep the house in trim. We always hoped the Goldbergs might come back. Then of course, we found out they wouldn’t. But if a house isn’t lived in it still rots. Seven years it was empty. What a waste!”    

“And so you say your husband did go and look for her?” said the reporter, taking a sip of his coffee.

“Yes, that night, as soon as the trucks had gone. And then the next day at first light. Several more times that day. Then we heard that they’d gone back and rounded up all of the ones who had escaped into the forest. We actually heard them shooting them. We didn’t know then that the Goldbergs had never registered her birth.”

“But you gave up looking for her when you heard that all of the escapees had been shot?”

Frau Kellermann shook her head. “We never really gave up. We hoped for a while that we might find her despite what they’d said. And then even when we believed that she had been shot we still looked for traces of her in the forest. But there was nothing. Nothing at all.”  

“So, let’s fast forward now and talk about the Wild Woman. When did you first hear about her?”

Frau Kellermann laughed. “Years ago,” she said. “When I was younger than Emi was when she left us. There have always been stories about the Wild Woman living in the forest. Of course, when I got older I realised that it was just a story our mother told us to stop us straying too far. The forest is so untamed and dense round here you could get lost for days. As is perfectly clear now.  In fact it’s clear you can get lost for years.”

“I’m talking about the young woman they found last week. They call her the Wild Woman, don’t they? Why do they call her that?”

“Because she looks scruffy, so uncared for. Because she ran like a wild animal when they tried to help her. And because she won’t speak.”

“Have you seen her?”

“Only briefly. We all went out to watch when they took her from the Police station to the hospital.”

“Do you think she’s a wild woman? Do you think she’s lived all of her life in the forest like they’re saying?”

Frau Kellermann finished her coffee. She offered the reporter more. He nodded. She poured them both another cup. Then she picked up the cigarette packet again and offered him one. He shook his head. She lit the cigarette and took a long drag. “I know she’s not a woman,” she said. “She’s barely more than a girl. The same age as my Gisela. And look at the state of her. Compared with my daughter who as we speak is sitting comfortably in a classroom studying for her Abitur.”

“So why are they calling her the wild woman if she’s just a young girl? Did you tell them that? Don’t they believe you?”

“Wild yes,” said Frau Kellermann. “Woman no. She’s a girl. The forest is rich. It would be possible to live there for seven years. You can forage. There are animals to kill.”

“What about clothes, though? The woman was fully clothed, they say.”

“Animal skins. She was wearing animal skins. Everybody could see that.”

“Why are you so absolutely convinced that she is in fact Emi Goldberg?”

“Because she was carrying the doll.”

“Couldn’t she just have found it in the forest where Emi had dropped it?”

“Emi wouldn’t have dropped it. If she needed both hands free, she’d have hidden it somewhere safe. She really loved that doll. Besides, there was something about the way she was carrying it. Holding it to her like you would a baby. Dear God, I hope when that baby’s born she’ll know to love it and hold it like that. Goodness knows she’s had enough practice with the doll.”

“Are you absolutely sure it’s the same doll that your husband gave to Emi?”

“Yes. Without a doubt. They let me look at it. It had a chip on the back of its head. I remember our Leo – Gisela’s older brother – banging it on the fender when the three of them got into a fight over something really silly.”

“But this wild woman – girl even – won’t speak. Surely Emi would talk?”

“Well yes, she used to be a right little chatterbox. But think about it. She had to watch her family being taken away. Then she heard some of her friends being shot. On top of all of that, she’s been on her own for seven years. And then the way they found her last week. Would you want to talk after all of that?”

The reporter shrugged and shook his head. “So perhaps we can wrap it all up with a statement,” he said. “Something that’ll give a nice neat ending to the story.”

“It’s a tragedy,” said Frau Kellermann. “We should have looked after her better. We are all guilty, not just that poor young man facing the judge and jury now.”

Hilde Kellermann took a final drag of her cigarette and stubbed it out on the low wall that surrounded the entrance to the hospital. She took a deep breath and walked in.

There had been hardly any case to answer in the end. The young man they’d found lying on top of the girl was a simpleton and probably didn’t even understand what he was doing. She hadn’t been resisting at the time. So it technically couldn’t be rape. He’d been sent to an asylum for the criminally insane more for his own sake than for any other reason. It was yet to be proved that she was Emi Goldberg but at least they believed Hilde now. There was the question of her being underage if Hilde was right. And it clearly hadn’t been the girl’s first time –  the rounded belly proved that. But had it been rape then? And had it been the same lover?

“We can’t promise anything,” they’d told her when she’d asked about the possibility of adopting the young girl. “But yes, she could do with some friends right now. Do visit her if you have time. Try not to get too attached, though. And don’t let her get too dependent on you. Just in case.”

Hidle gently pushed open the door to the side ward.  The girl was lying on her side. She turned to face Hilde. Hilde gasped. She looked so much like a younger version of her former neighbour. Hilde smiled. The girl just stared blankly at her.

Hilde reached into her bag and pulled out the doll. She held it up to show the girl. The girl’s face lit up and she stretched out her arm. Hilde gave her the doll. A faint smile appeared on the girl’s lips. Her dark brown eyes looked into Hilde’s.

Angel eyes.

Unmistakably Emi.

Hilde leant forward and stroked the girl’s hair.

“I am so sorry, Emi,” she said. “We should have looked after you better. We’ll make it good now. I promise.”

Emi pulled the ivory doll closer.                   

            After World War II the world recognized what had happened to the Jewish people in the Holocaust was terrible and should never happen again. Now in the 21 century what is America doing to help prevent genocide in other countries, nothing. This is where we, as a nation need to stand up and fulfill a broken promise we made in trying to end all genocides.

            Some would say we need to stay out of countries that aren’t our own and that it isn’t our problem if it isn’t happening to us. This is where most people would like to stand and believe genocide doesn’t happen and isn’t happening. Have we lost humanity in the world? And on the other hand some people say it does happen and we did and will help. But take for example the Armenian genocide, the American ambassador, Henry Morgenthau, send numerous reports on the killing and even tried to raise funds only to never get a response and had to come back to America and read about mass killings.

            The US government sits back and likes to dispute genocides as just Civil wars. Like in Cambodia where after the Khmer Rouge’s victory our government said it was over and muted. So when they turned there back Cambodia, it fell into a dark genocide with no help from the US or any other country.

            As much as people would like to say we need to stay out of countries or that it isn’t a genocide and its just a war, we cant. We need to be aware that turning our backs away from countries just allows them to preside the killings and plunge into genocide.

            When we turn our backs and make believe that this isn’t happening, we turn our back on innocent lives. Wouldn’t it be different if it were your brother being killed? Your father? Your Mother?

            Now, I’m not saying that we should make the government send in military force and kill all the perpetrators, what would good would that do us? We need to use our voices, we need to get the word out that this is still happening all around the world and we can do something to stop it. We need to stop living in our sheltered peaceful lives. Doesn’t mean we need to move down and have peace talks to the killers, it just means we need to speak up as one and get our government involved and send in supplies and resources they need. If we all spoke up we can get other countries attentions and send in the U.N to set up camps for these people with proper attention and equipment.

            You may think you don’t have a voice, you can make the difference, you can push your friends and family into speaking up and they bring in more people to help a cause, a cause that could save millions of lives. If we get the attention of the world we can help people realize how wrong genocide is and we could be on the road to stopping it all together in the future.

            Hitler’s goal was to kill of all those who did not fit the requirements for his master race. This was part of the Nazi philosophy of eugenics. He believed the ideal human was blonde, blue eyed, and of no physical or mental defects. He shipped Jews, Blacks, Gypsies, Muslims, Christians, Gays, and the disabled off to his death camps, majorly, Auschwitz, and Dachau. However the Jews were the main target of Nazi aggression. After World War I, the usage of the Jewish people as a scapegoat for the German depression became popular with the German people, which was exploited by Hitler in his rise to power. The prisoners where given little food and forced to work in the factories or in some cases deranged medical experiments. However the starving is an icon reflecting the pain of the victims. “Bread, soup – these were my whole life. I was a body. Perhaps less than that even: a starved stomach. The stomach alone was aware of the passage of time.” (Elie Wiesel, Night). The most feared element of the death camps, other than the gas chamber, was the furnaces. Elie Wiesel writes: “I told him that I did not believe that they could burn people in our age, that humanity would never tolerate it . . . “. The cruelty stemmed from Hitler’s hatred based on discrimination, as does all genocide.

The discrimination against certain ethnic minorities, as seen in the Holocaust, is also the main cause of other genocides. In the Rwandan genocide of 1994 the Tutsi monarchy was overthrown by the oppressed Hutu people. The Hutus saw the Tutsis as the source of many of their hardships and responded by systematically killing the Tutsi people. The scapegoating of a race or people of a certain cultural background is very similar to what the Nazis did in Germany.

            For genocide to occur there needs to be three elements cohesively established. The first is the perpetrator. This is the commander, dictator, president, or whoever is in charge of the forces used in the systematic killings characteristic of genocide. The second is the victim. This is the group of people targeted for extermination, and is usually not equipped to resist the aggressor. “What exactly was the difference? He wondered to himself. And who decided which people wore the striped pajamas and which people wore the uniforms?”  (John Boyne). “The victims are of a certain class, ethnicity, or disposition, which at one point lived as neighbors of the perpetrators.” The last and most important element is the bystander. The bystander offers no aid to the victim, and no retaliation against the aggressor. Yehuda Bauer writes: “Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.” There are many excuses for being a bystander: fear that the perpetrator will shift to the bystander if the bystander acts; complacency with the situation; and profitability in the case of arms dealers or regimes looking to destabilize a country. In the case of the Holocaust in Germany many of the Polish and German civilians acted as the bystander. They refused to shelter the Jews from the Nazi death squads out of fear of reprisal or in some cases were paid by the Nazis to hand over Jewish refugees.  

            The root of genocide, and The Holocaust, is bigotry. To prevent further genocides, the hate needs to be extinguished. People need to be educated on how the act of discriminating against another human being is counter productive to the advancement of man. People need to be educated in a manner that accepts all cultures and recognizes their equality. Racial combatants need to be treated as a threat. “Monsters exist, but they are too few in numbers to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are…the functionaries ready to believe and act without asking questions.” (Primo Levi) Most of all, the events of the Holocaust need to be taught and reflected on. Some people belittle the importance of the Holocaust while others deny it ever occurred. This is due to widespread ignorance and anti-Semitism. Iris Chang writes: “As the Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel warned years ago, to forget a holocaust is to kill twice.” It is important that generation after generation learn of the past tragedies as an example of what can occur without unity.

            In conclusion, the Holocaust will never end if the impact of the event is denied or goes unrecognized; it may find another perpetrator, another victim, and another bystander. The trail of destruction has affected millions. It is important to teach the history to ensure it is not repeated. It is equally important to remember the factors needed to initiate genocide: a perpetrator, a victim, and a bystander. Without one, genocide can not occur. All it takes to prevent such terrible events is the memory of what took place, and the spread of that memory.

Indians were a “problem”

American white settlers who lived near the western borders, as they were called in those days within early American federation, had mostly negative reactions and feelings to the locals that increasingly interacted.

Whites did not hide contempt at all brave Native Americans, while also feared them. 
For them, these true owners of the lands inherited from generations of ancestors were more than some unfamiliar faces at the wrong time and place, weird strangers with reddish skin and feathers in hair, occupying land that white settlers not only coveted him, but believed that they deserve.

Neither the U.S. then not thinking differently at Indians. 
Himself nation’s father, President George Washington, believed that the best solution for the “Indian problem” consists simply in “civilizing” force of these innocents. What was “forced civilizing” the concept is not hard to guess whites: cultural destruction, social leveling, settling, major restrictions, discrimination and, above all, stealing their land.

One of the main goals of these so-called “civilization campaign” consisted of an exact model of the natives on the block office of American white Protestant, by converting to Christianity, learning English and adopting concepts and habits of European origin, such as property individual seasonal nomads and even stop the slave trade. 
Some communities and tribes in south-eastern United States have adopted these ideas partly imposed by Washington. Consequently, whites and the Indians were graduated Chochtaw tribes, Chikasaw, Seminoli, Creek and Cherokee with the title of “The Five civilized nation”.

Clearly, Washington was not satisfied with the social and cultural assimilation of these tribes. Their lands were increasingly tempting for the invader white land hunger. 
territories held by the five nations were the places where today there Member Georgia, Tennessee, Albama, North Carolina and Florida, and were very valuable, having a high potential agriculture. Many of the settlers were interested only in cotton growing and cattle breeding. They did not care how “civilized” or “Christians” were Native Americans, all they wanted was their land and were not given the stop at nothing to obtain it. Native sedentary settlements burned, shot or robbed them and killed animals and those who were opposed.

Obviously, the governments in Washington have supported the colonists in their efforts of the natives to drive out west and south. Some U.S. states have issued a series of laws under which arrogates the right to confiscate Indian territory and sovereignty severely limit the rights of natives. Although the Indians sued in those states and processes famous Cherokee Nation v. Georgia in 1831, and the Washington Supreme Court ruled that Indians were sovereign nations “to which state law Georgia and other states have no power” looting and abuses have continued unabated. 
President Andrew Jackson proud note in 1832 that “the southern states are determined to conquer the Indian territory and will do anything to secure their borders.” Elimination

Andrew Jackson, then president of the American Union, was one of the strongest supporters of American Indian banishment and confiscation of their land. 
As he was an army corps general, Andrew Jackson fought for years in violent campaigns against tribes Creek in Georgia and Alabama and Seminole of Florida. His campaigns resulted in the transfer of thousands of hectares of land owned by natives in the white farmers.

Q n the role of president, Jackson continued to campaign the same zeal. In 1830 rushed to sign the unambiguously titled “Indian Removal”, which empowered both local authorities and settlers who had such a free hand to acquire Indian lands.

The federal law prohibiting that time however the President or other state authorities to force the Indians to leave their territories where they lived, hunted and practiced rudimentary agriculture.However, both President Jackson and government officials deliberately ignored the letter of the law and have oppressed the Indians by every means imaginable, so that they get to take the world head to own …

In the winter of 1831, tribes were first chased Chocktaw on earth, and their deportation deportations served as a model for other tribes. Native American tribes followed Seminole, who were deported in 1832, two years later ethnic Creek suffered the same fate, because Indians Chicksaw be deprived, in turn, once in 1837. Cherokee warriors were driven to the sad year 1838. All these innocents have started a long march to exterminate the famous “Indian Territory”, a land of barren land, barren and inhospitable, appointed by U.S. authorities as a surrogate home for these disinherited of fate. Only a small proportion of the populations mentioned managed to hide and escape evacuation campaign.Their descendants are found today in small communities scattered throughout the states Mississippi, Florida, Alabama and North Carolina. Expulsion continued until the end of 1840.

Result was a grim: tens of thousands of Indians perished or were driven out and the white settlers just înhăţaseră virgin territory with a total area of approximately 100,000 square kilometers! 

Suffering and Memory

The banishment of the natives continued unhindered until Washington found that the number of natives had sufficiently low so that they do not represent a major threat if wished to rebel.

Unfortunate, herded like cattle to lands designated by the authorities, have gone through unimaginable torment. No wonder some American historians consider the episode as the most painful road Tears sad page in the history of genocide that have been subjected to North American Indians.

Thousands of natives, some chained, marched on foot, cold or heat, without water and food. Assault suffered hunger, of thirst, disease and exposure to the elements. Many have died. For example, of the 15,000 Cherokee Indians, about 4,000 have not reached the destination of Oklahoma State today. Road killed … Tears 
came quickly new land administration authorities and thousands of settlers were given land so free.

In 1838, only 2,000 ethnic Cherokee live in their territory now included within the borders of Georgia State. Washington has found that there were too many. Consequently President Martin Van Buren sent expeditionary corps of 7,000 federal troops led by General Winfield Scott, to chase the Indians rebelled. Under threat of bayonets, soldiers brave Uncle Sam robbed the natives of the few goods Cherokee and money acquired it.

Then they lined and forced them to march 2,000 miles to the place designated by the authorities.Typhus, virosis, dysentery, cholera and famine have killed a lot of Native Americans. 
even those who have reached the so-called Indian Territory have fared better. The federal government promised that the new territories will live in peace, undisturbed by anyone. 
Obviously, it was not. 
As settlers continued exploration of the West, Indian Territory decreased continuously, so that when Oklahoma State was proclaimed in 1907 , land of the Indians surrogate gone for good.

Sad moment in history was commemorated in 1987, when federal authorities have authorized the opening of a road historic memorial, with a total length of 3500 km.
Entitled “Trail of Tears National Historic Trail”, this unique historic portions of nine states across the U.S. and serves today as a place of meditation of Native Americans.

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This research report is based on the hostile attitudes embedded upon Africans leading to inter-tribal conflicts that occur from time to time, for which the seeds were sown by European colonialism. Since, this is such a broad topic, the discussion will be narrowed down to one brutal and devastating conflict in modern history, which is the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

Unlike other countries, Africa is viewed as a “tribal” country. According to Mafeje (1971, pg 253), when European rulers invaded Africa, they “reconstructed the African reality”, and due to some racial norms, they regarded the Africans as tribal. When Europeans first laid the rudiments of racial discrimination into the African society, it marked the beginning of inter-tribal conflicts in Africa. Countries such as Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, and Spain infested almost all of Africa, leaving Ethiopia and Liberia independent (Africa 1999). In 1885, Germany was allotted Rwanda, following the World War 1 Belgium took over (Olojede 2004).  One of the smallest countries in Central Africa is Rwanda, which is mainly occupied by two ethnic groups known as Hutu and Tutsi, where Hutu were the majority, and Tutsi were the minority. They spoke the same language, and shared the same cultural beliefs. Their origins are traced to a common group known as the Badyarwanda, (Hutu and Tutsi 1994). The Hutu were mostly agriculturalists and the Tutsi were cattle breeders.

In the year 1994, an outrageous mass murdering took place in Rwanda, which was the outburst of suppressed feelings of hatred. The roots of the genocide lies in the winding events of the Rwandan history since the colonial era, where the formation of two groups known as the ‘Young Turk movement of the Tutsi Rwandans in exile and a clan-based Hutu oligarchy that controlled the Rwandan estate under President Juvenal Habyarimana’ (Jones 2001, pg 15) where the Hutu went to the extent of perishing hundreds and thousands of Tutsi, yet did not stop there but killed many of their own people who sympathized with the other ethnic group. A survivor of the genocide movement, Jean Baptiste Kayigamba narrated his feelings (2006) and he claimed that “we experienced haunted mornings and our fears continued throughout the days and sleepless nights”. The Hutu weeded out every Tutsi they could lay their hands on, sparing only those people who had the sense to flee the country. A Hutu wife had to kill a Tutsi husband, and vice versa, the theory behind this being “kill or be killed” (Melson 2000). A fact noticed to elaborate on the severity of abhorrence is, “[Rwanda had] a population of 7.5 million before the genocide and 6.5 million after it”, (Taylor 1999).

Since Rwanda got their independence from Belgium in 1962, the Hutu majority seized power from the minority group and oppressed them through violent conducts of discrimination. To quote Smith (1998, pg 743), “…Tutsi and Hutu kill each other when they can; their hatred is ancient, violent, equivalent, and incorrigible. And this notion in turn, implies a kind of collective guilt, a tear in the fabric of Rwandan character”. Many Tutsi could not tolerate such acts and fled the country before they became victims of callous treatment.  As mentioned by Lang (2002) the actual conflict started when an airplane carrying the Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, the president of Burundi, ‘and many of their top-advisors [who were] shot down by a surface-to-air missile over Kigali Airport’, although the culprit of this incident remains a mystery, but the Rwandan Patriotic Front which were led by Tutsi became the scapegoat for this bombing. This bombing initiated the Rwandan genocide, in which many puissant nations could not voice their opinion upon. Once the peacekeeping nations’ soldiers were tortured and murdered, they began to retreat their personnel from the places, but did not make any effort to evacuate the Tutsi, abandoning them to a cruel destiny.

The above mentioned tragic incident was the result of the maturation of the seeds sown by European Colonial rule. It is only an example of one incident, but Europeans have contributed for many other devastating inter-tribal conflicts in Africa. For example, the Cold War of Africa in July 1960, where the Premium Patrice Lumumba of the Congo (Africa 1999) claimed that the “Belgians were aiding the rebel [of] Katangans” – who are the natives of the mineral-rich province of Zaire.

The Europeans believed that it is a moral responsibility to establish colonies in that continent, and to promote the benefits of their culture to their “inferior brothers”. They failed to understand that they were supposed to help the people with practical benefits such as providing sufficient food, clothing, and shelter, and not impose their beliefs upon the natives. As Taylor (1999) aptly justified that “anthropological approaches to nationalism, ethnicity, and violence are all important in understanding the Rwandan genocide 1994. Yet these aspects clamour so much for attention that they obscure other dimensions such as regionalism, class, and gender”.

Such interventions from the Europeans disturbed the natural lifestyle of the natives. The Germans marched into Rwanda and started their domination disregarding the aborigines’ baffled frame of mind. “In 1885, the Berlin Conference had “awarded” Rwanda to Germany without consulting or even informing the Rwandans; In 1918 Rwanda and its neighbor Burundi were awarded to Belgium as a mandate under the League of Nations and later the United Nations” (Robinson 2003) and divided the peaceful, united community into three castes: Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa (who make up one percent of the population). The Hutu were the original Rwandans, the Tutsi formed a new kingdom as “mobility and migration were permanent features, as old as settlement itself”, (Scherrer 2002, pg17). The reason for this division is the fact that the Belgians considered that though both groups were African, the Tutsi bore a greater resemblance of the Europeans because at that time they defined “Tutsi as anyone with more than ten cows, or a long nose, while a Hutu meant someone with fewer than ten cows and a blunt nose”, (Wikipedia n.d) and the facial features were considered more European than African, “in fact they couldn’t believe that the Tutsi were part of the African race at all”, (Wikipedia n.d). The Europeans were also in short of human resource to manage their colonies in Africa, (Melson 2000) and since, the Tutsi were immigrants, the Europeans assumed that their outlooks would coincide, hence it was decided that Tutsi should take control since they were the minority, being easier to manage they should possess the superior authority. Unfortunately for the Belgians, their expectations backfired. The Tutsi were dissatisfied with their position because ultimately Belgians had the overall control of the woebegone country, and so in the mid 1900s, “movements of national liberation from colonialism took hold in Africa as they had elsewhere, the Tutsi began to agitate against Belgian authority”, (Robinson 2003). The Hutu were seething as they were ruled by a minor ethnic group, so in order to retain position, the Europeans started supporting towards the Hutu and provoked them to abduct the power from the latter group. This provocation intensified and led to the Rwandan genocide.

Racial distinctions were common in Europe in the 19th century, and they enforced their laws over the countries they colonized. Clearly, they were not aware of the repercussions of their imposed laws and beliefs upon an entirely different community, as such detrimental effects would not have occurred, which complicates the lives of the natives and producing an image of superior and inferior class between people condemning them to a nemesis of living death.

[References]

Africa 1999, CD-ROM, IBM’s World Book Deluxe, Armonk, New York.

‘Hutu and Tutsi’ 1994, The Christian Century, June 15, pg 600. 

Jones, B 2001, Peacemaking in Rwanda: The Dynamics of Failure, Lynne Rienner, Colorado.

Kayigamba, J 2006, Haunted Mornings, Sleepless Nights: Jean Baptiste Kayigamba describes how he survived genocide in Rwanda. Retrieved from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JQP/is_390/ai_n16619222

Lang, A 2002, ‘Global Governance and Genocide in Rwanda’, Ethics and International Affairs, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 143+. 

Mafeje, A 1971, ‘The Ideology of Tribalism’, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp 253-261.

Melson, R 2000, Institute for the Study of Genocide; International Association of Genocide Scholars, Retrieved from http://www.isg-iags.org/oldsite/newsletters/25/melson-html

Olojede, D 2004, History of Rwanda. Retrieved from http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/ny-rwanda-

Robinson, L 2003, The Tragedy of Rwanda – When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda – A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda’s Genocide – Book Review. Retrieved from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1132/is_7_55/ai_111503535

Scherrer, P 2002, Genocide and Crisis in Central Africa: Conflict Roots, Mass Violence, and Regional War, Praeger, Connecticut.

Smith, D 1998, ‘The Psychocultural Roots of Genocide: Legitimacy and Crisis in Rwanda’, American Psychologist, vol. 53, no. 7, pg 743.

Taylor, C 1999, Sacrifice as Terror: The Rwandan Genocide of 1994, Berg Publishing, New York.

Wikipedia n.d., Tutsi. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutsi

Discuss

Conformity. Everyone does it but no one wants to admit it, presumably brought up by the Second World War. The text, The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas by John Boyne is a fictional recount of the events of the war and provides many examples of conformity. However, many would like to believe that a catastrophe as large and as horrific as that cannot repeat itself because of the new awareness of conformity, but have we really eliminated it from our society? Many points of the argument must be taken into consideration before a final judgement is made, such as if ingrained social class and behaviour expectations still remains in society. It must also be considered whether society has indeed strengthened itself against a large body of one opinion, which can be seen today in the many opinions that are shared and acknowledged when electing a leader for most first world countries in the democratic system and strange or weird individuals that are accepted into society, despite their difference, an example of which is the gay rights campaign.

            Ingrained social class that is still present in the world today is an example of conformity still being powerful. An example of this in the text is portrayed by the main protagonist, Bruno, a nine year old boy, son of a high German Commandant, who is quoted asking his sister a question: “[Bruno] ‘I want to know about the fence…I want to know why it’s there’… ‘Because they have to be kept together,’ explained Gretel. ‘With their families you mean?’ [Gretel] ‘Well yes with their families. But with their own kind too.’ (pp 181 – 182). This clearly shows how social class was enforced on children in the past, making them label people with an ‘Us and Them’ mentality. However, it is still seen today; parents telling their children that to not play with those kids, simply because they are a different race or have a different religion, struggling financially or are academically disadvantaged are all enforcing their children with opinionated social class.

            Behaviour expectations that repeatedly occur in society are another example of conformity and followed with an utmost strictness. It is displayed in the book as Bruno’s parents attempt him to implement ethics in the form of manners on him; “And don’t interrupt your mother when she is talking…’ she [Mother] added, for although this was strange and unpleasant news, there was certainly need for Bruno to break the rules of politeness which he had been taught.”(pp 7). This is still seen in everyday routine, from simply saying thank you or holding the door out for someone, as it something that is expected in our society. It is also displayed when Bruno is told that he has to follow the rules but his parents or ’superiors’ don’t: “’Bruno, just do it, please!’ Mother snapped, because apparently it was all right if she interrupted him but it didn’t work the other way round” (pp 14-15). This is also seen in the present day, and even has a cliché made for it: ‘Children should be seen and not heard’. This was evidently followed in the past and still continues today, by the common stifling or hushing of a child’s ideas and opinions when the adults are talking, seen in  elections where only adults get to vote, children, however, do not get a say. It is also displayed with the common belief that children should respect their elders and obey their parents that still continues today.

            The many individuals that are seen today, which are still accepted into society (an example of which is  the new gay rights) are all illustrations of how conformity has been rejected in society. In history homosexuals were discriminated against, shunned even murdered because of their sexual difference. Nonetheless today, despite the past prejudice against them, they are now accepted in our society, are given the right to adopt and the right to be presented as a married couple. The text on the other hand shows a mutual loathing for people out of the ordinary or the ‘out’ group, presented with the character of Grandmother; ‘Grandfather was very proud of his son when he saw him in his new uniform but Grandmother was the only one who seemed unimpressed…’ (pp 90).Grandmother’s different views soon lead to conflict between her and her family. “’Ashamed!’ she called out before she left. ‘That a son of mine should be-’. ‘A patriot!’ cries Father…’A patriot indeed!’ she cried out. ‘The people you have to dinner in this house. Why, it makes me sick. And to see that uniform makes me want to tear the eyes from my head!’ she added before storming out of the house and slamming the door behind her.‘ (pp 93) As grandmother was an individual and didn’t conform like the majority of the German population , and so her difference lead to the isolated of her own family, when they later moved to Auschwitz. On the other hand, today the public is continuing to learn to accept others for who they are.

The democratic system supported by most modern day countries that takes into account the many viewpoints when deciding their leader is another point that gives evidence that the advanced society is not a slave to conformity. In this system, opinions, despite them contradicting, are shared respected and taken into consideration. This shows that people are willing to live with that the fact that there are other views in the world and that they cannot enforce their own on others. In the text, it is shown an almost complete opposite of democracy: dictatorship, in the form of the ‘Fury’ (referring to Adolph Hitler’s title, , who rules over his lover Eva without a question in his authority. It is seen on page 122 and “’Eva,’ shouted the Fury from the other room, clicking his fingers as if she were some sort of puppy dog…’It was lovely to meet you both’, she [Eva] said, before stepping into the dining room and sitting down on the Fury’s left-hand side.” (pp 122-123). It is also seen again when Father attempts to dictator his family, “’…and that’s an end to the matter. I don’t want to hear another word on the subject…’ said Father.” In the majority of organisations today, whether it being families, partners or politics, all participants get a say in what happens, an element in society that was not present in the past.

            As it is evident that a society cannot exist without conformity of some sort, however, there are many points that suggest that it is still powerful, such as the ingrained social class expectations of behaviour, and many that indicate that it has subsided to the bare minimal, like different opinions that are taken into considerations in the democratic political system and the ability to accept difference, seen in the recent homosexuals rights campaign. Taking all that into thought it is seen that although numerous cases have been perceived and eradicated, there are many more that are almost undetectable but are still powerful in a present day society.

 By “Peanut” (R.M from KDC)

In a video testimony, Amnon Neumann said that he participated in the expulsion of unarmed Palestinians from their villages in southern Israel.

Amnon Neumann

Admitting his crimes, Neumann described that he helped kill people, burn the villages, and chase off women and children.

“This is very clear. We came to inherit the land. Who do you inherit from? If the land is empty you inherit it from no one. The land was not empty when we inherited it,” he said.

The Israeli veteran, who was a former Palmach fighter, said the reason for the Nakba of 1948 was “the Zionist ideology”.

“Like all ultranationalist movements, Zionism requires the murder and expulsion of people and the destruction of all evidence of their existence. Those not destroyed must be permanently subjugated by the ethnicity in charge,” he explained.

Israel’s 1948 occupation of Palestine, known as the Nakba Day or “the day of the catastrophe” displaced some 700,000 Palestinians, forcing them to flee to different countries.

Tel Aviv is unwilling to compromise on the right of return for Palestinian refugees of the 1948 war and their descendants.

Palestinians have long asserted that the refugees have a moral and legal right to return to the lands they were forced to abandon during the Israeli-Arab wars in 1948 and 1967.

The human race is known for being outlandishly cruel and cowardly in handling of different ethnic groups. Genocide, as it is called, is a massive “cleansing” of a race, ethnic group, or even anyone with a slight difference from another group. Genocide can be carried out by a government, a rebel group, or by average Joes. In most cases, a controlling political group of the area is responsible.  These groups seek to rid themselves of a group of people they see as a threat or nuisance. They blame them for economic troubles, much like Hitler did with Jewish people in Germany. They use a poor, in almost all cases, ethnic group as scapegoats. They torture and kill hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of innocent people.

For genocide to be accurately categorized and compared in this essay, three main criteria need to be present in each specific case. The first of these criteria is for the acting group to view the genocide as a righteous act. They must fund the genocide in monetary terms and in an army goods and soldiers. In some cases, like in Germany, they will seek public approval and “campaign” for the vicious slayings. The victimized group must be viewed by the acting as a reason for their troubles and the ousting of the ethnic group will be the solution.

The second criteria are for large numbers of the ethnic group to be displaced, tortured and killed. In the end, this group must face the possibility of extinction and the genocide to have negative ramifications for an extended period of time after the genocide has ended. This could be extreme poverty, loss of social standing, and/or discrimination and segregation for decades.  The group must be physically forced out of their rightful land and to refugee camps.  Also, after the genocide is over, the oppressed group is seen as outcasts and usually receives no compensation or aid to help them regain their foothold in the world. 

Lastly, a third party, usually of other nations or groups, views these as atrocities. The third party must take a stance against the genocide or give aid to these people. This aid could be in the form of care packages, monetary support for a defense of some sort of military aid to fight against the oppressors.  However, not in all cases, will this criteria be meet and therefore, will not be considered genocide. This criterion is of the most importance and is needed for genocide to have taken place. If no one takes a stand against the group or views it as immoral, then the genocide can be said to be given backing and approval making it a plausible action. 

In other cases not included in this, one of three to be present or two of the three. However, for the accurate classification of genocide all three must be present. For instance, in some cases, a third party might not object to the crimes. This tends to be the situation for most other cases viewed to be genocide. For instance, Vietnam may be seen as genocide. Although according to these criteria it is not. America did not come into Vietnam for the reason of seeking a solution to a problem by killing an ethnic group. Their motives were to end a form of oppressive government. The two other criteria match in Vietnam. Thousands of people were displaced and brutally killed, and in America anti-war groups protested the war as immoral.

Part 2

The first example of genocide to be evaluated is the recent genocide of the people in Darfur. The government, in this case, acts as the oppressors. In 2003, a rebel group carried out attacks on government centers. The reason for the attacks, the native Africans were being neglected to establish Arab people in the region. The government was neglecting the needs of the poor Africans to cater to the Arabs. The government then sent out “self- defense” militia to control the rebel groups. Since 2003, the Africans have been killed and driven out of their rightful land. Many children are left without food, clothes, shelter and more importantly family from these vicious “self-defense” militia that raid villages and rape and kill.  Darfur has all three criteria and is a present day example of genocide.

        The native Africans in Darfur have been oppressed by the government, matching up with the first criteria. Much like in the Battle of Culloden, the government acts to squash rebel threats. The government approval and poor “policing” of the militia groups led to out of control behavior. The militia and armies run free and impose their own will viciously raping and killing everyone in sight. This is due to the distance of the government in relation to the area of the genocide. In Culloden, the slaughtering took place in Scotland, far enough out of the eyes and ears of the Crown. In Darfur, the section of the natives are located is a poor area away from the central government. Due to the distance, the groups are not controlled and commit horrible crimes against the innocent people. However, the government does not take action when they get wind of the crimes. They, instead, turn away and allow the vicious crimes to continue. This only supports the classification of genocide.

Regarding criteria number two, the people are displaced from their homes and farms. In Darfur, those who are lucky to escape are left to wander the dessert and settle in refugee camps where food is scarce. This is much like in Armenia, when Armenians were marched to death camps from their homeland and were killed. Although the genocide continues, one can pretty much assume that when it is the Africans will be discriminated by the Arabs and government for decades later. The remaining supporters of the genocide will forbid the Africans from getting a job and an education. Much like in Culloden were the Highlanders were continually looked down upon by the Lowlanders and Brits. The displacement of the people is not just physical in these cases, but also social that leads to years of prejudice.

          Today, many charities are established to raise money for care packages to send to refugee camps. The Peace Corps send hundreds of people to the camps to educate and give them food and shelter. This third party action is the third criteria. The African Union has sent 7,000 troops to defend the people from the government deployed militia. [BBC News] The United Nations have also sought to help the Africans. They have called for peace deals and some progress has been made. All these third parties prove that the action taken by the government is brutal and immoral.

     Darfur is a great present-day example of genocide. All three criteria are met. The government approval, the displaced and murdered civilians and lastly, a stance taken against the oppressors and aid given to the oppressed. Although the genocide is not over, it still provides a good comparison to genocides of the past and for the future. Darfur is a tragic and grotesque example of the racial prejudices that are the root of genocide. 

Part 3

The last example of genocide is of the Native Americans. They were taken advantage of by the white Europeans and then kicked out from their prosperous land, west to less inhabitable. Eventually, when the United States was formed, the Native Americans lost almost all their lands and were forced to live on barren wastelands called Reservations. “The most massive act of genocide in the history of the world” is used by David E. Stannard in his book, American Holocaust, to describe the Native American treatments. The Europeans and later Americans culturally and physically killed the Native Americans. They were raped of their land and their culture. Today they are still facing extinction. They have lost a huge amount of their land and culture due to the insensitive and immoral actions of the oppressors.

When explorers came over to the New World, they were given grants by their government (usually King or Queen) giving them “rightful” ownership of the land. To the explorers this meant to use whatever means necessary to insure a safe haven for themselves. This usually meant kicking the Native Americans off their land, stealing their property and killing them if need be. Since the grant gave them approval by the government, criteria one is meet. The government, like in Culloden, sent over troops to a foreign land to crush any opposition to the government’s claims. Soldiers aboard the ships would use force to take away the Native Americans and make them slaves for labor. 

When United States of America was founded, the Louisiana Purchase allowed for further exploration of the west and led for many Native American’s land to be stolen by the Americans.

However, these people were not left out to dry. They were given wasteland reservations to live on. To get to these reservations they had to walk hundreds of miles to the designated areas, much like the Armenians. In these reservations, the Native Americans had little food and were constantly watched by white troops. Their freedom to follow the buffalo was restricted and due to this they had less food. Not only did this affect their food resources, this also took away their culture. For hundreds of years the Native Americans followed the buffalo as they roamed and relied heavily on them as a major food source.  Nowadays, the Native Americans are still looked down upon and have trouble being socially accepted. They are still discriminated and this qualifies them for the second criteria. One account has over 700 Sioux tribesmen dieing in self defense in one battle. The Sioux were resisting the movement of their tribe in the Dakotas to Oklahoma reservations. [Disrupting the Natives] 

Today there are many groups and organizations trying to preserve what is left of the Native American Culture, in forms of museums and libraries. Also, there are some groups that are seeking reparation for the descendants that still feel the repercussions of the genocide. These groups, taking a stand against the immoral actions of past governments, meet criteria three. “National Relief Charities (NRC) provides program services that benefit Native Americans throughout the United States. Our mission is ‘to help Native American people improve the quality of their lives by providing opportunities for them to bring about positive changes in their communities.’” [National Relief Charities] The mission of this charity, and charities like this one, try to bring a better future for Native Americans by continuing the culture of the past. 

The Native Americans have faced the longest racial genocide in history. Since the 15th century Europeans and later Americans have socially outcast them, stripped them of their traditions, culture and heritage, and killed thousands upon thousands of them. Unfortunately this genocide can not be swept under the rug, like many Americans try to do, and the outcomes still affect their and our society. The genocide was bloody, brutal and belittling to a people with a rich tradition and wealth of knowledge and art to share. 

                                              Works Cited

BBC News Website
   Q&A Sudan’s Darfur Conflict
HYPERLINK “http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3496731.stm” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3496731.stm

End of the Oregon Trail Center
Disrupting the Natives
 HYPERLINK “http://www.endoftheoregontrail.org/road2oregon/sa19indians.html” http://www.endoftheoregontrail.org/road2oregon/sa19indians.html

National Relief Charities

Mission Statement                           

 HYPERLINK “http://www.nrcprograms.org/” http://www.nrcprograms.org/

In Darfur, My Camera Was Not Nearly Enough
Brian Steidle — Washington Post, Sunday, March 20, 2005; Page B02
 HYPERLINK “http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/darfur/steidle/?gclid=CN3gy8Dj2YgCFQtRGgodYRDpkg” http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/darfur/steidle/?gclid=CN3gy8Dj2YgCFQtRGgodYRDpkg

American Indian Holocaust
 HYPERLINK “http://www.unitednativeamerica.com/aiholocaust.html” http://www.unitednativeamerica.com/aiholocaust.html

American Holocaust
by: David E. Stannard
November, 1993

The Battle of Culloden Film

New Yorker Article 

DEAD RECKONING
The Armenian genocide and the politics of silence.
By ELIZABETH KOLBERT
Issue of 2006-11-06
Posted 2006-10-30

The Holocaust, otherwise known as the ‘Shoah’ by the Jewish people, was the Genocide of political undesirables and ethnic minorities during the Second World War, particularly on the Jewish population in Europe. Six million people were systematically exterminated by Nazi Germany in a horrifically sophisticated and efficient system, with the victims including Soviet and Polish civilians, Prisoners of War, homosexuals, disabilities, Gypsies and Jews.

The ‘Final Solution’ was a plan orchestrated by Heinrich Himmler (Reichsmarhsall of the SS), Reinhard Heydrich, Hermann Goering and many other accomplices to answer the ‘Jewish Question’. This would involve the construction of extermination camps to build and industrialise the extermination of the Jewish population in Europe.

The Holocaust had a major impact on the world as it had brought genocide on a scale that had never been seen before. Within a period of six years, Nazi Germany (which, prior to the war had been rather highly regarded) managed to systematically eradiate the lives of six million people through various means. The discovery of concentration camps near the end of the Second World War not only astounded soldiers liberating the camps, but also the rest of the world. The lack of human compassion and the sheer efficiency of the murders was confronting to all who heard about it. The Nuremburg Trials of 1946 where numerous Nazi war criminals were sentenced to life, imprisonment or merely set free brought much anger in the world community as well.

 Michael Arthur Newdow hasresearched this and submitted a paper on just these kinds of atrocities.

As long as people believe in absurdities, they will continue to commit atrocities -Voltaire 

The human history is full violence and atrocities. Some scholars have suggested that aggression should be regarded as a basic instinct. Freud considered aggression as a dynamic factor in mental life. Psychologist Eric Fromm in his most well known work the Anatomy of Human Destructiveness expresses that the violence of the dominant culture is not biological in its origin. The aggression and destructiveness are approached, as multi-dimensional phenomenon .These may be a tragic facet of the human condition. During the past, several hundred years’ mass atrocities were committed against humanity.  Most of these atrocities were committed by the technologically advanced nations. The victims suffered and the perpetrators went unnoticed. The history teaches us a lesson. If the humans unable to learn from their past mistakes the violence and atrocities will affect the modern civilization repeatedly.

  Atrocities have usually involved torture, maiming, or killing of civilians and noncombatants; destruction of nonmilitary targets; maltreatment and killing of wounded and prisoners of war; and use of weapons to cause superfluous damage or injury.

 Genocide

Genocide is the organized killing of a people for the express purpose of putting an end to their collective existence. Genocide requires central planning and a machinery to implement it. The United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide describes genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” This definition applies in the case of the atrocities committed against humanity by various superpowers in the past. 

Atrocities Committed by the Spanish Invaders in South America

Francisco Pizarro went for the conquest of Peru -South America in 1524, with 80 men and 40 horses. Pizarro was not a literate man but he was a rustles soldier driven by insatiable desire to find gold. Spanish conquerors led by Francisco Pizarro wiped-out a civilization. The Spanish invaders killed the natives, looted their gold. The invaders even used biological mode of attacks introducing smallpox and measles to the indigenous people killing masses. By 1650 AD many native people had died, empty houses stood in empty villages. The flourished self-sufficient civilization of South America came to nonexistent. It was a terrifying atrocity committed by the Spanish invaders in South America.

 The cruel and Iron Fist of the Portuguese Invaders

As a colonial super power, Portuguese had a fear inducing reputation. The Portuguese unleashed many cruelties against the people of Asia, Africa and South America. They committed a number of atrocities in Ceylon. They vandalized the religious buildings and looted the wealth. They tortured the natives and forced them to renounce their traditional religion. The General Azavedu   is still remembered as a symbol of a bloodthirsty villain who ordered the Portuguese Army to launched heavy cruelty against the people. They killed infants, raped women and burnt books. The people were subjected to torture, massacre, and starvation.

 Atrocities committed by the British Army

The British Army committed a number of atrocities in Africa, India, and Sri Lanka. The Sepoy rebellion in 1857 which was an outcry against the repression was crushed in a ruthless manner. On the 13 April 1919 General Reginald Edward Harry Dyer of the British Army ordered his men to open fire at an unarmed group of people which mostly consisted of women and children at Amritsar which later came to known as Jallianvala Baga massacre. Over 300 killed and thousands wounded. Although children were among the victims no action was taken against the General Dyer by the British Army.

 A few years after the Kandyan Convention in 1818 natives stood against the British colonial rulers. Martial Law was declared and the revolt was suppressed in a vigorous manner. Major MacDonald of the British Army set fire to the houses, burnt the grain and killed the cattle as an act of retaliation. Many collaborators were shot and some were exiled. Even the family members were taken prisoners. Keppetipola Disawe- the prominent leader of the Uva rebellion of 1918 was executed and his family was deported. Keppetipola Disawe ’s  son died under the captivity.

 The British Army used a cruel force to defeat the 1848 revolt led by Gongalegoda Bada and Puran Appu . Inhuman and sadistic punishments were inflicted on the villagers and the Army destroyed the fertile social fabric. Many people became the victims of hostile actions and starvation.

 Dark Face of America

The new white settlers in America considered the native tribal people as savages and they were subjected to various atrocities. Their lands were seized and the culture was destroyed. Although the Red Indians were portrayed as brutal uncivilized community even in the Hollywood movies , they had a developed and distinctive livelihood, which connected with nature. They were nature-loving people and helped to preserve the environment for thousand years.

 The Native American chief Seattle expressed his surprise when the US President Franklin Pierce asked him to sell the land. In return. Seattle wrote “how can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.

 Slavery in the United States had its origins with the first English Colonization of North America in 1607. Slavery lasted in the US until 1865. The slaves treated like material property rather than humans. They had to work in plantations under rough conditions. In the slave market men were separated from their wives, and frequently children were taken from their mothers. The slaves were often punished for slightest mistakes and these punishments consisted of wiping, clubbing, and sometimes chopping off body parts.

 The Americans have also been criticized for the atrocities committed in Vietnam and Iraq. In Vietnam the US forces were accused of using napalm and crop destruction as well as killing of killing of unarmed civilians, mostly women and children, at the village of My Lai in 1968.

  In 2003 Human Rights Watch report   said that civilian deaths in Iraq “reveal a pattern by U.S. forces of over-aggressive tactics, indiscriminate shooting in residential areas and a quick reliance on lethal forces. Some informed estimates place Iraqi civilian causalities at over 600,000.

 Italian Crimes in Africa 

In October 1911, during the Italo – Turkish War, Italian forces invaded North African territories (modern day Libya) slaughtering a large number of tribal men women and children.  Mussolini’s soldiers committed massive atrocities in Libya and Ethiopia before and during the Second World War.  They used tanks and airplanes and often poisonous mustard gas against the natives. Italian Fascists built concentration cams before the Nazi Holocaust in Colonial Libya during 1929 – 1933. In these concentration camps men were tortured and killed, women were raped, children were staved to death. The Libyan tribal leader Omar Mukhtar stood against the invaders and launched a 20 year long guerrilla war using primitive weaponry against the well equipped Italian Army. His freedom struggle came to an end in 1931. He was wounded in a battle, captured and then executed by the Italian Army.    

 The Italian Fascists conducted a systematic ethnic cleansing in the occupied territories in North Africa.  The Italian fascist invasion in 1935 and subsequent occupation of Ethiopia were accompanied by numerous atrocities. The Italian forces used mustard gas against the civil targets, bombed hospitals and villages killing tens of thousands of people.  

 French in Algeria and Indochina

The French occupied Algeria for 132 years and worst atrocities were committed between 1830 and 1962. In 1840 Thomas Bugeaud, the Governor General of Algeria launched an attack on Algerian civilians killing and deporting masses. According to some reports hundreds of people were burned alive or asphyxiated in caves where they sought refuge from the advancing French troops. The French troops set fire to Algerian villages killing civilians and raping women. They destroyed property, food, and animal stocks which led to starvation among the indigenous population.   During France’s occupation of Algeria a  large numbers of Algerians were forced into “tent cities” and concentration camps.  . It has been estimated that from 1830 to 1900, between 15 and 25% of the Algerian population died in such camps.

 In 1957 the International Red Cross disclosed the widespread use of torture by the French army and police against thousands of Algerians The torture techniques used by the French included electricity applied to the most sensitive parts of the body, near drowning in water, sodomy with glass and wood objects, hanging by the feet and hands, and burning with cigarettes. (Maran, Rita (1989). Torture: The Role of Ideology in the French-Algerian War. New York: Praeger). The most outrages act was the Massacres of May 1945 in which 45,000 Algerians were killed within a few days by the French occupied forces.

 French Indo-China comprised the French protectorates of Cambodia, Laos, Annam, Tongkin, and the French colony of Cochin-China.  In May 1945 1400 former French POWs released by the British from Japanese internment camps in South Vietnam entered Saigon and went on a deadly rampage attacking civilians even killing innocent children.  French forces violated the laws or customs of war in the Indochina conflict which lasted from 1946 – 1954.  The French Foreign Legions last stand in Indo China in 1950 and they were defeated in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu .

 The Horrific Face of the Japanese Imperialism

During the period of Japanese Imperialism a large number of atrocities committed in the occupied Asian countries. The Japanese Imperial Army conducted crimes against enemy civilians and enemy combatants. In the ill famous Nanking Massacre in 1937 hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians were murdered and 20,000–80,000 women were raped by the Japanese soldiers. The Imperial Army abducted young women from China and Korea to serve as comfort women or sex slaves. An estimated one hundred thousand to four hundred thousand female sex slaves were forced to deliver sexual services to Japanese soldiers during the World War 2.

 Between 1937 and 1945, the Japanese military murdered from nearly 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people, most likely 6,000,000 Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, among others, including Western prisoners of war. (Professor R.J Mummel the Faculty of Political Science – University of Hawaii).

 The Gloomy History of Australia

The Europeans, who established the new settlements in Australia, did not encounter any major resistance from the native population. The aboriginals sometimes helped the white settlers providing food when they faced scarcities. The Aboriginals were no match for the highly armed European settlers. Gradually the natives were attacked and driven to the desert land. In the ill famous Myall Creek massacre in 1830 even the aboriginal children were murdered.

 From 1869 to the late 1960s (in some parts until 1970) the Australian governments removed part-Aboriginal children from their mothers, parents, families and communities, often by force. . Children were placed with institutions and from the 1950s began also being placed with white families. Aboriginal children were expected to become labourers or servants, Aboriginal girls in particular were sent to homes established by the Board to be trained in domestic service. These victims later came to know as the Stolen Generation. According to Dr Jane McKendrick Psychiatrist at the Melbourne University stated that ‘a large number of people from the Stolen Generations were either psychologically, physically or sexually abused while in care.

 Atrocities committed by the German Army during the WW2

Under the Hitler’s regime, NAZI Germany exterminated over 6 million Jews in concentration camps. The German SS committed serious crimes in the occupied territory. Torture, deportation, execution often used against Jews, Polish, Russian and Gipsy people. Between 1939 and 1945, the SS assisted by collaborationist governments and recruits from occupied countries, systematically killed somewhere between 11 and 14 million people. Many innocent people were starved to death. The Holocaust remains as a dark patch in the human history.

 Israelites against Palestine

Israel was condemned by the UN for launching systematic attacks against Palestine civilians. The resent attacks in Gaza killing of civilians and destruction of thousands of homes could be described as one of the dreadful atrocities committed by the Israel Army.   According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 1,434 Palestinians were killed during the Israeli offensive, 960 of them civilians, among them 288 children. Israeli actions in Gaza created a humanitarian as well as human dignity crisis. Following massive destruction of livelihoods and the deterioration of infrastructure 80 % of Gaza population now live in humanitarian assistance. 

 Ending Atrocities

Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, “are particularly odious offences in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity   or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings. They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy   (although the perpetrators need not identify themselves with this policy) or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority. Murder; extermination; torture; rape and political, racial, or religious persecution and other inhumane acts reach the threshold of crimes against humanity only if they are part of a widespread or systematic practice. Isolated inhumane acts of this nature may constitute grave infringements of human rights, or depending on the circumstances war crimes   but may fall short of falling into the category of crimes under discussion.

 Gareth Evans, President, International Crisis Group, to Crimes Against Humanity Initiative expresses the views as follows

 When it comes to international relations, and in particular the great issues of war and peace, violence, and catastrophic human rights violations with which we are concerned here, there is a well-established view that anyone who approaches things in this kind of generally optimistic frame of mind must be incorrigibly naïve, if not outright demented.  Certainly in the case of genocide and atrocity crimes—either directly committed by a government against its own people, or allowed to happen by a government unable or unwilling to stop it—it is hard for even the incorrigibly naïve to remain optimistic. In this world we inhabit—full of cynicism, double standards, crude assertions of national interest, high-level real-politic, and low-level maneuvering for political advantage.

 There are no Cruel Nations

Every nation has committed some sort of atrocity against one another. In the broad sense all were perpetrators as well as the victims. There are no cruel or atrocious nations as such. Only individuals with their prejudices can lead the people to commit atrocities. The people ought to be conscious and vigilant about such dark forces.

 The words of the Indian Philosopher J. Krishnamurti ( in Freedom from the Known, pp.51-52 )  gives  broader understanding how the seeds of violence  and prejudices germinate in the human mind.

 When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.

 Michael Arthur Newdow on Atrocities and Genocide

Michael Arthur Newdow expresses his views on Atrocities and Genocide as follows…..

 People don’t simply wake up one day and commit genocide. They start by setting themselves apart from others, diminishing the stature of those adhering to dissenting beliefs in small, insidious steps. They begin by saying, ‘We’re the righteous, and we’ll tolerate those others.’ And as the toleration diminishes over time, the inevitable harms are overlooked. It is for that reason that James Madison wisely wrote that ‘it is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties’.” 

This is the history of our human race,and many of these horrific things were carried out in the name of God?But I seriously doubt that God told these people to kill or torture anyone(not the God I know anyhow).

But then we see the pain we have inflicted on God’s creatures,(no I’m not talking about just the ones we eat,I see nothing wrong with hunting to feed your family ,but,yes,I see a problem with hunting for sport.Most hunters are out their in there tree stands,and blinds to feed their families and to promote the  continued health of the species they are hunting ,yes I know over-hunting has annihilated many species, but if  we don’t hunt we risk a population explosion,and the deterioration of the food chain,so hunt or don’t it’s your choice as a human.)But I am speaking of animal cruelty and animal testing.1st off what is animal cruelty?Wikipedia describes animal cruelty as…

Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse or animal neglect, is the infliction of suffering or harm upon non-human animals, for purposes other than self-defense. More narrowly, it can be harm for specific gain, such as killing animals for food or for their fur, although opinions differ with respect to the method of slaughter. Diverging viewpoints are held by jurisdictions throughout the world.

Broadly speaking, there are two approaches to the issue. The animal welfare position holds that there is nothing inherently wrong with using animals for human purposes, such as food, clothing, entertainment, and research, but that it should be done in a humane way that minimizes unnecessary pain and suffering. Animal rights theorists criticize this position, arguing that the words “unnecessary” and “humane” are subject to widely differing interpretations, and that the only way to ensure protection for animals is to end their status as property, and to ensure that they are never used as commodities. Laws concerning animal cruelty are designed to prevent needless cruelty to animals, rather than killing for other aims such as food, or they concern species not eaten as food in the country involved, such as those regarded as pets.

I totally agree with this definition and ask you to think about this when you see an abandoned animal on the side of the road,starving,and infested with parasites.Is it better this way sometimes or do we contact a person or shelter to collect the animal to save it’s life.Also I would encourage each of you reading this to promote and donate to no-kill shelters.

Research Versus Animal Rights

Clamps lock the rabbit’s head into place. Clips keep the eyelids open. A researcher releases a drop of oven cleaner into unblinking eyes, then records what happens to the eye tissue over a period of time. The substance could cause the animal’s eyelids to swell. The eyes may bleed. Maybe the rabbit goes blind. Maybe it snaps its neck trying to escape. The end result will be a product label that warns people to avoid eye contact with this oven cleaner.

Here’s another scenario. A woman who has suffered emotionally her whole life is finally diagnosed with manic depression. She finds, to her amazement, that taking the drug lithium ends her regular descents into depression. She can now enjoy life and function at a much higher level.

This woman may not necessarily agree with animal testing, but she cannot help but feel grateful for the animal experiments on guinea pigs that led researchers to discover lithium’s soothing quality.

This woman may not necessarily agree with animal testing, but she cannot help but feel grateful for the animal experiments on guinea pigs that led researchers to discover lithium’s soothing quality.

The sad thing is I’ve been against animal research since grade school when our biology teacher insisted we dissect frogs to learn more about (human biology?)I asked if it would be different if we dissected a human? my teacher was appalled that I would even think such a thing,I was then promptly taken to the principals office given an F on the project and 3 days detention.I am a member of both forms of P.E.T.A. people for the ethical treatment of animals and people eating tasty animals,God gave us dominion over the animals to make sure that they flourished but also to ensure that man wouldn’t go hungry and be over run by said animals,I firmly believe if you can not eat it don’t kill it for it’s fur or antlers or any other part of the animal.With all our technology can we not find a better way to test our products than on harmless,innocent, little animals?

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Comments Animal Testing

Ninety-four percent of animal testing is done to determine the safety of cosmetics and household products leaving only 6% for medical research! Cosmetic testing is banned in Belgium, Netherlands and the U.K.. Europe has been phasing out all products related to animal testing since 2002 and they plan to completely ban all products by 2009. This is a big step in right direction for millions of animals who were helplessly killed during tests for cosmetics and household products. Unfortunately the U.S. is still home to many companies who continue to legally perform horrible test on animals even though the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission doesn’t require animal testing for cosmetics or household products!

Most of the animals that are used in testing are bred just for testing, but many others come from the pound. Mice, rabbits, dogs, guinea pigs, cats and monkey’s are the most commonly used animals for tests. It has been proven that there is already enough existing safety data, as well as in vitro (test tube) alternatives to make animal testing for cosmetics and household products even more unnecessary and unethical. By just listing the names of the tests I will be able to give you a better idea of what these poor animals go through. Whole Body, Short-term Toxicity, Skin Penetration, Skin Irritancy, Eye irritancy, Skin Sensitization, Phototoxicity & Photosensitisation, Mutagenicity, Carcinogenicity, Reproductive Toxicity, Teratogenicity and Finished Product Testing are all common tests performed on animals.

The LD50 test short for lethal dose, is one of the worst tests that was developed back in 1927 and is still in use today. Groups of animals are dosed with different amounts of a test substance in order to determine the dose which kills half of the animals! Animals are often force-fed the substance. The LD50 test is known to use huge, unrealistic doses that are completely unrelated to possible exposure levels. There are now other tests available that use less animals and lower doses, yet this old, discredited LD50 test continues. During another common test, the Draize eye-and skin-irritation test, rabbits are immobilized in full-body restraints while a substance is dripped or smeared into their eyes or onto their shaved skin. Rabbits often scream in pain and many break their necks trying to get free. The Draize test has been proven in studies to “grossly over predicted the effects that could be seen in the human eye, and does not reflect the eye irritation hazard for man”. The human four-hour patch skin test has proved to provide chemical skin-irritation data that are “inherently superior to that given by a surrogate model, such as the rabbit.”

With so much going on in the world and our lives, I know it easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless. But by reading this article you have proved that you do care. I know it is hard and horrible to even think of what is happening behind closed doors. But right now there are millions of animals who are caged, tortured, and can’t speak for themselves. You can make progress and reach out to help them by taking just a second to sign this online petition here. By not purchasing products from companies that continue to test on animals you are also sending the message that it is not right.

More about Animal Testing:

• Should animal testing be banned?
• UK government taken to court over animal testing
• Modifying Creatures in the Name of Science
• Testing Sensitivity Without Skin

Please think of these questions our moral compass isn’t always pointing to true north these days.Now an animal only kills to(a) Protect it’s self or family.(b)Because it needs to eat or feed it’s family.(c)To protect it’s teritory.Those are the only reasons animals kill yet we do it for alot of really stupid reasons so who is more humane?Well you tell me.