Never Again? …..what about Darfur, Rwanda, Bosnia, etc., etc!
By webreporter on Jun 15, 2007 in INSIGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
Holocaust: 1) a great or complete devastation or destruction
2) the systematic mass slaughter of European Jews during World War II 3) any mass slaughter or reckless destruction of life
Watching newsreels in disbelief, the worlds population has been aghast for the past 60+ years over the atrocities the Nazis committed on the Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals of Europe extolling the rallying cry, Never Again.
In 1994, violence broke out in Rwanda and members of the minority Tutsi tribe were forced to separate from their families and go into hiding. More than 500,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were killed by the Hutus, Rwandas majority tribe, while the whole world stood by and did nothing. Never Again?
The slogan, Never Again, became a rallying cry for the Jewish people as they vowed that genocide would not be tolerated again, anywhere at any time. Never Again also implied that there was no way that they would allow the world to sit idly by and turn a blind eye to atrocities committed in the name of god or ethnic cleansing
Never Again?
Never Again? A little known fact is that the Nazis actually exterminated over 12 million people in all with the Jewish population contributing to half of that total. However it was the Jews that embraced the Never Again slogan, attitude and call to action. We didn't think human beings could do this," was a common utterance made as people watch the films the Nazis so diligently made documenting their handiwork.
The thing that causes me both great sadness and outrage is that human beings are still doing this to other human beings! Case in point is the Srebrenica Massacre, where at least 8,000 Bosnian males were systematically killed by Serbian Army forces and is the first legally established case of genocide in Europe since the Holocaust. Bosnians point out the existence of up to 500 concentration camps run by Serbs where non-Serbs were tortured, raped and killed. This event included ethnic cleansing which constituted crimes against humanity.
Never Again?
If all of this is upsetting or raises your ire..good! The question is what are you going to do? What are you going to do so that this insanity never again occurs in the worlds so-called civilized societies? Never Again? .. well see!
What happened? How and why has Never Again become relegated to a nostalgic slogan that sometimes ignites some emotions but little action? The tragedies in Darfur have become a cause celebre for members of the Entertainment industry with many of them diligently raising monies and public awareness of this 21st century holocaust. Unfortunately the crime exacerbating the crimes committed by the Janjaweed is that the worlds governments have sat idly by giving only lip service to the problem with an occasional photo op with a celebrity or two. Then there is the ongoing violence committed by the Janjaweed, a group of nomadic African tribes in the Darfur region of Sudan, which has left an estimated 200,000 Sudanese dead and roughly 2 million people homeless. The Janjaweed are widely believed to be supported by the Sudanese government.
2 Trackback(s)